Social media users criticised Meghan Markle for highlighting her 11-year-old lawsuit against a major American consumer goods company over its allegedly sexist dish soap advertisement.
In the first episode of her “Archetypes” podcast, which was just made available on Spotify, Markle, 41, related the story.
She claimed that she responded by starting a “letter writing campaign” to political commentators, including First Lady Hillary Clinton, to protest the language the business used in the advertisement.
The experience, according to the Duchess of Sussex, “awakened to the millions of ways, big and small, that our society tries to box women in.”
Twitter users criticised Markle for sharing the ‘yawn-inducing’ childhood story once more, saying she makes the alleged injustice 30 years later ‘look more pathetic’.
Additionally, her detractors criticised the podcast, saying they were “ready to turn it off after 20 seconds.”
Bringing up the advertisement—which Markle has spoken about at numerous public events, including a speech she gave for UN Women on International Women’s Day in 2015—led to backlash on social media.
In the first episode of her new podcast, titled “The Misconception of Ambition with Serena Williams,” Markle spoke with the tennis icon, who is also one of her close friends.
The Duchess launched into the podcast, saying: “At the age of 11, while growing up in Los Angeles, I saw a commercial that would forever alter the way I viewed my place in the world.
To be clear, it wasn’t because this advertisement was a clever marketing ploy. Actually, the opposite was true.
When the advertisement started, Markle claimed she was watching television in her sixth-grade classroom with other students.
The gloves are coming off, the narrator declared over catchy music. Ivory Clear is being used by women to clean up greasy pots and pans.
On Tuesday’s episode, Markle recalled, “I was furious.” ‘Women? Was that man really simply saying “women”? like just women? Just ladies.
The queen also said how two males in her class “breathed life into my darkest nightmare” after the advertisement had shown.
They stated: “That is where ladies belong, for sure! in the dining room.” This did not set well with me when I was 11 years old, guy.
The Duchess then aired a footage from Markle’s 1993 interview with Nickelodeon, when she originally expressed her objections to the ad.
The child Markle stated in the video, “It makes me worry that they’re going to grow up believing that females are less than them – you know, like guys are better than girls.”
Young Markle also complained in a letter to Procter & Gamble about sexism in a dish soap advertisement. She requested that they adjust the wording to “people all around America,” and the business complied.
Markle also criticised individuals who called her “ambitious” when she began dating Prince Harry.
While the Sussexes were touring South Africa, she also spoke of the “suffering” she had had “behind closed doors” and claimed that her son Archie had nearly missed a fire in the bedroom where he was meant to be sleeping.
Now, see, I’m not Catholic, Meghan remarked. I did not grow up Catholic. But after my letter-writing campaign, I began middle school at Immaculate Heart about a year later (in Los Angeles). Through high school, I remained there. I spent six years there. This feminist ideology also permeated almost every facet of my education.
I think it’s safe to say that it permeates every aspect of my life. It was made very clear to me and my classmates that we had unlimited potential as young women. Ambition. That was the whole point, after all.
So until I started dating my future husband, I don’t recall ever sensing the negative connotation associated with the word “ambitious.” Furthermore, ambition seems to be a terrible, terrible thing. some people claim that is, for a woman.
It’s very difficult to unfeel it now that I’ve experienced the negativity behind it. The millions of girls and women who regularly make themselves much smaller are another group in which I am unable to unsee it.
“So I wanted to talk to someone who personifies the spirit of ambition to see how she thinks about the word and the connotation, and how the other many labels that affect all women have affected her too,” says the interviewer.
In her conversation with Williams, Meghan added: “You experience the pain that I’m going through behind closed doors, even when you have to see things that are mischaracterizing of me.
“What I find fascinating is that, although taking place on a global scale, I doubt any woman would experience it very differently. How would you feel if you were in a small town and someone was saying something about your closest buddy that was simply flat-out false?
“The idea of these, like, Archetypes, but it’s the kind of stuff you and I talk about so often, these boxes and labels – the things that we both have been called and witnessed each other being called.”
“As you heard in my conversation with my close friend, the idea of ambition comes with many judgments and nuances—especially for women,” Meghan said.
The idea that being ambitious implies having an agenda, being calculated, greedy, or aggressive, or being a climber.
And that if you’re that courageous, strong, or fierce, you somehow deserve everything that is thrown at you — no matter how disproportionate or unfair it may be, and even when it is more than most people could handle. most people, especially men.
The Duchess of Sussex chatted with tennis pro Serena Williams for the podcast, “The Misconception of Ambition with Serena Williams,”
They’ve all in some way suffered the brunt of the labels we’ll be tearing apart, and of course I know a thing or two about these labels myself, Meghan added in reference to her guests, who also include Mariah Carey next week.
Williams, 40, and Meghan, 41, both offered personal anecdotes about their hardships as first-time moms.
The Duchess once recalled how her son Archie, who was meant to be asleep during the Sussexes’ tour to South Africa, just barely survived a fire in his bedroom.
When the heater in the nursery caught fire in the meanwhile, Archie’s then-nanny, Lauren, who only went by the name Lauren, had brought the four and a half-month-old with her downstairs instead while she went to buy a snack.
The heater in the nursery caught fire in the time she was downstairs, according to Meghan. Smoke detectors were not present. Someone entered after smelling smoke down the corridor and put out the fire. It was intended for him to be sleeping there.
After arriving on their official tour, the former Suits actress described how they dropped off their little boy at the housing complex they were staying in so he could get some rest before Meghan and the Duke of Sussex left to make a visit to the Nyanga township, where the duchess gave a speech.
When I was making my speech to ladies and girls, I was standing on a tree stump. After the engagement, we got in the vehicle, and they told us that the house had caught fire. What? The baby’s room has caught fire, she remarked.
We returned, said Meghan. Naturally, as a mother, you think, “Oh, my God, what?” Everyone is in tears and is distraught. What must we do, then? do another formal engagement while you’re out? This doesn’t make any sense, I said.
In the episode, Harry also makes an appearance, to whom Meghan says: “You want to come say hi? Check out who just walked in.
In British accents, Williams and Meghan say “Hello” to Harry, who replies, “I appreciate what you’ve done with your hair.” That feels so good.
Williams responds, “I’m grateful. As usual, it’s nice to see you. I miss you folks.
The duke replies, “Well, come and visit us,” to which Meghan replies that they will come up with a plan.
Thank you, my love, Meghan says as Harry walks away.
Williams also stated that Harry spent an hour talking with her about her choice to retire from tennis before it was officially publicised.
“I think, you know, I think two of us, or the three of us, truly recognise that sometimes the correct option isn’t the simplest one,” said Meghan, a senior working royal who left the monarchy.
It takes a lot more guts, in my opinion, to quit something than to keep going at times, she said to Williams.
The pair’s Spotify podcast will finally launch this summer, the Archewell Foundation said earlier this year. This comes 18 months after the couple signed the hefty arrangement.
Meghan, the host of Archetypes, will interview historians, subject matter experts, and women who have been stereotyped.
The duchess stated: “This is how we speak about women: the words that raise our daughters, and how the media reflects women back to us” in an earlier teaser for the Archewell Audio project. But from whence do these cliches originate? How do they continue to influence our lives and appear in them?
The Duchess continued, giving a sneak peek at the sorts of guests that would appear: “This is Archetypes, the podcast where we analyse, investigate, and disrupt the categories that attempt to limit women.”
I’ll speak with women who are all too aware of how these stereotypes influence our narratives. Additionally, I’ll consult historians to learn how we came to be here.
In late 2020, Meghan and Harry agreed to a lucrative arrangement with the leading podcast producer and presenter that is said to be worth over £18 million.
However, they had only ever published one programme before this one, a Christmas special in December 2020 that included their son Archie and famous guests.
Meghan has always advocated for women’s rights. Her chats with typecast women were characterised as “uncensored” by Spotify and Archewell Audio, who also claimed that the duchess will dive into the roots of stereotypes.
Along with Rebecca Sananes, the director of audio at Archewell, and Ben Browning, the head of content, former Suits actress Meghan serves as an executive producer on the show.
Gimlet Media and Archewell Audio are working together to develop the podcast for Spotify.