Labour pink bus: Twitter users blast party's 'patronising' attempt to woo women voters
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Version 0 of 1. Labour's attempt to woo women voters with a lurid pink campaign bus ahead of the general election appears to have backfired, with Twitter users blasting it as "patronising", "Barbie doll" and more suited to a "hen night". The party unveiled its eye-watering 'tour bus', which will visit 70 seats touting the first 'women's manifesto' in a bid to win back the support of the 9.1 million women who failed to vote in the last general election, on Tuesday. Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman and women and equalities spokesperson Gloria De Piero will be joined by other female shadow cabinet ministers on the tour – but at a briefing in Westminster, Ms Harman rejected suggestions that the colour was “patronising” and said it had been picked by a “a collective”. “Is it not magenta or something?” she said. “We wanted to mark that this was something different. We wanted it to look conspicuous and therefore a white van was not going to do the job.” But Twitter erupted in a fury of disbelief, with some users comparing the brand new battle bus as something more suited to...Barbie. What inspired Harriet Harman's new pink battle-van? Surely not this... pic.twitter.com/zvGfNBrlcw Twitter users lambasted the move as being like something from a 'Sheilas' Wheels' advert – the unforgettable (and some would say, irritating) ditty for the car insurance brand that targets its insurance products to women. I can't help but think of this image when covering Labour's pink "Woman to Woman" bus pic.twitter.com/wKZdhKYPR7 Many derided the choice of the colour pink – when addressing issues aimed at women – as "patronising". Could this be more patronising? Labour unveil pink bus to appeal to women voters http://t.co/pO3TtaU50Z pic.twitter.com/cCbCB7RkNb Harriet Harman was branded a 'Hen night Harriet'... It's a bit "hen night" isn't it? Will Harriet have a cow boy hat and pass around jaegerbombs? http://t.co/Hkfakschh8 pic.twitter.com/Yd97rPlKtd ...and a large number of people compared the bus to Barbie. I do think a pink bus for the Labour ‘women’s issues’ bus was astonishingly naff. Why not a ‘Barbie loves Ed’ mock-up? While some criticised Labour's commitment to gender issues. Pink? PINK? I'd have expected Harriet Harman to demand a blue election battle bus to fight gender stereotypes And others just welcomed the opportunity to make fun of the decision altogether. The Labour #pinkbus needs to rethink its sponsorship deals pic.twitter.com/JNuoxjzKNz |