Same clothes, different reactions: Canadian news anchors' repeat outfits lead to remarks about women only
A lighthearted experiment conducted by news anchors at Global News BC resulted in telling commentary about what audiences notice when it comes to what women and men wear on air.
Staff at the station were curious to see how viewers would react if they wore the same outfits on television every day for one week.
During the first week, morning anchor Jason Pires and evening anchor Chris Gailus wore the same suit on air.
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Pires donned a grey suit, white shirt and blue tie, while Gailus sported a dark grey suit, white shirt, and red tie.
The next week, the women in the newsroom wore the same outfits on air every day.
Morning anchor Sonia Sunger wore a black pantsuit with a brown top, and morning traffic anchor Katelin Owsianski wore a black dress.
Evening meteorologist Kristi Gordon’s repeat outfit consisted of a black top and grey pants, and evening anchor Sophie Lui sported a brown dress.
Comments flood in… for certain anchors only
Lui posted a video that summarized the experiment on her Instagram page, and the results were interesting, to say the least.
The women’s outfits garnered quite a different response, as viewers flooded the station with emails about their clothing choices.
“I have noticed the morning news anchor Sonia Sunger and evening news [anchor] Sophie Lui wearing the same clothes day after day. Is there a reason for that? Has the company cut out their clothes allowance? Is this some kind of protest?” asked one viewer.
“Why are the gals on the morning and evening news wearing the same clothes for the last few days?” wrote another.
“Hi, I’m just wondering, are Sophie and Krisiti wearing the same clothes all week? Just want to make sure I’m not going crazy,” said one individual.
As a point of clarification, Lui commented that the staff didn’t do this to “draw out negative comments.”
“And for the most part, the comments were merely curious, not negative,” she said.
Curiosity over criticism
Speaking with Daily Hive, Lui explained that the idea for the clothing experiment came several weeks ago during dressing room renovations at the station.
“In the midst of doing that, Sonia [Sunger] and I started chatting about our clothing racks and the trials and tribulations of figuring out what to wear for our job.”
Lui said a producer mentioned the case of the Australian news anchor who wore the same suit on air for a year back in 2014 without anyone noticing and suggested the Global BC team try something similar.
When it came to the results, Lui said she wasn’t surprised that viewers didn’t take much notice of the men’s repeat outfits.
What did surprise her was that the comments that came in about the women’s outfits weren’t “as negative” as she’s used to.
“That itself surprised me,” she said, noting that most folks were just curious about why the women were wearing the same thing every day and not malicious about it.
Pires told Daily Hive that the mission of the social experiment was “a success in the sense that we really made the point that our colleagues who are women are way more under scrutiny by our viewers than men.”
He highlighted that, in the tenure of his career, he doesn’t recall receiving negative comments about his wardrobe choices — a stark difference from what his female colleagues in the industry face.
Most recently, Global News Calgary anchor Leslie Horton made headlines around the world for how she addressed a rude viewer who shamed her weight and clothing.
Lui added that she isn’t sure why viewers still feel emboldened to make rude remarks about the way on-air journalists look, especially if they are women.
“Why do they feel entitled to say terrible things? I don’t know. I think they’d have to look at their own lives and really consider where their priorities are,” she said.
“I don’t know why those people do it, but I feel sad for them.”
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