Abuse against domestic help, maids, drivers, etc, exists globally. In our November issue of Design magazine, we tried to address the issue locally by running a public awarenesscampaign by Full Stop advertising about the mistreatment of drivers. It created quite a bitof controversy. The ad depicted a well-dressed clean shaven driver, with horse tackle inhis mouth being steered by a veiled Arab woman, who is obviously supposed to be Saudi.
The reins dehumanize the driver, while the woman, masked behind huge sunglasses remove her from any direct responsibility for her inhumane actions.
Do we dehumanize others because we ourselves feel the victims of such practice? Are drivers bearing thebrunt of our frustrations because we feel removed from exercising choice in mobility? Wasthis a fair depiction of female frustration manifesting itself or are these reins perhaps visuallysuggestive of how some of us feel the impulse to behave sometimes, even though wewouldn’t dare?
Responses varied among peers. Among the different extremes were those who thoughtthe ad was too severe and portrayed Saudiwomen in a negative light, to those that applaudedits bravado for drawing attentionto an issue that reflects poorly on our socialcivility. The objective of the campaignwas to incite a realistic dialogue on what’shappening, why it’s happening, and whatwe can do to proactively respond to it.
Reader’s Response:
The view of the President of a Jeddahbased
Saudi human resources company
expressed:
The point is that this exists, but the ad stereotyped all Saudi women as mistreating their drivers. Is this true? Do all Saudi women mistreat theirdrivers? And what about Saudi men for that matter? Don’t they too havedrivers? The image of the woman should have been blurred as to draw thefocus to the mistreatment of drivers, instead of those who do the mistreating.
Because you can’t pinpoint the mistreatment of drivers to Saudi women only, the fact is it happens everywhere and that should be the focus and theissue. The focus should be on humanity and the respect for it.
الرَحْمَة
Discussion with the President of a Jeddah-based constructionagreed that:
If you look at the ad and you get deeply offended, it must betouching a chord deep withinyou; perhaps you are, then, oneof the offenders.
Author’s response: Some people may look at the ad, and feelsomehow that they’ve been violated.I’m no psychologist, butthis reaction most likely stemsfrom one of two sentiments: onthe one hand, the ad effectivelyspeaks to the minority of thosewho mistreat their drivers.
This ad may then work to ostracizethem and their behavior, andpoint them out as to deter themfrom continuing to engage insuch practices.
On the other hand, the ad speaks to thosewho feel violated for other reasons.They agree that domestichelp abuse is pervasive, althoughthey themselves may notbe guilty of such behavior, butthey feel they’ve been groupedtogether with those that do,since the ad does portray Saudiwomen as the offenders. Thereare various creative ways the adcould have been executed andwe apologize for those who mayfeel offended by the ad. Yet, itcan’t be denied that the campaignhas achieved its goal; wehave now started a dialogue onthe issue. And, again, hopefullysuch dialogue will start to shiftattitudes and behaviors towardsthe positive.
President of a Jeddah-based technology company:
It’s a very effective ad, but I it could have been executed better.It represented a specific class ofSaudi society, those who drivenice cars, whose drivers wearnice thobes, etc. It didn’t reallyencompass all segments of society,although it was meant to.
Author’s Closing:
Public awareness campaigns are positioned to target minority segmentsof society on a particularissue. Our campaign focused onreaching out to the segment thatdoes dehumanize their domestichelp. These social problems doexist; read any newspaper, anyhuman rights report on labor inthe Kingdom, and they are rifewith stories of the mistreatmentof domestic help. Public awarenesscampaigns are an effectiveway of addressing these issues,while creating a constructivedialogue.
In design, the creative message is just as importantas the moral one. Weagree that there are manyways in which this ad couldhave been delivered, butwhile embracing creativediversity, let’s notcondone moral atrocity.Abuse exists…here, there,everywhere. Let›s talkabout it, with one creativecampaign at a time.
Author’s response:
This is a very valid point and draws out an interesting question:
who should the emphasis be on? Those people who are guilty of mistreating?But, are those people all the same, or are there different typesand classes of people who are equally guilty of this behavior?I think, in this respect, the ad was trying to consternate reactions tothe ad, whether good or bad, and categorize the people doing themistreating – in this case, Saudi women – and start a dialogue aboutthe issue. Soon, the ad won’t be about ‘oh, they portrayed Saudiwomen negatively,’ and it will hopefully be more about ‘hey, thesepeople [drivers] are vulnerable and they are getting seriously mistreatedevery single day. This is a problem and it has to stop!