UK Retailer Jacamo Apologizes After ‘Real Man’ Campaign Derided for Gender Stereotyping, Homophobia

British clothing retailer Jacamo apologized on Monday for a new “real man” campaign and model search that mocks men who don’t subscribe to masculine stereotypes.

One ad says “real men have balls, not man bags”. Another claims “real men eat sandwiches.”

The company, which sells men’s sportswear, footwear, and accessories, claims it was aiming to promote diversity, but clearly missed its mark.

The BBC reports:

Jacamo has said sorry for any offence that it may have caused and says it was about finding regular men to advertise their clothes.

Ed Watson from the firm said: “Our social tweets were supposed to be a fun way of illustrating that there is more than one type of man something that the Real Man Runway competition is trying to do.

“We are mortified that this caused any offence and of course apologise.”

Here are a few of its ads:

Real men have balls, not man bags ⚽️

We've launched #RealManRunway to find the face for AW17. Tweet to enter! https://t.co/AWC0rfiF77 pic.twitter.com/QFNPFWh8d6

— Jacamo (@Jacamo) October 29, 2016

Real men don't glue their cats to the floor. 😺

Tweet with #RealManRunway 2 win T&Cs https://t.co/s2cBZMx3Jp pic.twitter.com/fUmgLm9x7n

— Jacamo (@Jacamo) October 30, 2016

Real men eat sandwiches (clothing optional) 🍴

We've launched #RealManRunway to find the face for AW17. https://t.co/n3BgB0tx9u pic.twitter.com/H4mIQU2jWi

— Jacamo (@Jacamo) October 28, 2016

Real men don't wear sunglasses inside 😎

Post a photo with #RealManRunway to enter our model search! T&Cs > https://t.co/H0erSmRTCc pic.twitter.com/xyQ67jtB0y

— Jacamo (@Jacamo) October 26, 2016

And some of the reactions:

real men don't give a flying fuck about outdated and damaging gender stereotypes and have a man bag if they bloody well want one.

— Dan Hatch 🎾 (@Daniel_Hatch) October 30, 2016

Congratulations on looking like homophobic trash. Gross.

— Cherry Wallis (@CherryWallis) October 30, 2016

https://twitter.com/DemiLovatoFan/status/793086507078778880

So a real man only wears clothes that doesn't fit ?

— Mamie Chouchen🍻 [Danette boi] (@Gayer_teens) October 31, 2016

#Fail . Do better @Jacamo – this is offensive. https://t.co/k2B86cyh6u

— Omar Sharif Jr. (@OmarSharifJr) October 30, 2016

you go ahead and reinforce old-fashioned stereotypes. We'll go ahead and buy clothes from companies with a sense of class.

— ΔNDREW 🏳️‍🌈 (@goodasyou1980) October 29, 2016