Samsung’s woman jogging alone in advert is ‘tone deaf ’
SAMSUNG has apologised for an advert that shows a lone female jogging through a city at night, after the campaign was accused of being “tone deaf ” on women’s safety.
Critics said the one-minute clip did not reflect the dangers women runners face, after the death of Ashling Murphy who was killed while running on a canal path in Ireland earlier this year.
The advert, called “Night Owl”, shows a young woman checking her watch at 2am, before putting in headphones and beginning a night-time jog down an empty street as a large owl watches her. She later speaks to a man on a bike, on a deserted bridge.
During the jog, she checks a Samsung smartwatch as a voiceover says: “Follow the herd. Not for me. I run on a different schedule: mine.”
Jamie Klingler, co-founder of Reclaim These Streets, set up after the murder of Sarah Everard, called the advert “totally tone deaf ”. “It isn’t safe for us to run at night especially with headphones in, and the last thing we want is for anyone to violate our space to have a chat while they are on a bike,” she said. “We are not existing or exercising for male approval or interaction. It’s almost laughable how badly this ad lands.”
In a statement, Samsung apologised, saying the “campaign was designed with a positive message in mind: to celebrate individuality and freedom to exercise at all hours. It was never our intention to be insensitive to ongoing conversations around women’s safety”.
Run Mummy Run, an online running community, told the BBC: “The implication seems to be that a woman has the luxury of this type of freedom with her safety, but sadly this is not the current reality.”