This week, the internet has been all abuzz about this photo:

Found by Emma Barnett, an editor at The Telegraph in London, and subsequently uploaded to Twitter and then appearing in The Telegraph itself, everyone has had their say on the label.

Deemed ‘sexist’, people complained it was ‘putting women back decades’ and ‘painting a Neanderthalic portrait that women should only clean the house and do the laundry’. I mean, personally, I laughed at the label and upon Googling it, laughed at the outrageously serious responses it got. It got so much press, this statement was released by the retailer, Madhouse:

“The chinos in question are manufactured by a jeans brand that we stock but the care instructions on this product were not proofed by our buyers who normally concern themselves with quality, style and price of the products they order.The first Madhouse was aware of the care instruction on this product was today. The wording was not instigated or ordered by Madhouse.The wording is clearly meant as a joke but now it has been pointed out to us it is something we will need to be more careful about in the future.”

Man, if I were them, I’d be the first to say, ‘Yep, yep we did that. That was us. It was a joke. Smile people, smile’. In all likelihood, Madhouse have either been part of an awesome practical joke or the best marketing strategy in the world.

I mean, maybe I’m wrong here, but whoever looks at that label and thinks, ‘Yes, you’re correct washing label on my jeans, my woman should be doing my laundry. Woman, where are you?! Come do my laundry!’

If The Canadian One said that to me, I’d smack him. Or at least take a swing at him, miss, fall down and have him comfort me and help me back up off the floor. He’s tall and can duck and weave surprisingly well.

Take a look at it this way, there was no outrage over this label:

Where’s the outcry in defense of Christmas?! Where?!

Or indeed for ANY of these:

Looks suspiciously like the one that sparked the original article…just sayin’

Come on, lighten up masses of Twitter folk. When I was at university, having shrunk a sweater, caused another sweater to be the proud owner of a million small bobbles and completely destroyed a t-shirt, I was constantly on the phone to my mother for advice on how to wash things.

Why?

Not because I think it’s her job as a woman and as a mother but because SHE KNOWS HOW TO DO IT AND I DON’T!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s Saturday night and I’m about to make The Canadian One take me out to dinner. What? Whatever about girls and laundry, boys still pay for meals, right? That’s still a rule in 2012, no?

For more posts, check out:

• ‘What do we do with the photo?’ – April 1st 2012
• ‘Dude, where’s my pic?!’ – March 30th 2012
• ‘Dear Students…’ – March 29th 2012
• ‘But then how do you pay your strippers?!’ – Conversations with TCO Part 1 – March 21st 2012
• ‘Number 16 never fails to make me laugh…’ – Analogies – March 19th 2012
• ‘Oh, you’re Irish! Me too.’ – March 17th 2012
• ‘How do you feel about Pi?’ – March 11th 2012
• ‘I did NOT break the coffee machine!’ – March 10th 2012
• ‘I’ve taken up origami…’ – March 7th 2012
• ‘Wait, what’s a one-eyed Jack?!’ – March 5th 2012
• And, of course, in the Index.