The Women's Rights Secretariat has filed a complaint with Brazil's National Advertising Council against the latest string of ads for Hope lingerie, on the grounds that the ad is sexist. The ads in question features Gisele Bundchen, the world's most successful supermodel, telling her husband she has (once again) crashed the car or exceeded the credit card limit and so forth. The initial sequence shows a fully dressed Gisele delivering the bad news, which is considered the “wrong way” to say it. The ad then changes to a scantily clad Gisele repeating the same news followed by the message “correct.” The ad ends with a man saying: “You are a Brazilian, use your charm. Hope, beautiful by nature.” “Gisele can testify that all of the situations shown in the campaign are jokes about daily life in no way should they be taken as being depreciative of the feminine figure,” said the lingerie company's director, Sandra Chayo. “It would be absurd for us, who make a living off the preferences of women, to do anything to devalue our main consumer. The ad had a clear and well-defined goal to show, with good humor, that the natural sensuality of Brazilian women, which is known worldwide, can be an effective weapon when giving bad news,” she added. According to official statements from the women's rights group, the ads ignore the advancements women have made in deconstructing sexist practices. Brazilian women are known for their sexuality, an image many Brazilian women feel is unfair. “We are often seen as sex objects by men,” Julia Rodrigues, a Brazilian studying in Cairo, told Bikyamasr.com. “It becomes very frustrating, especially in countries like Egypt where we are seen as being naturally promiscuous,” she added. Bundchen is the world's most successful supermodel and has been listed by Forbes magazine as possibly becoming the world's first billionaire supermodel. The 31-year-old has enjoyed a highly successful career which has led her to become the goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Environmental Program and the occasional support role in movies. She is officially the highest paid model in the industry and has been called the only true remaining supermodel by modelling legends Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell. BM
