Money Meet Mouth - My complaint to ALAC

Further to Maia's original post on the ALAC ad perpetuating rape myths, and my own post pointing out how to make a complaint, here's what I've sent to ALAC and the Advertising Standards Authority today. Sorry for the delay, I've had stuff going on in real life which has resulted in my blog absence for most of the last two and a half weeks.

To whom it may concern,

I am writing today to express my concern and dismay in relation to the "Lisa" ad currently being screened by television stations on behalf of the Alcohol Advisory Council (ALAC), as part of the campaign. While I have not recorded an exact time when the advertisement has screened, it can be viewed at the following website: http://www.hadenough.org.nz/Media.aspx

1. Background
The "Lisa" advert is part of a series of three advertisements all graphically portraying a series of negative results from excessive drinking. They are part of the Had Enough campaign from ALAC which seeks to address the problems around binge drinking in our society. All three advertisements seek to blame the drinker involved for the negative result towards the end of the advert; drunken brawls ("Danny"), serious harm to a child ("Mark") and rape ("Lisa").

I have seen all three advertisements screened on free to air television during prime-time viewing, including the Lisa advert which I have seen twice, in addition to viewing it online as detailed above.

2. Breaches of the Advertising Standards Authority Codes
I believe the Lisa advert breaches two parts of the Ethics section of the Codes,
namely:

3. No advertisement should be misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive the consumer.
4. All advertisements should be prepared with a due sense of social responsibility to consumers and to society.

2.1 Misleading/deceiving the consumer (Code of Ethics point 3)
The context of the "Lisa" ad is important; in both of the other adverts in this campaign, "Danny" and "Mark", the blame is correctly apportioned. However Lisa has not done anything wrong. She has merely gone out and had a good time, including drinking a lot of alcohol. Unlike Danny and Mark, Lisa has not hit anyone, become abusive or unpleasant, or acted obnoxiously towards others. As part of a campaign that seeks to encourage New Zealanders to think about their binge drinking habits, it is not readily apparent that Lisa has a problem to address.

The "Lisa" advert gives the clear impression that women who get drunk are putting themselves at risk of rape or sexual assault. In fact, it is rapists who are responsible for rape, not those who are their victims. It is misleading to imply that Lisa is somehow to blame for the sexual response of the man who bundles her away at the end of the advertisement. It is deceiving to give viewers the impression that if only women did not drink, or did not drink a lot, there would be fewer sexual assaults in our society.

2.2 Lacking due sense of social responsibility to consumers and to society (Code of Ethics point 4)
For many years now those who are concerned about rape have been battling a number of myths about this serious form of violence. First and foremost amongst these harmful myths is the patent un-truth that women are to blame if they are raped. As mentioned above in 2.1, rape is never the fault of the victim, it is the responsibility of the rapist. No one asks for rape. No one's actions are such that they deserve to be raped. The "Lisa" advert, as part of a series of ads that seeks to blame drinkers for negative outcomes, clearly implies that Lisa's rape is the fault of her drinking.

Another rape myth that the "Lisa" advert unhelpfully perpetuates is that rapes happen in dark alleys, and that the rapist is likely to be a stranger. In fact research
consistently shows that the vast majority of rape victims will know their rapist, and the average woman is at far greater risk of rape around her friends in a domestic setting than in a bar amongst strangers. National Rape Crisis research from 1999 found that only 3% of the sample studied did not know their rapist, and that two thirds of abuse in the study happened in the homes of either the victim or the offender. More information about this research can be found here.

The "Lisa" advert irresponsibly reinforces the incorrect belief that women are most at risk from strangers, and when they are out on the street. By taking this approach I believe ALAC's advertisement lacks a due sense of social responsibility to both consumers and society.


3. Suggested Action
The outcome I would like to see is for ALAC stop seeking to screen this advert in the short term and that they re-shoot it to address the points that I have made above. As a teetotaller myself, in general I am supportive of ALAC campaigns that seek to highlight the negative consequences of drinking. However when that good intention is expressed in a way that blames women for rape I believe it is socially irresponsible and detracts from the good work that ALAC is doing in encouraging responsible drinking.

Yours sincerely,
Julie Fairey

CC: ALAC (via email), ASA (via online complaint form), The Hand Mirror (via blog post)

Also I should say that I am hoping to write in response to the points Anjum has raised here when I get a chance, but given my real life at the moment it may be a while.