While Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, is ringing in 2014 by celebrating “heroic women” in a new ad that screams “girl power,” many on the Left are angered over the commercial, specifically for the company’s inclusion of former United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Set to the tune of Sara Bareilles’ “Brave,” the Bing ad features an array of heroic women who shattered the glass ceiling and overcame adversity. The commercial, which was posted to YouTube on Dec. 29 and aired during Sunday’s broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, highlights Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, Malala Yousafzai and Thatcher, among others. While the lineup of women featured is impressive, some viewers took to Twitter to deride Microsoft for including Thatcher.
Margaret Thatcher, #Microsoft? Really?
— Martha Plimpton (@MarthaPlimpton) January 13, 2014
That Microsoft Bing ad lionizing Thatcher will shortly be followed by the Xbox ad featuring Stalin and Mussolini.
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) January 13, 2014
Putting Margaret Thatcher in the same group as Malala Yousafzai in that one Microsoft commercial is a travesty.
— Will Deyo (@willdeyo) January 13, 2014
Margaret Thatcher being praised on an advert promoting powerful women. The people of Bing were too lazy to Google all the pain she caused.
— Sarah (@appleshaker) January 13, 2014
In its ad, Bing commends the U.K.’s first — and only — female prime minister for “blazing a trail.”
Though the commercial was inspiring to some, left-of-center news site Salon called the ad “bizarre,” notably for its inclusion of Thatcher.
“Margaret Thatcher’s relationship with feminism was complicated at best,” Salon’s Daniel D’Addario wrote. “Isn’t putting her in conversation with the young Malala in an ad about the power of women a little ideologically muddled?”
Other women Bing celebrated were former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.); Diana Nyad, the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage; Antoinette Tuff, who convinced a gunman at a Georgia elementary school to surrender; and Deborah Cohan, whose pre-surgery dance party went viral.
Check out the Bing ad below.
h/t Twitchy
