"I've worn the same suit on air for a year – except for a couple of times because of circumstance – to make a point," Stefanovic said. "Women are judged much more harshly and keenly for what they do, what they say and what they wear." Karl Stefanovic has outed himself as a feminist after a year-long prank. "I'm judged on my interviews, my appalling sense of humour – on how I do my job, basically. Whereas women are quite often judged on what they're wearing or how their hair is ... that's [what I wanted to test]." Stefanovic described the grand total of zero complaints or comments about his navy suit as evidence of the double standards for female presenters, and by extension, all women. Almost 24 hours after the story was published, hundreds of tweets and comments were streaming onto social media sites. The vast majority are positive, the streams peppered with the less than glowing responses to the prank.

Stefanovic's experiment has been picked up globally, covered by news groups such as the BBC, the Irish Independent, the New York Daily News and large American commentary site Jezebel. Many in the Australian feminist community have welcomed the prank, describing it as a breakthrough message that translates the issues facing women to huge audiences. Author and outspoken feminist commentator Van Badham described Stefanovic's suit prank as part of a growing movement of men making meaningful contributions to feminism.

"This act is not trivial. It's an example of a genuine human empathy that recognises when conditions are unfair and acts upon it," Ms Badham told Fairfax Media. "Yeah, it's a suit. But it's one human being showing another that they have come to empathise with their disadvantage, and this is actually the recognition that exists in the heart of all meaningful social change." Facebook's large and robust feminist online community Destroy the Joint's praised Stefanovic for "taking one for team, the team of women" on their Facebook page. The group has more than 48,000 followers, many of whom were debating the merits of his endeavours beneath the original post. Loading "Remember when Julia Gillard first started to wear glasses and after an interview with that Karl man, he and Lisa and the other hosts all put on glasses and mocked her. Haven't watched that morning fluff show since then," Destroy the Joint member.

"I don't buy it as a victory for feminism either. It is a stunt: the discussion of feminism seems to be locked in superficial terms surrounding whether it is ok to comment on someone's outfit (I think it is) or whether it is ok to comment on their weight (I do not think it is). In the meantime, men and women who need to rely on social security payments are being threatened with horrible spending control in the form of budget cards. This blow to equality in our country is real and it is imminent, I'll be willing to bet Karl hasn't discussed that yet," wrote one community member.