With reference to the letter from Kelly Liu (“ Chinese ad shows sexist stereotypes are alive and well ”, January 17), we agree with your correspondent that women in many TV ads continue to be portrayed as sexualised objects of the male gaze or depicted as fulfilling society’s “desired” roles for them as wife, mother or carer. A case in point is a TV commercial sponsored by the Food and Health Bureau to market the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme. The ad shows a young man recovering from injuries at home who receives a call from his mother. She tells him that, with extra protection from the insurance scheme, a nurse has been hired to take care of him at home. At that moment, a young female nurse appears at his door, beautiful and bathed in light. She tends to his injuries, feeds him with a spoon and wipes his brow, as the voice-over recounts the benefits of enrolling in the scheme. This is soon revealed to be a (male) fantasy, as the young man wakes up to answer the door to his real nurse – a man. A musical chime signals the bursting of the young man’s bubble and his face falls. While the ad appears playful on the surface, it only succeeds in perpetuating heterosexist stereotypes of gender roles and expectations , as well as the objectification of women. Given that this particular ad was sponsored by the Hong Kong SAR government, we would expect more careful thought and critical understanding about gender issues from those responsible for marketing their products to the public. Benedict Rowlett and Simon Wang, Kowloon Tong