The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2022
Jieting's Sleep Day ad showed a sleeping woman with a camera aimed at her safety pants
On World Sleep Day, Jieting's ad aimed its camera at a sleeping woman's safety pants — drawing 'voyeur / male gaze' criticism it apologized for.
Jieting · 2022-03
What happened
On 21 March 2022, World Sleep Day, the Chinese sanitary-products brand Jieting (洁婷) released an advertising image for its safety pants (安心裤) product line. The image showed a sleeping woman with the camera positioned directly on her, aimed at her sanitary safety pants.
The framing was widely criticized as voyeuristic and a 'male gaze' (男性凝视) — the camera angle implied an observer watching a sleeping woman, which readers found both creepy and inappropriate for a women's health product.
On 25 March 2022, Jieting issued an apology for the advertisement. The apology itself added to the misstep: the company argued the model had given authorization for the shoot, which critics read as defending the choice rather than owning the problem.
The case became one of the widely-discussed Chinese advertising missteps of spring 2022, an example of a brand alienating its own — female — audience with a framing that contradicted the product's purpose.
Why it happened
- A camera angle made the product's own audience feel watched; the framing tripped the exact sensitivity (voyeurism) a women's health brand should be most careful about.
- The apology leaned on 'the model authorized it', which asked the audience to accept the image as fine instead of addressing why it felt wrong.
- A product about safety and comfort was marketed through a framing that felt like a threat, so the ad undercut its own message.
- The timing (World Sleep Day) made the image doubly unfortunate: a sleeping, vulnerable person presented as an object of the camera.
The lesson
The camera is the message. Framing a sleeping woman that way made the brand's own audience feel watched, and an apology leaning on 'the model authorized it' deepened the misstep.
Aftermath
Jieting publicly apologized for the Sleep Day advertisement, but the justification it offered in the apology drew renewed criticism. The case circulated widely in Chinese marketing commentary as an example of creative framing clashing with a product's values and a brand tone-deaf to its own audience.
Sources
- 网易: 洁婷广告照片中女生下身只穿安心裤 拍摄视角被质疑 已致歉 (the apology)
- 中华网: 洁婷广告被指侮辱女性 公司道歉:模特照令人不适 (surveillance-cam framing, authorization response)
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