London Fire Brigade Calls Out ‘Peppa Pig’ For Using Sexist Term ‘Fireman’

Tom Pappert   |  

Mar 19, 2019

The London Fire Brigade called out the popular children’s show “Peppa Pig” on Twitter for using the horribly sexist term “fireman” in one of its episodes.

Initially, the London Fire Brigade posted a picture of a Barbie doll in a fireman’s outfit with the caption “Great to have another supporter in our #FirefightingSexism campaign. Welcome Barbie!”

A Twitter user then sent the London Fire Brigade a clip from the popular children’s show, adding that “The memo didn’t reach the @Peppapig team,” because the children’s show’s narrator used the term “fireman” to describe an outfit worn by one of the characters.

The children’s show narrator simply said “Mummy piggy’s dressed as a fireman!” in the four second clip.

This led to the London Fire Brigade calling the show out on Twitter, saying “Come on @peppapig, we’ve not been firemen for 30 years,” and adding “Using out of date stereotypical gender specific wording prevents young girls from becoming firefighters. Join our #Firefightingsexism campaign,” with the four second clip quoted.

The vast majority of Twitter users seem to have scoffed at the London Fire Brigade feeling the need to castigate a popular children’s show on Twitter for using a gender specific pronoun.

“Embarrassing,” wrote one user, while another British user joked “My county must have also missed the memo. I call my brother a fireman instead of firefighter and he has never corrected me.”

Others said they initially thought it must have been a parody account considering the content of the London Fire Brigade’s tweet.

This is far from the first time British officials have been mocked for their social media use.

Just last week, a conservative MP in North Cornwall was roundly mocked after suggesting the solution to the nation’s epidemic of knife crime could be to fit every knife in the United Kingdom with a GPS tracker.