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    B&Q apologises after cabinet described as ‘easy to assemble, even if you’re a girl’
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    B&Q apologises after cabinet described as ‘easy to assemble, even if you’re a girl’

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    30 Comments

    1. nothingnew09876 on

      If its a misconception that women aren’t as good as men at assembling flat packed furniture.

      It’s a misconception spread by women, in order to get men to assemble the flat packed furniture.

    2. Conscious-Ball8373 on

      Did no-one, anywhere in the process, stop and think, “Is this really going to make us look good?”

    3. KeyLog256 on

      I would bet money that literally no one complained, but B&Q are apologising anyway and now basically have free advertising in national news outlets.

      Tesco pulled the same trick with their “offensive” word-play billboards a few years back.

    4. Dedsnotdead on

      My Wife used to build all the flat pack stuff.
      She’s significantly better at looking at instructions, identifying all the parts and the build order and then cracking on.

      Just the way her mind works she says.

      Whoever wrote the copy and whoever approved that ad was having an off day to put it politely.

    6. ClimbsNFlysThings on

      I thought it was common knowledge that women are significantly better at flat pack furniture builds than men.

    7. Wipedout89 on

      My wife builds all the furniture in our house. She just has a vision and a patience for it that I don’t possess.

      I think the joke is just harmless fun though really it’s obviously tongue in cheek

    8. DornPTSDkink on

      Remember the days of Yorkie bars and McCoys crisps doing the whole not for women thing

      Funny adverts though

    9. Ornery_Name717 on

      My wife got the instructions. She told me what’s to do. Hate to read it. My wife got a better than me

    10. Erewash on

      I, for one, often have to source ‘a girl’ to build the things. Smaller hands, see.

    11. redmanshaun on

      Wish my wife would assemble it. Not help. If im doing it then stay waaay out my way until I’ve stopped swearing and finished putting it together

    12. jimmywhereareya on

      Many moons ago I worked in a large Argos shop in Liverpool city centre. I f60 was assembling a large living room type display cabinet, drunk man wonders over and asked me why I was assembling the cabinet. I replied, because they couldn’t find a man who could read the instructions.

    15. EstebanClunge on

      It’s a benign satire on female insufficiency, just like yorkie once was – it’s a targeted advert for women, “prove yourself by buying this” – any other take is null

    16. Fit_Importance_5738 on

      I could probably build furniture better fork scratch than assemble pre built

    17. DWOL82 on

      I find B&Q apologising over this offensive and hate speech Do I get an apology now from them?

    18. dewittless on

      “Hey, are half the population women?”

      “Nah man, it’s way less than that. Check out this office, there’s like three”

      “Oh Okay, I’ll just go ahead with this then”

    19. Species1139 on

      To be fair my partner wipes the floor with me when it comes to this, I half arse the instructions, put it together all back to front and she steps in and sorts it out.

      In my case they should have said, ‘easy to assemble without your girlfriends supervision.’

    20. ChickenPijja on

      I think they should now apologise for the apology. Not because the original was or wasn’t offensive, but because they knew it would cause a stir, and they are getting free advertising off the back of the outrage 

    21. Whitechix on

      Annoying misogyny but I bet literally nobody really cared that much and this news is just being forcefully fed to us for some rage bait or marketing.

    22. I_waz_Perce on

      I rock at assembling flat pack furniture. In fact, if any assembly is required, my brothers usually hand it to me. I even managed to assemble my nice posh Costco shed myself. I had to teach myself to do a lot during covid. Plumbing, some basic electrical, painting, filling ceiling cracks, flooring. I love it.

    23. General-Pound6215 on

      If B&Q are going to sell items with descriptions like this, can they please start selling those Yorkie bars that weren’t for girls?

      Not out of any belief that girls can’t or shouldn’t eat them. It’s just that I’m sure they were much bigger than the bars we get nowadays 

    24. SignatureLabel on

      My missus puts all our furniture together and I’m not ashamed to admit that. I cook though.

    25. Vivid-Blacksmith-122 on

      Fuck B&Q. I assemble all sorts of things on my own. The only time I can’t manage it is when their idiotic instructions don’t make sense.

    26. RainbowRedYellow on

      Oh we don’t like that I thought the western world was really big on this now?

      You know gender policing, casual sexism and biological essentialism?

    27. MeasurementTall8677 on

      My wife wouldn’t be offended by this she doesn’t read the instructions, I have to find them in the ripped up box to finish them off

    28. Monkeylovesfood on

      One of my favourite activities is making flat pack furniture with my husband. We work pretty well together so It’s like a satisfying puzzle for us.

      We normally design and handmake most of our furniture from scratch so comparatively, flat pack is almost like instant gratification.

      Media campaigns like this one are typical boomer humour, I’ve never been particularly bothered by that sort of thing. It’s the sort of thing those who are too thick/incapable themselves find funny.

      I’m a woman who has been capable of pretty much any DIY including skilled works like electrics, plumbing, roofing and bricklaying since my teenage years. The only one I won’t touch is gas.

      Me and my husband work like a well oiled machine with any weaknesses being covered by the other.

      I’m a Quantity Surveyor in residential construction and haven’t come across attitudes like this in real life. From directors and shareholders to planners, skilled trades and labourers, in the real world we all defer to the people most qualified for the given task.

    30. Intrepidy on

      First time recognising a store from a stock photo. That’s the b&q in castlepoint, bournemouth.

      Dumb thing to write though in the description. Must have been poorly translated as I can’t believe someone who didn’t use Google translate would be so tone deaf.