Unless you've been living under a rock there is a good chance you'll have seen the controversial mainland laundry-detergent advertisement showing a Chinese woman putting a black man in a washing machine to make him all clean and Asian.

Shanghai Leishang Cosmetics, owner of the Qiaobi laundry detergent brand, issued an apology of sorts for the appalling ad. A company representative, named only as Mr Wang, said critics were "too sensitive", stating the issue of racial discrimination didn't come up during the production of the video, the full version of which was not seen publicly until it was leaked online.

Well, if the obvious racism was not noticed by the makers, then the sexist element would have been lost on them, too.

Wander through the MTR or flick through magazines and you will see ads featuring smiley, immaculately turned-out women in the kitchen or serving champagne to suited-up men in aircraft cabins.