Pennsylvania's Liquor and Control Board recently pulled an ad from the ControlTonight.com campaign, which raises awareness about the dangers of alcohol. The provocative ad, which can be viewed in the link contained within this post's title, is meant to warn youths of the frightening correlation between sexual assault and alcohol consumption. Critics of the ad argued that the it wrongfully places blame on the victims of such occurrences.
I personally found the ad, and its message, "She didn't want to do it, but she couldn't say no," to be overly shocking. What do you think? Was the Liquor and Control Board within its right to repeal the ad?
Friday, December 9, 2011
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13 comments:
I believe the Liquor Control Board was right to pull the ad despite how effective it may or may not have been. It may not have been the intention of the ad to seemingly put the blame on the rape victims, however, that is the message that most people would have received. And such a message would simply add to the psychological damage rape victims would already have received due to the attack. Thus, potentially helping some, but damaging others.
I agree with Ari, although the ad certainly could have been effective, it seems to be primarily aimed at rape victims instead of the rapists. The ad could have been created differently, in order to still get its point across. For starters the image's quote said "When your friends drink, they can end up making bad decisions, like going home with someone they don't know very well," but could have been better written to say that "your friends accepted those drugged drinks." In addition by highlighting the possibility of bad decisions the ad is essentially saying "When you make bad decisions, you get raped," instead of "When a person chooses to rape you, you get raped." And finally the image would be much more well suited as a picture of a rapist behind bars, saying "He was too drunk to understand no meant no," or "He was too drunk to make an ethical choice." All in all, I think the Pennsylvania's liquor and Control board was right to pull the ad.
I agree with Ari and Kimi that the Liquor Control Board was right to pull the ad. Drinking too much is not an invitation to be violated. Although it is unlikely, this ad could give off a false sense of security because essentially it is saying that as long as you don't drink, you won't get raped. As a result, people would be more comfortable making other bad decisions such as walking around alone in a sketchy neighborhood. Again, I'm not sure how likely that actually is, but it's possible.
I also agree that it was the right thing to pull the ad. It was a very controversial image, and appears to bring blame to to the victims of rape. This is not the right message the Liquor Control Board should be sending. They are doing the right thing in trying to convey the dangers of drinking too much, but this is not an appropriate ad to do so.
I disagree with the other commenters. I believe that if it is shown to the correct population (i.e. college students and young adults), the add will be effective in making people more aware of the dangers of drinking. According to http://uhs.berkeley.edu/home/healthtopics/sexualassault/saalcohol.shtml which is a survey conducted by Berkley University Health Survey came up with the results that 70% of students admitted to having sexual activities under the influence. On top of this, 60% of college women with STDs claimed that they acquired the STDs while intoxicated. Also, date rape drugs make it easier for people to take advantage of one another and can be easily slipped into alcoholic beverages. It is a harsh message but it is necessary to really send the point home.
I believe that consuming alcohol or not, the victim is not at fault for being sexually assaulted. The blame should always fall on the criminal performing the act. If Pennsylvania's liquor and Control Board wanted to send a message that alcohol is correlated with sexual assault, they should have given statistics on the percentage of perpetrators that performed the sexual assault instead. Based on results by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, "the estimates for alcohol use among perpetrators have ranged from 34 to 74 percent". This number is quite staggering and I believe this is the point that Pennsylvania's Board should have acknowledged, rather than making assaults seem like it is the victim's fault.
I believe, as others have also commented, that this ad could have been successful, but overall sent the wrong message to the onlookers. I agree with the idea to warn teens about the dangers of becoming intoxicated, but as Kimi said, the statement highlighted the wrong idea. It did put blame on the victims, where instead it should have warned them that you could be safer when not drinking. But overall, rape can happen to anyone and the idea should not be that if a girl was raped, it meant that she was intoxicated.
I'm kind of borderline on this issue, Sam puts a good point saying that there is a harsh truth in this. Being intoxicated does make you thoroughly more susceptible to rape as I assume attackers go for those who are less aware of their surroundings. Intoxication leaves you less able to fight and protect yourself. What I don't agree with is the way this advertising went about portraying it. There is a better way to get across the point that alcohol and being intoxicated leaves you vulnerable to things such as rape.
The Liquor and Control Board had every right to pull the ad because like Kathryn said, it sent the wrong message to the viewers. I think every female (and male) should at least get some sense of awareness on the dangers of being intoxicated. In any case, no matter the situation, the one performing the crime is always at fault. The ad makes it seem as if the victim is to blame- "She didn't want to do it, but she couldn't say no." She couldn't say no? Why? This ad is definitely controversial and I think the Liquor and Control Board should have revised it before it was published. Overall, the ad wasn't an appropriate way to portray the dangers of rape and the Liquor and Control Board did the right thing by repealing the ad.
I agree with Crystal, she makes a very good point. I think the Liquor Control Board had the right to pull the ad because the ad basically said if one drinks too much alcohol, they will get raped...and as Meridith said, there drunk people aren't the only ones who get raped. On the other hand, I think controltight.com's message was trying to get across that if one consumes much alcohol, they are more vulnerable to not be in control of what happens to them.
I agree with ari that the liquor control board had every right to pull the ad out because it was there job to do so even if it was ineffective.I under stand the message that if you drink too much that your more vulnerable to do things you normaly dont do but i dont think they should have referred to raped victims in the add they should have used some other sanrio
This is definitely a shocking ad, but I disagree with what the article says is people's criticism of it: "it was another example of suggesting victims are to blame for rape." The message of this ad is not that it's the victim's fault if they are raped or assaulted when they are drunk, instead it is drawing attention to how people can become incapacitated, either in a daze or passed out, after drinking too much and really lose control of the situation they are in.
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