Samsung Controversy: Unrealistic Advertisement Of Women Running Late At Night

The recent Samsung controversy revolved around a commercial where a woman gets up at 2:00 a.m. to go for a solo run through the streets of a city.

Some women’s running groups and safety advocates have called the advertisement “unrealistic.” Also Read: The Fear Of Walking Alone

Samsung has informed Radio 1 Newsbeat that “being disrespectful to ongoing issues around women’s safety” was never their aim.

“We apologise for how this was received,” it continues.

“The ‘Night Owls’ ad was created to send a positive message about individualism and the freedom to exercise at any time.”

In light of the death of Ashling Murphy, who was slain on the run in January, women’s safety group Reclaim These Streets has called the ad “tone-deaf.”

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According to the Office for National Statistics, half of all women have felt insecure while travelling alone in the dark at some point.

The report also suggests women felt less safe than men walking alone, in all settings.

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Social media users expressed their outrage by calling the Samsung controversy revolving around the advertisement “ridiculous” and “unrelatable.”

To summarize, the Samsung advertisement controversy appears to imply that a woman can have such freedom of walking alone at night whilst remaining safe, but this is unfortunately not the reality today.

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