[AusRace] GUYS, SPORTSBET AND EVANS HAVE GONE WOKE!

[L.B.Loveday]

This article is from the November 23 issue of Australian Financial
Review Digital Edition. To subscribe, visit https://www.afr.com [1]. 

There are a few corners of the cultural landscape which still exist to
craft and propagate toxic stereotypes for the Great Aussie Male. But
they are dwindling. 

Even Pat Cummins has turned cricket woke, standing against dirty
sponsors and hosting Simon and Garfunkel listening parties. Look how
that turned out! 

One last bastion has been this country’s gambling companies, which
have spent decades plastering TV, radio and social media with low-rent
ads, tailored to blokes aged 18 to 35. 

In an incredible twist, even the bookies have fallen. At a recent
internal presentation, foreign-owned Sportsbet informed staff about
some new language guidelines. Under the banner, ‘‘ Words
matter’’ , the powerpoint slide laid out some new ways to address
employees at the company. 

Staff should no longer use ‘‘ Hi guys, lads, gents’’ . It’s
been replaced by, ‘‘ Hi everyone, hi all, hi folks’’ . ‘‘
She’ ’ and ‘‘ he’ ’ are out, ‘‘ they’ ’ is in,
that’s ‘‘ unless you know their pronouns’’ . 

In another nod to our rapidly shifting gender mores, Sportsbet
employees were told not to use ‘‘ mother’ ’ or ‘‘
father’’ , but ‘‘ parents’’ . And ‘‘ wife’ ’ and
‘‘ husband’ ’ is to be replaced by ‘‘ partner’ ’ or
‘‘ significant other’’ . 

Gambling execs are even attuned to the decolonisation within language
circles, asking employees to retire the words ‘‘ whitelist’ ’
and ‘‘ blacklist’’ , and instead use ‘‘ allow list’ ’
and ‘‘ deny list’’ . (White = good, black = bad, reinforces
negative stereotypes) 

‘‘ We want people working at Sportsbet to know they can thrive no
matter who they are, and it is important that we are having
conversations that encourage understanding and inclusivity,’’ a
spokesman said. 

It’s all pretty standard stuff that has been sweeping workplaces,
usually pushed by overzealous ESG-types looking for problems where
they don’t exist. Even BHP underwent two updates this year, retiring
‘‘ bosses’ ’ for ‘‘ supervisors’’ , ‘‘ love
interest’ ’ for ‘‘ boyfriend/girlfriend’’ , and our
favourite, dumping ‘‘ brownout’ ’ for ‘‘ under frequency
load shed’’ . 

But gee, this going-on at the Barni Evans-run Sportsbet, the
country’s largest online bookmaker, really takes the cake. 

In 2015, Sportsbet opened a market to bet on the new name for newly
transitioned Caitlyn Jenner, running with the tagline: ‘‘ Fair
play to Bruce, it takes a lot of balls to em ... cut off your
balls.’’ Sportsbet apologised after an online outcry. 

Or during the pandemic, Sportsbet ran a TV ad which featured two
fellas whipping each other with towels, including the line, ‘‘ The
bloke’s nearly as whipped as Prince Harry’’ . It fell foul of
the ad standards bureau, with Sportsbet trying to argue with a
straight face that the regulator was wrong to claim it was a reference
to being ‘‘ pussy-whipped’’ . 

Midwits at News Corp like to screech that ‘‘ go woke, go
broke’’ . But we’re not sure gambling addicts placing a bet on
Manchester United versus Everton this weekend will be worried about
correct pronoun use. 

Copyright © 2023 Australian Financial Review
 

Links:
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[1] https://www.afr.com

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