A new Co-operative Group advert that questions men’s cooking skills has been blasted as sexist - in the same week the advertising watchdog ruled Asda’s much criticised Christmas ad was not.

The Co-op ad, which advertised half-price frozen chicken and potato wedges, shows a dad serving dinner to his kids, accompanied by the voiceover “ideal for when it’s dad’s turn to cook”.

Posted on The Co-op’s Facebook page last week, the ad was promptly slammed as ‘old-fashioned and ‘stereotypical’ by users. One wrote: “This makes me so angry! Why can’t dad cook real food? Because he has testicles maybe?? Sexual discrimination from the co-op. What a disgrace.”

Another added: “What a sexist bunch of crap. Imagine if the roles were reversed etc. Tired of this weak advertising nonsense that just eternally seems to want to show men as incapable and ineffective.”

Many social network users also vented their anger on Mumsnet thread, ‘Anyone else seen the sexist Co-op advert?’ “Whether they are insinuating that dads are not capable of cooking properly or aren’t expected to have to, it’s just wrong and reinforcing stereotypes,” posted one user, while another wrote witheringly: “Apparently dads can’t cook a meal from scrach”.

A Co-op Group spokeswoman, however, defended the ad. “Of course, we recognise many dads are excellent in the kitchen, but this recent execution, which ran for a course of five days, was designed to be a light-hearted look at the families in which dads don’t always do the cooking,” she said.

The furore comes as the Advertising Standards Authority ruled Asda’s Christmas ad was not sexist. It received 620 complaints but concluded the ad was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

Topics