Chinese three-child policy ad campaign blasted for featuring only men and for lecturing women on how to have babies
- The ad campaign carried messages from only men, but was aimed at women
- Many felt the ad did nothing to address the challenges women face in having children
A Father’s Day advertisement in China encouraging people to take advantage of the three-child policy is facing a public backlash, with critics saying the video only interviewed men and offered no substantial support for women.
The video, by short video platform HaoKan Video which is owned by search company Baidu, was released last week to celebrate Father’s Day, which was on Sunday. It had circulated on Chinese social media over the weekend and was widely criticised.
The policy has been met with national resistance, as many young people, faced with high pressure, housing prices and insufficient social benefits are unwilling to have children.
Fathers in the video listed their reasons for supporting having a third child, addressing some of the concerns raised by the public earlier, when the policy first came out.
On the issue that education in China has become so “involuted”, meaning that resources have become so strained and the public is caught in meaningless competition, the first father in the ad said “As long as we insist on not being involuted, then nothing can make us”.