"Be A Man" & "...Like A Girl"
Do you think that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people?
No matter what an advertisement is about and how they are trying to sell or promote the product, someone in the world will always take offence to it. If the ad has an Asian boy holding a piece of paper that says "A+", there is a chance the Western community would think that this paper would make their child smarter whereas the Asian community might take offence to it as it gives them expectations to fill.
The advertisement "Like a Girl" by Always has a broad audience, and all these people watching it could see the ad delivering a different message each time. For women or girls, they could see the advertisement delivering a message of empowerment and showing how to stand up to bullies who believe that "Like a girl" is an insult. For boys or men who watch the advertisement, may think that the advertisement was directed at them for "mocking" and using the phrase "Like a girl" when they want to insult the way someone is either running or fighting.
The second video was about a Ted talk about how when people say "Be a man" can make a man or boy feel insecure and/or pressured. Hearing the phrase constantly could create an emotionless man who thinks it's unmanly to share their feelings because its seen as being weak. Even though the Ted talk is mostly focused on men, women could also take offence or feel some sort of way about the advertisement as some people have said the phrase "Be a man" to a woman.
I think that advertisers do have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people to a certain extent. Obviously, they're not going to go and make a super racist, super offensive ad that will strike up negative controversy. If the advertisers do bring up stereotypes in their advertisements, they will do it in a way that people will have to really pay attention to the ad.
No matter what an advertisement is about and how they are trying to sell or promote the product, someone in the world will always take offence to it. If the ad has an Asian boy holding a piece of paper that says "A+", there is a chance the Western community would think that this paper would make their child smarter whereas the Asian community might take offence to it as it gives them expectations to fill.
The advertisement "Like a Girl" by Always has a broad audience, and all these people watching it could see the ad delivering a different message each time. For women or girls, they could see the advertisement delivering a message of empowerment and showing how to stand up to bullies who believe that "Like a girl" is an insult. For boys or men who watch the advertisement, may think that the advertisement was directed at them for "mocking" and using the phrase "Like a girl" when they want to insult the way someone is either running or fighting.
The second video was about a Ted talk about how when people say "Be a man" can make a man or boy feel insecure and/or pressured. Hearing the phrase constantly could create an emotionless man who thinks it's unmanly to share their feelings because its seen as being weak. Even though the Ted talk is mostly focused on men, women could also take offence or feel some sort of way about the advertisement as some people have said the phrase "Be a man" to a woman.
I think that advertisers do have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people to a certain extent. Obviously, they're not going to go and make a super racist, super offensive ad that will strike up negative controversy. If the advertisers do bring up stereotypes in their advertisements, they will do it in a way that people will have to really pay attention to the ad.
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