The Woman Who Made Up Her Mind

About

The Woman Who Made Up Her Mind refers to a series of pictures and videos from a Better Together campaign advert which featured a woman trying to make up her mind on what to vote for in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. The advert gained a lot of criticism and was branded as 'sexist' and 'patronising'. Due to the backlash it faced, pro-Scottish independence supporters started mocking and editing parts of the advert which went viral on Twitter and Facebook.

Origin

In the run-up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum on September 18, 2014, the anti-Scottish independence campaign, Better Together created a political broadcast with the aim of persuading un-decided female voters to vote No in the referendum.

The advert featured a working home wife and mother who explained about her husband's interest in the forthcoming referendum and speculated on whether she would vote Yes or No, she thinks about what is the best future for her children, their children and their children as the decisions she makes will determine their future.

She sarcastically insults what the Yes campaign are 'claiming' such as keeping the Pound sterling in a currency union with the Bank of England which she claims 'It'll all be fine, I've heard that before' and then after making up her mind, she declares that she is choosing to vote No.

Spread

2014 Scottish independence referendum

The advert gained a considerable amount of criticism as it was branded 'sexist' and 'patronising' and the day after the advert aired, pro-independence supporters mocked the advert by creating and editing pictures with intentional ridiculous captions to convey the advert's claims of 'fearmongering' and the hashtag #PatronisingBTLady trended on Twitter the day after the advert had aired.

Due to the spread, several news sites picked up on the mockery of the advert, including the Guardian, BuzzFeed and HeraldScotland.

2016 European Union membership referendum

Because of Scotland's European Union membership was under threat if Scotland had voted Yes in the 2014 referendum, that was the main reason why many voters had voted No. Two years later in 2016, Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the European Union whilst the majority of England and Wales voted to leave the European Union as part of the 2016 EU membership referendum.

Due to this, the Woman Who Made Up Her Mind meme resurfaced with many pro-Scottish independence supporters remaking the advert with the woman reacting to the promises that were made in the 2014 independence referendum which turned out to be 'false lies' and remarking that this wasn't what she voted for in 2014.

Criticism

The advert had gained a considerable amount of criticism as many described the woman in the advert as a 'stereotypical house wife' and for 'patronising' viewers watching at home. It was also criticised for it's fearmongering by creating ridiculous fabricated information to viewers. This was the main reason why it had in a sense backfired and turned into mockery.

Various Examples