Insensitive ads describing maids as ‘good value for money’, ‘affordable’ are back

Three dozen or so maid agencies at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre are peddling migrant workers, with promises of “good value for money” and “affordable” in notices they place on their shop windows. Some advocates are concerned that marketing material has remained demeaning and affect how employers treat maids. Asst Prof Luke Lu, who teaches linguistics and multilingual studies at NTU, said when people absorb information, they are “ bringing in our social framing based on our experiences”, adding: “So if you were brought up with the idea that helpers are cheap, and they ought to be treated in a subhuman way, you might interpret these advertisements in a harmful and discriminatory way.” Assoc Prof Laavanya Kathiravelu of NTU’s School of Social Sciences stressed the damaging societal impact of such marketing material. “(Maid) agencies often generate harmful stereotypes to advertise, for example, that maids from Myanmar are more docile and less demanding of rights like days off and privacy,” she said, adding that as a result, maids are dehumanised.

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