Real Harassment, Virtual Robots? Exploring Misogyny Against Machines

This study analyzes comments on a Brazilian bank’s anti-harassment advertising campaign, which featured a feminized virtual assistant “talking back” to offensive users and sparked widespread backlash on social media. The analysis examines audience reactions to changes in technology design and their connection to political issues. Using inductive thematic analysis, we identify four core themes that reveal resistance to integrating anti-harassment messaging and non-subservient design into feminized technology. The findings suggest that the artificial intelligence assistant’s deviation from docility disrupts entrenched gender expectations, provoking ironic and hostile commentary tied to broader moral panics about shifting gender norms. The ad campaign’s negative reception underscores how misogynistic cultures continue to resist efforts to address sexism. However, commenters also criticize the corporate appropriation of feminism, questioning its authenticity and compromise. We conclude that these audience reactions highlight the persistent challenges of introducing feminist interventions in human-machine communication and emphasize the need for more comprehensive strategies to combat technology-mediated misogyny.