The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2019
PeoplePerHour's Tube ad said 'you do the girl boss thing' — the ASA called it patronising
PeoplePerHour's Tube ad said 'YOU DO THE GIRL BOSS THING. WE'LL DO THE SEO THING.' The ASA ruled 'girl' framed a female boss as a novelty and banned it.
PeoplePerHour · 2019-11
What happened
In November 2019, freelance marketplace PeoplePerHour ran an ad on the London Underground showing a woman with the text: 'YOU DO THE GIRL BOSS THING. WE'LL DO THE SEO THING.'
Nineteen complainants told the UK's Advertising Standards Authority the ad perpetuated harmful gender stereotypes — depicting a woman running a business in a patronising way and implying women weren't technologically skilled enough to handle their own SEO.
The ASA agreed and banned the ad in January 2020, ruling that calling an adult woman a 'girl boss' implied a female boss was a novelty, 'playing at their role,' and less serious than a man in the same position. PeoplePerHour acknowledged the ad could read as sexist, removed the word 'girl,' and apologized publicly.
Why it happened
- A tagline meant to sound breezy and modern used a word — 'girl' — that did the opposite of what the campaign intended, undercutting the very female entrepreneurs it was trying to appeal to.
- Splitting the copy into 'you do X, we'll do Y' framed business competence as one thing and technical skill as another only the company could provide — a split that reads differently by gender.
- PeoplePerHour connects clients with technical freelancers — the joke implying female owners can't handle SEO ran against the brand's own pitch to that same audience.
The lesson
PeoplePerHour's Tube ad told women to 'do the girl boss thing' while it handled the SEO. The ASA ruled the word 'girl' made a female boss sound like a novelty, and banned it.
Aftermath
PeoplePerHour removed 'girl' from the campaign and apologized; the ruling was part of a wider ASA push against ads using gendered language to imply competence gaps.
Sources
- ASA upholds complaints about PeoplePerHour 'girl boss' ad — Recruiter
- People Per Hour 'girl boss' ad campaign banned by the ASA — marketinglaw
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