Originally published by the NZ Herald on 2/07/25
At the end of this term, I had the joy of attending my daughter’s celebration of learning at her school. It’s a special moment where whānau are invited into the classroom to see what their children have been working on and for us, it’s something we’ve experienced over many years.
With an older child as well, we’ve now taken part in nearly a decade of these celebrations. This year, though, something stood out. For the first time, I saw a proper maths book being used in a New Zealand primary school classroom, a direct result of the government’s curriculum reset.
And what a difference it’s made.
Our daughter has grown significantly in confidence. She’s more engaged, more curious, and proud of the progress she’s made. Maths is no longer just another subject, it’s something she genuinely enjoys. In particular, she’s developed a real love for algebra (as well as unicorns).
So it was incredibly disappointing to see The Warehouse’s recent television ad, which featured a pink, unicorn-covered backpack with the line “Can’t do long division”, followed by a girl’s giggle.
The message was clear, the girly backpack, adorned with beads, hearts, and a unicorn belonged to a child who couldn’t do long division. While that might seem harmless to some, it’s part of a much bigger issue.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received two formal complaints and upheld them both. The ASA ruled that the ad was “likely to cause serious offence” and reinforced a damaging stereotype: that girls aren’t good at maths.
In response, The Warehouse defended the ad by saying long division isn’t usually taught until Year 5, and that the backpack was clearly aimed at younger kids, maybe three to five years old.
But let’s be honest, that response sounds like it came from someone who hasn’t stepped into a Year 4 or 5 classroom lately, where unicorns are still all the rage with girls of all ages. The ASA didn’t buy the explanation either. They pointed out that there was nothing in the ad that clearly showed the child’s age and that the colour palette, design, and the childlike giggle all leaned much more towards reinforcing gender stereotypes than anything age-specific.
And that’s the problem.
These types of stereotypes start early. And they stick. They influence how children see themselves, what they believe they’re capable of, and the value they assign to certain skills and identities.
What makes this ad even more concerning is that it’s not an isolated incident.
Dr Michelle Dickinson, a respected nanotechnologist, science educator and founder of Nanogirl Labs, publicly called out the ad, but also pointed to a previous example of gender stereotyping by The Warehouse. A few years ago, she discovered that a boys’ BMX bike being sold on their website included the product listing: “Very fast quick release brake… so easy even for a girl.”
Believe it or not, that was actually written in a public product description. Michelle shared a detailed post on LinkedIn, saying: “These aren’t one-off moments, they’re part of a pattern of gendered assumptions that tell young girls what they can’t do: Can’t do long division, Can’t ride a bike unless it has ‘easy brakes’, Can’t be expected to keep up.”
Michelle has spent her career breaking barriers in science and tech. She’s a global speaker, author, former University of Auckland lecturer, and holds a PhD in biomedical materials. Appointed a Member of the NZ Order of Merit, her advocacy for gender equity in STEM is driven by both passion and evidence.
She also wrote: “Too many girls opt out of maths and science because they’ve absorbed the message that ‘it’s not for them.’”
And she’s absolutely right. I’ve seen this play out over and over again, in classrooms, in playgrounds, and in how kids talk about what they’re good at. These assumptions about what girls can or can’t do don’t start in adulthood. They’re embedded early, sometimes in the form of an offhand comment, a toy aisle label, or yes, a supposedly light-hearted ad on TV.
That’s why this matters. It’s not about being outraged by one silly tagline. It’s about recognising the deeper harm that accumulates when companies, especially large, influential ones like The Warehouse, use humour to reinforce tired stereotypes.
As Michelle points out, the Warehouse does genuinely good work in the community. Its Red Bag initiative raises over $1 million a year for causes across New Zealand. That’s something worth celebrating. But being a socially responsible business means more than giving money away, it means ensuring your own messaging uplifts, rather than limits, the people you aim to serve.
This ad didn’t do that. And when challenged, The Warehouse’s initial defence didn’t address the underlying issue. They focused on age-based context, as though the only problem was that the child in the ad might not yet be learning long division.
That misses the point entirely. The ASA understood that. They determined that the ad didn’t clearly indicate a young age and that its humour was based on a well-worn stereotype: the girl with the sparkly pink bag who “can’t do maths”.
If we want to help our kids succeed, especially in areas like STEM where we know confidence is closely linked to participation, then we have to stop reinforcing messages that suggest girls don’t belong.
This was a missed opportunity for The Warehouse. What could have been a moment to lead with humility, a genuine apology, a clear commitment to reviewing creative through a more inclusive lens became a moment of avoidance.
The ad has now been pulled. But that only came after public complaints and a formal ruling.
Imagine the impact they could have had if, from the start, they’d said: “We see it now. That line was off. We’re sorry. We’ll do better.”
Instead, they fell back on the tired line of “it was just a joke”, ignoring the reality that these kinds of jokes tell our girls that they don’t belong in certain spaces.
Spaces like classrooms, science labs, engineering firms and yes, even bike trails.
Our daughters, and all our tamariki, deserve better than that. They deserve to grow up seeing themselves reflected positively in the media they consume. They deserve brands that back their potential not ones that turn them into the punchline.
As for my 9-year-old, I’ll keep encouraging her love of both algebra and unicorns. Because she doesn’t have to choose.
Come on, The Warehouse. You got this one wrong. Own it. Learn from it. And just apologise.
