Q1: Analyse in depth a design related issue that has courted major controversy in both professional and public domains. Evaluate if the negative accusations of the media artefact are merited.
Hello world.
omg that is so cheesy.
On my second blog, I have shown an interest in the controversial mockery of the KL logo and I thought that would be the main topic of my blog/essay, but I found something more interesting when I was scrolling through Facebook — The Sexist Ads.
On the 7th and 12th of March, a day before International Women’s day, Firefly, a Malaysian budget airline posted two advertisements online as well as in local newspapers (see below), which were also emailed to Firefly customers.
The advertisements displayed the bottom half of women in pencil skirts with flight discounts printed on their backsides.
When the advertisements were released to the public, Firefly was heavily criticised and the ads brought up many arguments and hatred—mostly from women who commented on the ads for being sexist in a way where it is objectifying women with the aim of increasing sales, as if the selling point of the ads are women’s bottoms. A Facebook user Adriene Leong questioned the poor advertising direction and communication which clearly exhibit sexism. Some even say that Firefly is too stubborn in being professional and gender-sensitive, or even commented bluntly that the ads are disgraceful, disrespectful, disgusting and they tie to women exploitation because the offer on their bottoms seemed like it is conveying that the women’s services are on sale—which also give a terrible impression on how Firefly view their female staff, or even women in general (Malay Mail Online, 2016).
These ads did not only stir up discomforts among the public, they also caught the attention of Women’s Centre for Change (WCC), an organisation based in Penang. The organisation’s senior advocacy officer, Melissa Mohd Akhir told the Malay Mail Online that the fact that the ads are zeroing in on Firefly’s own women employees are obviously showing objectification. She also pointed out that these tawdry ads utilise tasteless marketing ploys, which are effectively saying that women are mere objects for “sale” (Kitching, 2016).
After seeing all these criticisms, Firefly bowed to pressure and deleted the images from its Facebook page, replacing it with a public apology:
I wanted to screen capture some evidence but there were no traces of these ads nor apology in their accounts on Facebook and Twitter. I guess they’ve removed it completely.
From reading this blog post, you may think everyone went against the sexist ads; like it’s the world against Firefly. But PLOT TWIST. I read through the comments on the article on Mail Online, and even on twitter when people criticised Firefly and the Ads, and guess what (Fox News, 2016)? About 80% of the comments are about feminists overreacting and not being fair for drooling over topless men on tv. They also mentioned that they are giving the Airline far more publicity that it paid for (which I think is pretty hilarious).
Comments screen captured from Twitter (Iqbal, 2016).
Comments screen captured from Mail Online (Kitching, 2016).
As you can see, most of the people who commented on the article are from the Western countries and maybe they don’t understand our cultural differences that’s why the ads do not appear to be a big deal to them. Because in general, Malaysia is more of a close minded country, so these adverts may come across to being more sexist and may cause more discomforts to others. I think everyone has their own opinions and it is vital to be respectful to one another, even if you don’t totally agree with them.
But I personally think that this issue was a little exaggerated and people were overreacting a little but on the other hand, I also agree with the criticisms because these kinds of ads promote the idea that women’s body are there to be judged and are seen as an object (particularly a sex object) and when that perception is made, it is much easier to commit violence against women. This might not make sense to you but it is these small actions that contribute into the rape culture without being aware of it (Boscamp, 2015). That is another topic of discussion that I will most probably talk about in my next post.
So, during the discussion with my lecturer, I summarised the information above and decided to went on in this direction and also how it leads to the rape culture for my essay. But my lecturer advised me to explore different types of adverts instead of just sticking to one, or maybe even ads that had been praised, but with criticisms unknown to the public. Each adverts can be a subtopic to aid in making the main topic more interesting. Also, it is advisable to focus on sexist ads and less on the rape culture.
That is all for now!
References:
Boscamp, E. (2015) ‘12 Ways We All Contribute To Rape Culture Without Realizing It’. Available at: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-21715/12-ways-we-all-contribute-to-rape-culture-without-realizing-it.html (Accessed: 22nd June 2016).
Fox News (2016) ‘Budget airline apologizes for ‘sexist’ ad featuring women’s rear ends’. Available at: http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2016/03/15/budget-airline-apologizes-for-sexist-ad-featuring-womans-rear-end.html (Accessed: 14th June 2016).
Iqbal, A. (2016) 7 March. Available at: https://twitter.com/ashrafiqbal/status/706649402744504321 (Accessed: 22nd June 2016).
Kitching, C. (2016) ‘'Come grab it real fast': Budget airline apologises for sexist adverts that used women's buttocks to sell cheap flights’, Mail Online. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3491368/Firefly-budget-airline-apologises-ad-campaign-featuring-women-s-buttocks.html (Accessed: 13th June 2016).
Malay Mail Online (2016) ‘Firefly roasted on Facebook over ads featuring women’s bottoms’. Available at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/firefly-roasted-on-facebook-over-ads-featuring-womens-bottoms (Accessed: 13th June 2016).
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