Samsung’s new ad showing a woman happily running around with headphones alone in the middle of the night was intended to be a celebration of people’s freedom to exercise whenever they want. However, the electronics brand is being criticized for not understanding that this freedom does not exist, especially for women.
Called “Night Owls,” the global campaign sees a woman checking her Samsung Galaxy watch and leaving at 2am, where she puts on her headphones and runs alone through the streets, many of which seem deserted. She encounters a few people, including a cyclist on a bridge.
Many immediately criticized the ad, which began airing in the US earlier this month in 30-second and 60-second formats, as insensitive to the safety of women. Samsung’s ad was branded as inattentive and naive, prompting several media reports in the UK, where marketing executive Sarah Everard was raped and murdered while walking home last year, and in Ireland, where school teacher Ashling Murphy was killed. while exercising in January.
However, Samsung, while apologizing, appears to have no plans to change or remove the commercial. the commercialwas created by Ogilvy. A store representative did not return a request for comment.
Samsung released a statement about its intentions with the announcement.
“The ‘Night Owls’ campaign was designed with a positive message in mind: to celebrate individuality and the freedom to exercise anytime. It was never our intention to be insensitive to the ongoing conversations about women’s safety. As a global company with a diverse workforce, we apologize for how this may have been received.”
Samsung did not respond when asked whether the ad would be changed after misbranding in its reception.
“I just saw a Samsung ad where a woman wakes up at 2am and then goes for a run, in the dark, alone, with headphones on. Do any women work at Samsung?”
“Hey @samsung how realistic do you think your ad of a woman running at 2am is on a scale of one are you mad? This couldn’t be further from the experience of virtually every woman, especially wearing headphones! Assuming the only woman involved in the production was the actress.”
“Samsung Galaxy doing an ad for a fitness watch where a woman runs alone? At night? You have to laugh.”
This article is a translation of the writing by Adrianne Pasquarelli to the website AdAge.
The post Video of Samsung with woman running alone at night generates controversy appeared first on DNAMEWS.