Scottish Independence No Campaign Given Savage Mauling On Twitter, The Best Of #PatronisingBTLady

Scottish 'No' Campaign Advert Spectacularly Backfires On Twitter

The Scottish Independence 'No' camp faced a fierce mauling on Twitter this morning after its latest campaign spectacularly backfired.

Better Together's latest campaign video, called 'The Woman Who Made Up Her Mind’, rapidly earned it's very own hashtag - #PatronisingBTLady - which has been trending across the UK Wednesday.

After it aired on the BBC and STV the ad sparked outrage for it's "sexist" approach to women, with many querying if the video is actually a parody of a 1950s infomercial.

The advert was a bid to win the support of undecided women voters and in just two minutes and forty seconds the 'busy mother' dismisses an independent Scotland as "one big gamble," that has "not been thought through."

Better Together urges women to vote No not only for "the love of our country" but for "the love of our families".

Discussing the upcoming vote on September 18th, the housewife says: "There's not much time left for me to make a decision… there's only so many hours in the day."

She also doesn't seem to like her family discussing the referendum, complaining that her husband "will not leave off about the referendum.

"He started again first thing this morning, ‘have you made a decision yet?’. I was like, ‘It’s too early to be discussing politics, eat your cereal’.

Spurring the wrath of Scotland's youth she then also discusses her children's attitude towards voting, saying "they never have their heads out their phones.”

It didn't take long for the internet to unite in mutual disdain for the video, with one critic slightly editing the original video.

A meme also was rapidly produced:

Others compared the advert to the Overly Attached Girlfriend meme:

Women For Independence said "the implication that a No vote is the only choice a mother should be making for her children is insulting".

A spokeswoman said: "We think it's disappointing that Better Together decided to portray Scotland's women in this way.

"The narrative suggests that women who are still making up their minds how to vote don't understand enough about the issues to arrive at an informed decision. That is not our experience.

"Women for Independence have spent the last two years listening to women, discussing what matters to them. They are thoughtful, intelligent and articulate.

"The polls show that when they do get helpful information they understand that this is our one opportunity to change their lives, and all our lives, for the better. That's why more and more are moving to voting Yes."

Kirsty Strickland, first-time mother to six-month-old Orla, has said: "The Better Together referendum broadcast was an absolute embarrassment.

"It portrayed women voters as daft ditherers who don't understand the magnitude of the decision they have to make.

"The implication that a No vote is the only choice a mother should be making for her children is insulting."

Launching the video yesterday, Better Together campaign director Blair McDougall said: "The key factor for people isn't the love of our country - as both Yes and No voters love Scotland. The key factor is the love of our families."

He added: "The words spoken in the film are taken verbatim from conversations on doorsteps with undecided women voters and from the opinion of women in dozens of focus groups around the country.

"With so many unanswered questions, more and more of us are coming to the decision that it is just too big a risk to take with our kids' future."

Commenting on the Women For Independence criticism, Labour MSP Jackie Baillie said: "The views in our broadcast are the views of the many articulate and intelligent women we have spoken to on the doorstep.

"They realise that this is not a normal election, and the decision we take on September 18 is forever and will affect our children and their children. So it is important we get it right."

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