German's largest supermarket group slammed for 'sexist' Mother's Day advert which showed fathers failing to complete basic domestic tasks

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German's largest supermarket group slammed for 'sexist' Mother's Day advert which showed fathers failing to complete basic domestic tasks

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Edeka advert bad german dad

Edeka/YouTube

A dad in Edeka's advert struggling to use a kitchen blender.

  • Germany's largest supermarket group is under fire for an apparently sexist Mother's Day advert showing fathers failing at domestic tasks.
  • Edeka's "we say thank you" advert posted to YouTube on Sunday was met with criticism and sparked the top-trending #EdekaBoykott hashtag.
  • The advert shows a dads failing to use a food blender, hurting daughters by brushing their hair too hard, and embarrassing sons.
  • Edeka said they "didn't want to portray fathers badly but, in a somewhat exaggerated and humorous way, say thank you to all mothers on Mother's Day."
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. 

People are calling for a boycott on a German supermarket after a commercial showing fathers failing at parenting was accused of sexism.

The black and white ad for Germany's largest supermarket group, Edeka, was posted to YouTube on Sunday, and shows a series of fathers struggling with domestic tasks.

Here's the advert - titled "we say thank you" - which landed Edeka in trouble.

In the advert, one dad fails to cook and use a food blender, one walks in on their son while he's in a compromising position, one emerges large and hairy in front of his daughter, and one hurts his daughters by brushing her knotted hair too hard.

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The narration, read by a young girl in German, ends with her saying: "Mama, thank you for not being Papa."

edeka advert german bad dad

Edeka/YouTube

One dad hurts his daughter by brushing her knotted hair too hard.

Edeka captioned the video: "Time to say thank you to the most important person in the world. Who that is? See for yourself."

The YouTube video has 1.4 million views, and nearly 40,000 down votes, compared to just 8,000 up votes.

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edeka supermarket

Edeka/YouTube

The final scene of the advert which shows a caption saying "Mama, thank you for not being Papa."

The hashtag EdekaBoykott briefly trended at number one on Twitter in Germany on Wednesday.

Some men tweeted their disapproval with the advert.

One wrote "Dads are not useless," and another, "This ad is totally sexist and an insult. Will also join #EdekaBoykott." 

Others were more balanced, tweeting: "Can we just agree that women & men are different and it's beautiful?"

Germany's Mother's Day is celebrated on May 12.

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edeka advert

Edeka/YouTube

A girl in the Edeka advert screams after her father accidentally throws a ball into her face.

In June 2013 Edeka were criticised for selling different sausages for men and women. The men's one was labeled "hearty, strongly-spiced," and the ladies one was described as "lean."

Edeka, which is Germany's largest supermarket group, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur in a statement: "We didn't want to portray fathers badly but, in a somewhat exaggerated and humorous way, say thank you to all mothers on Mother's Day".

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