Rape is not the rapist’s fault?
Pennsylvania’s Liquor Control Board launched a PSA (Public Service Announcement) campaign “Control Tonight” in 2011. The purpose of this campaign is to curb the excessive alcoholic drinking among young adults. However, this advertisement was seen as victim-blaming, which mentioned the link between rape and drinking, and put too much responsibility on the victim rather than the rapist. It is suggesting that the victims were to blame for the rape.
The advertisement featured the thin and smooth legs on the ground, implying that the character is a female. Her underwear was pulled down to the ankles. For the background, the tiles look like the bathroom tiles, pointing that the incidents were usually happened in the washroom. From the above clues, it is clear that the PAS was describing something related to rape.
The PSA is supposed to educate the young adults to raise the awareness on binge drinking and suggest the ways to protect themselves and against anti-drinking. Using fear on the advertisement to terrify the audience with the horrible consequence is a way to persuade the audience step away from the wrong behavior. Yet, the choice of words and images should be moral. Obviously, the captions beside the image were the main problem of this PSA.
“When your friends drink. They can end up making bad decision. Like going home with someone they don’t know very well.”
“Decisions like that leave them vulnerable to dangers like date rape. Help your friends satay in control and stay safe”
These two captions have intentionally shifted the blame away from the rapist but to the victim and their friends. Instead of telling the people who were raped “It is not your fault.” to comfort them, the ad seems to say that being rape is their wrongs and responsibility. It is their responsibility to control themselves not to being rape. That sounds ridiculous. Although the victim has the responsibility to take care her body, they cannot control what the rapist want to do and not to rape. Moreover, the sentence “Like going home with someone they don’t know very well.” is trying to blame the young adults about their dissipated dating. That is rubbing the salt on the victim’s wound.
Nevertheless, the image that used on the poster is a provocative image. The campaign used the sexualized image, which objectify the female body, to inject a dominant idea of rape culture – female is used to be the victim in the rape culture. It also stereotyped the image of female and also those female who consume alcohol. Whenever there is something related to sexism, female must be stereotyped by the people, which lead to the misconception about the female image.
Instead of using the provocative words and image to promote anti-drinking among young adults, Pennsylvania’s Liquor Control Board should highlight the consequences of excessive drinking and teach them how to prevent the misfortune. Although the intention to create fear emotion in the advertisement was good, using the proper image and words on the advertisement is also the one of the main considerations to persuade people to follow their idea and action. The board should try to avoid create any unpleasant feeling on the victim and take a balance between the message and the victim as well.
Pennsylvania’s Liquor Control Board launched a PSA (Public Service Announcement) campaign “Control Tonight” in 2011. The purpose of this campaign is to curb the excessive alcoholic drinking among young adults. However, this advertisement was seen as victim-blaming, which mentioned the link between rape and drinking, and put too much responsibility on the victim rather than the rapist. It is suggesting that the victims were to blame for the rape.
The advertisement featured the thin and smooth legs on the ground, implying that the character is a female. Her underwear was pulled down to the ankles. For the background, the tiles look like the bathroom tiles, pointing that the incidents were usually happened in the washroom. From the above clues, it is clear that the PAS was describing something related to rape.
The PSA is supposed to educate the young adults to raise the awareness on binge drinking and suggest the ways to protect themselves and against anti-drinking. Using fear on the advertisement to terrify the audience with the horrible consequence is a way to persuade the audience step away from the wrong behavior. Yet, the choice of words and images should be moral. Obviously, the captions beside the image were the main problem of this PSA.
“When your friends drink. They can end up making bad decision. Like going home with someone they don’t know very well.”
“Decisions like that leave them vulnerable to dangers like date rape. Help your friends satay in control and stay safe”
These two captions have intentionally shifted the blame away from the rapist but to the victim and their friends. Instead of telling the people who were raped “It is not your fault.” to comfort them, the ad seems to say that being rape is their wrongs and responsibility. It is their responsibility to control themselves not to being rape. That sounds ridiculous. Although the victim has the responsibility to take care her body, they cannot control what the rapist want to do and not to rape. Moreover, the sentence “Like going home with someone they don’t know very well.” is trying to blame the young adults about their dissipated dating. That is rubbing the salt on the victim’s wound.
Nevertheless, the image that used on the poster is a provocative image. The campaign used the sexualized image, which objectify the female body, to inject a dominant idea of rape culture – female is used to be the victim in the rape culture. It also stereotyped the image of female and also those female who consume alcohol. Whenever there is something related to sexism, female must be stereotyped by the people, which lead to the misconception about the female image.
Instead of using the provocative words and image to promote anti-drinking among young adults, Pennsylvania’s Liquor Control Board should highlight the consequences of excessive drinking and teach them how to prevent the misfortune. Although the intention to create fear emotion in the advertisement was good, using the proper image and words on the advertisement is also the one of the main considerations to persuade people to follow their idea and action. The board should try to avoid create any unpleasant feeling on the victim and take a balance between the message and the victim as well.
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