--- title: People Are Outraged By This Sexist Gap Ad description: The clothing company Gap is under scrutiny for a controversial ad, again. Gap has been criticized for running a 'sexist' advertisement. canonical: https://time.com/4436657/sexist-gap-ad/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-03T18:53:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:03.880Z og:title: People Are Outraged at Gap's New Sexist Ad Campaign og:description: It seems to enforce gender stereotypes in children og:url: https://time.com/4436657/sexist-gap-ad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7b71bc0d6903165/6988a0ecab6d77265c6aac72/gap-sexists-ads.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3309 og:image:height: 1861 og:image:alt: Fashion Store Gap Are The Latest American Company Facing British Tax Questions og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Are Outraged at Gap's New Sexist Ad Campaign twitter:description: It seems to enforce gender stereotypes in children twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7b71bc0d6903165/6988a0ecab6d77265c6aac72/gap-sexists-ads.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Are Outraged at Gap's New Sexist Ad Campaign > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=b6450885-fdea-4e1a-8d1d-63efc3f7e00d&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) by [Madeline Farber / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Madeline Farber / Fortune Fortune Aug 3, 2016 6:53 PM UTC  Signage on the exterior of fashion retailer Gap's Regent Street flagship store on February 11, 2016 in London. Signage on the exterior of fashion retailer Gap's Regent Street flagship store on February 11, 2016 in London. Ben Pruchnie—Getty Images by [Madeline Farber / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Madeline Farber / Fortune Fortune Aug 3, 2016 6:53 PM UTC The clothing company [Gap](http://fortune.com/fortune500/gap-177/) is under scrutiny for a controversial ad, again. Gap has been criticized for a new advertising campaign depicting an image of a boy, labeled “the little scholar,” wearing a t-shirt with Albert Einstein’s face. Next to him, an image of a girls’ t-shirt, captioned “the social butterfly.” The ad says of the boy “your future starts here,” while the girl’s clothes are “the talk of the playground.” The campaign has provoked outrage on social media with critics calling it sexist. The ad was reportedly first sent in an email to U.K. customers but can also be found on the brand’s [website](http://www.gap.co.uk/browse/division.do?cid=86337&mlink=5058,11952423,DT%5FTN%5FT%5FEU&clink=11952423&tid=guaf5699550&ap=2&sem=true). Many social media users felt that the ad promoted gender stereotypes. The criticism didn’t stop there. The “little scholar” t-shirt originally misspelled Albert Einstein’s name, although it now appears to be corrected on the [website](http://www.gap.co.uk/browse/product.do?pid=000332167000&vid=1&preferredLocale=en%5FGB&kwid=1&sem=true&sdkw=einstein-athletic-graphic-tee-P000332167&sdReferer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gap.co.uk%2Fproducts%2Fgraphic-tees-for-little-boys.jsp&tid=guaf5699550&ap=2). > [](https://twitter.com/LetToysBeToys/status/759704003642961921) These are some of the responses the ad elicited on social media: > [](https://twitter.com/walkercotton/status/759869484375027712) > [](https://twitter.com/ChiOnwurah/status/759710512712036352) > [](https://twitter.com/samatlounge/status/760007175368482816) “Gap brand has always stood for individuality, optimism and creativity. Our intentions have always been to celebrate every child and we did not intend to offend anyone, said Liz Nunan, a Gap spokesperson, in a statement to _Fortune_. The clothing company was just recently criticized for an[ ad in April.](http://fortune.com/2016/04/05/gap-pulls-controversial-ad-image/?iid=sr-link1) The ad that was in question depicted four young girls that are part of Le Petit Cirque, a traveling circus company that features boys and girls between the ages of 5 to 14\. In the image, an African-American girl is posing next to a taller Caucasian girl that is propping her arm on the younger girl’s head. The ad was condemned for being “racially insensitive.” _This_ [_article_](http://fortune.com/2016/08/02/gap-sexist-ad-controversy/) _originally appeared on_ [_Fortune.com_](http://fortune.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4436657/sexist-gap-ad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4436657/sexist-gap-ad/"},"headline":"People Are Outraged at Gap's New Sexist Ad Campaign","datePublished":"2016-08-03T18:53:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:03.880Z","description":"It seems to enforce gender stereotypes in children","url":"https://time.com/4436657/sexist-gap-ad/","keywords":["motto","News","sexism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7b71bc0d6903165/6988a0ecab6d77265c6aac72/gap-sexists-ads.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Madeline Farber / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7b71bc0d6903165/6988a0ecab6d77265c6aac72/gap-sexists-ads.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Fashion Store Gap Are The Latest American Company Facing British Tax Questions","caption":"Fashion Store Gap Are The Latest American Company Facing British Tax Questions","creditText":"Ben Pruchnie—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4436657/sexist-gap-ad/","name":"People Are Outraged at Gap's New Sexist Ad Campaign"}}]}] ```