Scotch-Brite criticised for gender marker logo; company's marketing head replies

Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, July 16

Another brand has come under fire for gender-targeted marketing. 

Karthik Srinivasan, a communications strategy consultant, recently took to LinkedIn to call out Scotch-Brite for their logo which stereotypes gender roles. 

Srinivasan started his post by writing, “Pushpanjali Banerji recently shared with me a photo of a pack of Scotch-Brite and after I noticed what she pointed to, I couldn’t unsee it!”

“The logo has the vector image of a woman with a bindi!” he added.

“While a lint roller does not carry this, other products like scrub pad/sponge, sink brush, broom, bathroom wipe, stainless steel scrub, toilet brush do carry it,” he noted. 

You can read the post in its entirety here.

“In 2020, such gender markers seem awkward and out of place. I sure hope the good folks at 3M take note of this legacy logo and update it,” he wrote at the end of his post.

His post has collected over a thousand reactions and several comments, triggering a debate on the platform.

“This was an eyeopener! This is a perfect example of sublime subconscious gender stereotyping in the minds,” wrote one person in the comments section.

“While it’s an interesting observation that you make, the fact remains that majority of Indian households hire domestic help to do most of their cleaning activities. And majority of these domestic help are women. So yes a large part of the end user of Scotch-Brite products are women,” another countered.

Scotch-Brite, however, took note of the post and promised change.

He soon received a reply from Atul Mathur, Head of Marketing – Consumer Business at 3M India, Scotch-Brite’s parent company. 

Mathur’s reply is winning people over.

“At the very outset I wish to thank you for your insightful comment on the Scotch-Brite packaging. I head marketing in 3M India for our Consumer business. You have correctly surmised that this is a legacy vector, and that it is undoubtedly time to move on from regressive beliefs,” wrote Mathur.

“At the same time we also began to work internally on changing the brand vector. I am pleased to inform you that you will see the logo change a few months down the line,” he said.

Mathur also commented on Karthik’s post saying that the logo was a “legacy vector” and he realised that it was “time to move on from regressive beliefs.”