“Women Don’t Need Men At All” - Douglas Murray Reacts To New Campaign

Duration: 8:22 1457 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

In a recent segment discussing HSBC's new campaign, Douglas Murray critiques the bank's initiative titled *Fairer Tales*, which rewrites classic fairy tales to promote financial independence for women without male partners. The advertisement features Emma Raducanu reading stories where princesses like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty become successful businesswomen who save their own money rather than waiting for a prince. However, Murray expresses strong skepticism toward this narrative shift, suggesting that the campaign represents an overreach in challenging traditional gender roles to the point of absurdity. He contrasts these "inspiring" tales with what he views as equally problematic content from Meghan Markle's book *The Bench*, implying that both examples reflect a broader cultural trend where established stories are being dismantled rather than celebrated or improved upon. Murray extends his criticism to recent changes in the entertainment industry, specifically citing South Park and Disney productions as evidence of forced diversity initiatives gone wrong. He references an episode of *South Park* where Cartman experiences a nightmare that all characters have been recast as ethnically diverse women or transracial figures, only for him to wake up relieved his mother is not hiding under the bed with new replacements. Similarly, he discusses Rachel Zegler's portrayal of Snow White and her comment about Prince Charming being a stalker rather than a prince, arguing that these changes strip stories of their original essence. He laments why creators do not simply invent new tales instead of "ransacking" existing ones, pointing to Jeremy O'Brien and Ben Shapiro's planned live-action remake of *Snow White* with Brett Cooper as another example of this trend he finds unappealing. The discussion also touches on the controversy surrounding Disney's dwarves in recent film adaptations, where rumors suggest that original dwarf characters were replaced by a multi-racial ensemble before being reshot to feature actual dwarfs due to actor complaints about lost roles. Murray connects this issue to broader debates regarding casting authenticity versus diversity mandates, noting parallels between actors demanding specific demographic representations and the general public's reaction to such shifts. He questions whether these demands for representation in niche roles like dwarf characters are consistent with other identity-based casting requirements, highlighting a potential contradiction where certain groups insist on authentic portrayals while others push for diverse recasting of classic figures regardless of original context or character logic. In a lighter but equally illustrative anecdote involving Barnardo's charity shop, Murray recounts how customers were asked not to donate sex toys because the organization does not want them in their secondhand inventory. The situation escalated when CCTV footage was used to trace returned items back to donors after they inadvertently donated dildos that ended up being resold or discarded by other shoppers. This story serves as a humorous cautionary tale about where one places personal belongings, with Murray jokingly referring to the phenomenon of sex toys returning to their owners' doorsteps like a boomerang effect. He uses this incident to underscore how even mundane charitable donations can lead to unexpected and somewhat embarrassing consequences when societal norms around privacy and public spaces collide. Throughout the segment, these various examples converge on Murray's central argument that modern cultural efforts often prioritize ideological correctness over storytelling integrity or practical reality. Whether it is rewriting fairy tales to remove male saviors, recasting beloved animated characters with specific demographic traits, or managing inventory in charity shops, he perceives a pattern of forced narratives and rigid adherence to new social constructs. While acknowledging the intent behind campaigns like HSBC's *Fairer Tales* as attempts to empower women financially, Murray ultimately concludes that these efforts often result in boring, uninspired content that fails to resonate with audiences who appreciate traditional stories or realistic portrayals without excessive political messaging.

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Emma ranu did an advert for HSBC recently which you may have missed HSBC rewrote three classic fairy tales their book's called fairer tales and it shows that women don't need men at all with financial attitudes shaped as early as 5 years old the new book challenges traditional gender stereotypes the new book called fairy tales princesses doing it for themselves reimagines Cinderella Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel as successful business women Prince Charming successful business women Charming is a raised as the main character uh Emma ranu read to them so in the end the princesses didn't need a prince to save them they set up their own businesses saved their money and then spent it very wisely maybe one day you'll buy a tower or set up your own shoe business that's a quote said the tennis player that's the worst I mean I read Megan markle's book The Bench and that's wor worse that's worse um wow yeah um what a inspiring tale fairer Tales um it's so princesses doing it for themselves have you seen the um the uh the the South Park episode of the where um uh Cartman wakes up he has a a nightmare you told me about this other lunch yesterday for the people that haven't seen it Cartman um kman has has a nightmare it turns out he's he is a diverse black woman is character is recast and all of his friends Kenny and everyone else are diverse female or transracial characters and then kman wakes up from the night no and his mother comes in what is it what is it are you having another dream where once again all my all my favorite characters in in the cartoons have been replaced by ethnically diverse women and and she goes it's okay K it's okay uh the the CEO of Disney isn't hiding under your bed hey would you check would you check would you check Mom okay I checked she's not there I'm worried that she's going to come out again replace all my favorite characters with ethnically diverse women I love those guys God they keep doing it um yeah I mean it's the same thing with there was a rather unappealing um young woman who uh uh was meant to be play well is playing Snow White and the new Disney Snow White Rachel Zigler no no no somebody else and she is is it yeah Rachel Ziggler Zig well she said uh Prince Charming wasn't a prince he was a stalker yeah and she didn't need a prince charming to discover that she could be the woman she could be I mean this is like sub Barack Obama Circa 2007 like the princess is the person she's been waiting for or something you your sister's keeper I I I why don't they invent new tale that's what I can never understand with that why don't they just invent new Tales instead of screwing up every existing tale that's love make your boring movie about an inspirational tale of a woman who wants to start a business and then does and has some success I mean okay make that into a film why do you have to go and ransack and rape all of pillage all of the the storehouse of stories that people liked Brett Cooper's playing Snow White for daily wire did you see that announcement what you hav seen this let me tell you Jeremy boring and Ben Shapiro are doing their own liveaction remake of Snow White with Brett Cooper as Snow White because she's like West End trained right so she's very well trained supposedly a very well-trained actor who can sing apparently it's like the triple threat podcast act thing right uh and they announced it the other week it's going to be coming out next year God I hope they'd slay Disney there's a rumor that Disney has had to re-shoot a ton of scenes including all of the dwarf scenes because originally the dwarves weren't dwarves right they were like a an multi-racial just group of different people they were diverse ethnic women it was the sou thing again uh but apparently they this is just a rumor but apparently they've reshot it all of the scenes with the dwarfs to CGI actual dwarfs in oh so they've gone full yeah because I know that there was a there was a Revolt of the dwarves which is something you don't hear every day no there was a Revolt of the dwarves because of course dwarf Act who have their Equity cards are annoyed because there's not many dead jobs yeah you presumed that there should have at least been seven yeah AB plus a stunt actor stunt dwarf stunt one to do all seven stunts well you could have 14 I guess it depends how how demanding the ACT how much Li you want to spread around the dwarf actor Community but yeah the point is is is there actually was apparently Rebellion about this because like these are some of the few like dead roles we've got well is this not the same the people who didn't cast that is that not the same group of people that would say we can only have a gay actor playing a gay man and we can only have a black actor playing a black man and we can only have those people are such I won't use the word uh yeah I mean again we haven't got time to go the pace of these people acting is pretending to be other people people will be shocked that most people who play Hamlet are not themselves members of the Danish royal family welcome the world of make Bel a charity shop in Swansea asked people not to donate sex toys uh barnardo's customers have been asked to refrain from donating used and unused marital aids as they aren't quite the sort of toys we're looking for when they say we want like book your old books your old toys they didn't mean sex sex toys I think has a perfectly good policy for a secondhand shop customers rifling through the secondhand dildo V you don't what have they got in here is there a dressing room yeah I uh customers were also reminded the branch had CCTV so that these items can be traced back to the original owners oh oh according to that means that means that you there's like a a um uh uh what's it called that thing in Australia the boomerang that's a boomerang effect your dildo away then it's back on your doorstep the next morning God damn it why can I rid of this thing Over the Hedge but he keeps Landing in bernados and then they bring it back it's a dilder that will never die yeah yeah thinking about well thank you for that story that was beautiful well I've got another one is there is there a lesson we can take from this oh I think just be careful where you put your dildos really is the matter there the moral of the story yeah yeah never leave your dildo in bernardos yeah definitely not in the Bargain Bin in other news this episode is brought to you by Maui Nei venison Maui Nei venison brings the healthiest red meat on the planet direct to your door not only is it the most nutrient-dense meat on the planet they're the only 100% stress-free wild harvested venison that you can get here's my super secret hack if you are sick of buying meat that always goes off put it in the freezer from Frozen salt both sides of it put it in an air fryer for 10 to 12 minutes each side and you have a perfectly cooked steak from Frozen that will never go off because it's going from freezer to mouth in the 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