There has recently been a lot of controversy surrounding the scrubs brand, FIGS. The female-founded company faced backlash a week ago over a video ad that depicted a female doctor of osteopathic medicine (D.O.) promoting a pair of its scrubs, which is linked here. The ad that many found offensive, myself included, showed a woman in scrubs with a hospital badge indicating her doctorate degree, holding a Medical Terminology for Dummies book upside down.
The medical community on Twitter and various social media sites shot back at the misguided ad, calling out the brand for perpetuating harmful stereotypes. One of these stereotypes is about the stigma surrounding D.O. physicians versus physicians of allopathic medicine (MD).
Both doctors undergo the same licensing process; the only difference is in the addition of holistic body techniques to the D.O. curriculum. There has been movement towards eliminating this stigma — especially with the merging of D.O. and MD residency programs — however, it persists.
This stigma even permeates the premedical community here at the University of Florida. In typical pre-med classes such as organic chemistry, classmates talk about how attending a D.O. medical school is seen as ‘lesser’ than attending an MD medical school, regardless of the fact they perform the same functions, and many patients cannot tell them apart. In fact, D.O. schools are often seen as backup plans in Reddit premed student groups or in Facebook groups I am in.
In my personal experiences with this stigma, I was told by a premedical advisor that I would likely have better luck with D.O. medical schools because of my ‘lesser’ stats and could only be a primary care physician, even though physicians with a D.O. are spreading into more competitive specialties. Situations like these only help to perpetuate the negative vibes surrounding the D.O. curriculum.
The other harmful stereotype portrayed in the ad was against female practitioners.
“The ‘silly and dumb, but sexy’ look in ads and other media contributes to harmful gender stereotypes,” stated Dr. Agnieszka Solberg in an interview with CNN. “When girls see this, they start feeling like this is what is ‘cool,’ and start yearning to be like this.”
Many female health care practitioners and D.O. physicians took to social media to call FIGS out for being ‘misogynistic’ and for setting a bad example for little girls who aspire to be physicians. Female physicians already have to fight the ‘ditzy’ stereotype. Even though more women are now enrolled in medical school than men, female physicians still have to correct patients’ assumptions that they are nurses or janitors.
The ad was particularly hurtful to those female physicians who have to constantly prove that they are doctors and face discrimination in the workplace. This is especially the case with the wage gap that runs rampant in primary care and specialty medicine.
Ads that promote stereotypes of women in the medical field, or any field of science, can discourage young girls from pursuing those careers or reaching their full potential in those fields. For an ad like this to come from a female-founded company shows that misogyny can even happen among women because it is deeply ingrained in our society. It takes active work and reflection to make sure you aren’t contributing to a stereotype.
It’s embarrassing to admit, but I have fallen for the stereotype that if a girl is into keeping up their appearance, then that means they can’t be a scientist or a doctor, despite the fact that wearing heels has no bearing on your intelligence or capability. But it is so deeply ingrained that I have to actively call myself out.
Since the ad was posted, FIGS has since removed it and issued multiple apologies. It has pledged to do better from now on and that an ad like this will never happen again, which you can read here.
“From us, to you. We are incredibly sorry,” the apology Twitter post read. “We are making changes. Together we will move forward.”
Some on social media nodded their heads in approval to the apology, which included actionable items that the company pledged to take, including a mandatory diversity training for all employees. Recognizing that mistakes do happen, responses were respectful of the fact that FIGS owned up to the mistake and is taking action to prevent it from happening again.
Despite the apology and promise, others have said that they will still boycott the brand or that they will have to wait to see what actions the brand actually takes. Some are using this incident to advocate for more culturally diverse advertisements featuring more health care professionals other than doctors or nurses.
While the ad was terribly misguided, I believe that is actually a good reminder to everyone to think about your posts before posting them. Hopefully, other companies will see this as a reminder to be careful in creating content that is respectful of everyone and that does not continue to show negative stereotypes. This ad continued the discussion on the D.O. versus MD stigma, which is very encouraging as someone who is hoping to apply to both types of medical schools.
An ad like this, while harmful, has a silver lining in that is sparks discussion. The stigma against D.O. or female physicians shouldn’t live in the dark—it needs to be brought into the light. Reversal of stereotypes only happens when people are actively aware and able to call themselves out. While I don’t want ads like this to keep being posted, it serves as a crucial reminder that these stigmas still exist, even if everyone claims they don’t.
I hope that this gives FIGS the motivation to produce more content that promotes female and culturally diverse health care workers for little girls to look up to. With more and more diversity in the medical field, it is important that advertisements and portrayals keep up. The path to becoming a physician is already hard enough, women don’t need to add “justifying existence” to their plates.