I saw a number of [EE billboard campaigns](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FW0WFPuWYAAPpNm.jpg:large) which states.
> “sexist hate starts with men, and ends with them”
This makes me confused and I want to ask your opinion in a moment but first I need to say; I’m against any kind of sexual or racial descrimination or abuse. This post I am making today is because I want to learn and challenge my views. I don’t wish to polute or discredit EE’s campaign or any awareness spreading into abuse.
On to my question, I am uncomfortable with the wording here. It’s a targeted advert which says outright “sexist hate starts with men”. I can follow the reasoning here, I imagine that the reported cases of sexual hate may be higher where men were the aggresors. Let’s just say that hypothetically 70% of all sexual hate was men. It’s a normal advertising strategy to use metrics and statistics to *target* a campaign.
However, to me who follows very closely the evolution of social justice. I can’t help but think this is an odd strategy. The main reason is it seems cognitively similar to putting up billboards targeted at a certain race to stop certain kinds of crime, just because 70% of that crime might be done by the same race.
Hypothetically, if there was a ‘green race’ and in toothbrush theft, 70% of the reported perpotrators were ‘green race’ I don’t think our society would react well to a billboard saying that “all toothbrush theft starts with green race and ends with them”.
I want to re-iterate, I am here with a growth mindset and I purely want to see others views on this. I am also a little scared to ask this because I don’t want to come across insensitive. I also asked chat gpt this question and it seemed to suggest that “targeted campaigns” like this should be discouraged because they could be considered insensitive.
Anyway I really appreciate anyone’s thoughts, thanks for reading.
by kris_lace
44 comments
Well it’s a sexist ad blaming men for all sexist comments ever and only men can be sexist
It’s a massive fail on all accounts
Blaming innocent people and holding innocent people responsible for things that they haven’t done isn’t going to get them to listen to you, it’s just going to turn them off from whatever you’re saying and make them defensive, especially if you’re targeting those people based on their protected characteristics.
The question/s you have to ask is whether you think this kind of campaign will,
1. Change the mindset of people that are sexist – It won’t.
2. Alienate people away from social issues that otherwise aren’t sexist – I’d argue that it will.
3. Reinforce extreme left-wing rhetoric causing a minority of people to be even worse humans – It will.
So in my opinion, you aren’t changing the mind of people you think are the problem, you are creating apathy in people that aren’t the problem and you are radicalising a small % of people to negatively perceieve half of the population.
If that is the aim, bravo. Chef’s kiss on all accounts.
But we all know this is just the brain child of a 20-30 something Gender Studies grad who has convinced senior management this will bring ‘engagement’ to the company. And it will, a la your reddit post and my response.
Ironically, the billboard is sexist hate.
Fuck it off.
Sexist morons attempting to stop sexist morons being sexist with moronic sexist ad
It’s sexist in its own right to assume that women aren’t sexist.
The whole “she’s not the one sending death threats” is, based on (some very recent) high profile trolling cases, not even true. Women are equally capable of being vile on the internet…
I totally get the whole idea of “men need to call out other men” but this execution is bizarre. I thought maybe it’s for the shock value to get people to keep reading but the choice of “she’s not the one sending death threats” doesn’t sit right with me. Feels like it’s downplaying abuse that’s perpetrated by women.
Having been abused by both women and men, I definitely felt more uncomfortable speaking up about the women due to public perception and even if not intentional, this language reinforces the idea that abuse from women “isn’t as bad”
This ad is sexist in it’s self.
51% of the population is male in the UK, I highly doubt all 51% are actively harming women because women wouldn’t exist in the UK if it was true.
People wonder why men and young boys don’t engage with this type of content meaningfully as they’re being told they’re all ticking time bombs.
Needs reporting to the ASA tbh, it’s blatantly sexist and demeaning to male victims of sexual assault etc.
Slightly different topic, but I’m a guy who was being abused in a relationship by a woman.
Whenever I see anything that calls out all guys for the behaviour of a minority of men it reminds me why I got stuck in that situation and that nobody really cares about you. Especially if its behaviours that can be exhibited by either sex.
Ok then, next time another man copies me in on the death threat or unsolicited dick pic he is sending to some unfortunate lady I’ll call him out on it. Not sure if or when that is ever likely to happen, but I’ll be ready nonetheless. Thanks EE.
How did that get past selection?
Cynic in me things it’s just a attacking a group you’re allowed to attack to drum up some controversy
Anyone with EE emailed/called to complain?
As a male customer, I don’t really like the idea of supporting a company that has automatically labelled my sex and my sex only as a problem
Could I legally end my contract early for this?
Jesus this is real?! Not sure how that was allowed to print, for obvious reasons.
The campaign is obviously sexist and incredibly insulting to men who are victims of sexism and gender-based violence and harassment perpetrated by women.
Men are the problem. Men are disposable. Men are trash.
This is what we get told day in, day out.
Then they wonder why male suicide is such a problem.
Gee, I wonder.
How small minded and misandristic.
Everyone involved in this campaign should be ashamed of themselves.
I think this misses the point, we shouldnt have companies leverage social issues in order to extract revenue and profit from us.
I refuse to have a private for-profit business dictate social or moral views to me.
This is the exact type of shit I think of when people use the word “woke” there is absolutely no need to call out a whole sex of people based on the shitty actions of a few
To put a hypothetical spin on this ad:
> Terrorism starts with Muslims, and ends with them
Would that be acceptable? Of course not. Not at all. So why is it acceptable to put blatantly sexists ads out when it targets men?
The execution of this advert is certainly bizarre. I assume that it is in relation to female footballers and the whole “they aren’t real footballers” “women can’t play football” etc crowd, which by all means the vast majority will be men (but also likely because the vast majority of football fans are men).
So I get it in that sense, and I understand the general premise of you should call out other people if they’re being sexist but 100% the wrong execution and definitely makes it seem like only men are sexist which isn’t true at all. There are plenty of women who are sexist against men and sometimes women can be bad for being sexist towards other women as well, believing their place is in the home cooking and doing housework as such.
Regardless I feel its a topic which companies shouldn’t really be using to try and get brownie points, which is definitely what EE are doing here.
“She is not the one sending death threats” lmao. Men can be victims of abuse. If EE cares about victims of abuse then they should have written “Anyone can be a victim of abuse. Call it out when out see it or experience it.”
This shitty add just suggests that men are pieces of shit who are violent aggressors. It paints a harmful image of men. It can cause men to be depressed and lonely. Last time I checked, in a fight, men are the ones who have the instinct to protect someone. I don’t recall a time when I saw a woman stepping in to a physical fight to protect the victim.
Whoever wrote this ad is a knobhead.
Thankyou for letting me know, ill bear this in mind when choosing my next phone contract and make sure it isnt with EE.
I think it’s more about attitudes to women in football which is men hating on women and not about DV
I’m a bloke who, as a teenager, was sexually abused by a woman. It wasn’t much, just getting groped in a shop, but the main thing I remember from this is not that, but that it was witnessed by a police officer who basically said “enjoy the attention mate” to me.
I know that the vast majority of sexual violence is carried out by men. I know when who’ve been raped, flashed at, leered at. I’ve seen what a lot endure. But conversely, stories like mine (and also another guy I know, who was almost raped when a woman spiked his drink) prove that it’s not 100% the case.
Seeing ads like this basically demonise men, and seem to make out that we’re irrelevant. When a woman is sexually assaulted then it’s serious business and we must all pull together, and men must share responsibility. But if men are sexually assaulted – meh, shit happens, get over it.
I’ll be honest I’m very cynical when I see corporations pushing social justice messages.
Definitely either going for shock value (and obviously working) or just very clumsily put together. I think the billboard is specifically talking about abuse being hurled at women football players based on the images which makes it make more sense, but it’s still assuming that only men hurl abuse or perhaps that only male abuse is sexist which I think is profoundly false.
If you were to make this kind of ad about any other group of people it would be rightly hailed as offensive but if its aimed at men then thats perfectly fine. I agree that men could do more to call out other men on inappropriate behaviour but this ad makes it sound as though only men are capable of being abusive and that is far from the truth. There’s a reason that male victims of domestic violence are far less likely to report it or talk about it with other people and its because of ads like this. EE should be ashamed of themselves its disgusting.
I think the pictures make it obvious that we’re discussing sexist hate in a particular sphere – football.
You can comfortably guarantee that almost all sexist hate in football, especially the violent stuff like death threats, is in fact coming from men. Why shouldn’t we be honest about who’s doing it, and encourage men to try to stop other men from doing it?
Back when it first came out, people who (rightfully) called the ad campaign out as sexist against Men were slated as *right wing nazi bigot insert-insult-of-the-day incels…*
Do with that information what you will…
Enough people here have shared their thoughts on the campaign itself, but it’s worth remembering also that EE don’t give a fuck either way about sexist hate. They put out this campaign because some marketing execs thought that it would make their brand seem warm and fuzzy, bringing them more customers. If they didn’t think that it would increase their revenue, they wouldn’t have done it. That’s all there is to it.
The comments here are frightening, and show the need for a campaign like this. There is no equivalence, on any level, between sexist abuse of women and that suffered by men. To say that this ad is ignoring abuse of men is solipsistic at best, trolling at worst. The extent of sexist abuse against women is exponentially greater than the other way round. The whole system in which we live is built from the ground up, from day one of a woman’s life, on the assumption that her rights and experience are worth less than a man’s, and whether you understand that or not has no bearing on whether it is true or not. We have to do better than this.
If anything this shows how institutionally misandrist society is, as it’s largely socially acceptable for a large company to identify men as the only perpetrators of sexism.
As much as anything, it’s a really weird advert for a mobile phone network. Corporations don’t have personalities, I’m not going to buy from you based on your moral position on x issue.
Why would a telecommunications company get involved with this???? Its going to annoy literally 50% of the population
The vast vast majority of hate towards women in football comes from men, so putting the onus on men to stop other men from sending the abuse is the right tactic.
If 70% of cancer was caused by smoking, and 1% was caused by vitamin tablets overdose, which one would you put out a billboard to solve? You’d target where the majority of the problem comes from.
I wonder if they will be put up next to that Only Fans one in Harringay?
Ah so this campaign is back os it? Saw it last year and just thought what a disgusting advert.
Ads like this only have a negative impact and response. It damages the cause and unfortunately makes it worse. Feels like it was written by someone with a massive chip.
It’s a huge generalisation. And like all generalisation it’s wrong. Like saying men are all bad and women are all good. Bullshit.
How can this be allowed?
We all know sexism hate starts with mother in laws
Of course actually sexists do exist but I always get the impression that it’s like 1 in 1000 probably even less of a percentage and the hypothetical 70% of sexist hate is done by that tiny minority and yet all men get vilified for it.
Remember the Gillette advert with the men cat calling like how many men actually do that and you are telling all men they have to be better.
This is the sort of campaign that winds people up and they find themselves on the end of a boycott.
Not because it doesn’t happen but like everyone else has said it all one way with no regard to abuse from women.
Gillette did the same thing a couple of years ago