Fundación MUTUA plays down domestic abuse in their latest tennis advert.
In recent years, the divide between older and younger generations has widened, and there is no clearer representation of this than the misguided attempts to appeal to new audiences by legacy advertisers. Whilst this lack of understanding of how different age groups communicate is usually harmless and somewhat amusing, there are times when, in the case of the latest advert from the Fundación Mutua Madrileña, this becomes a serious issue.
In what was an attempt to publicly denounce domestic abuse towards women, Mutua Madrileña manages to not only downplay the tragic repercussions of such actions but also manages somehow humanize abusers and antagonize the audience. The video features several prominent tennis players from both the WTA and ATP tours initially talking about their experience on the court and their losses, it then pivots to comparing those losses to domestic abuse as it says “I’ve lost enough times to know what a loser looks like [and if you mistreat a woman, you are a loser]”. This is then followed by the players Holding up their hands in the shape of an “L” and repeating “You are a loser”.
See the video below:
This advert also fails at addressing a leading issue with this topic: abuse can be directed towards all genders. The whole campaign fails at delivering any sort of positively impactful message: it chooses to only represent part of an issue, downplays it, humanizes the abusers, and antagonizes the male audience even though they can be victims of abuse too.
People referring to criminals as “losers” and holding up the L is not only incredibly inappropriate, but it also makes their actions seem less serious. When studying Media, the first concept we are introduced to is “Connotation and Denotation1”, a concept by which denotation represents the literal meaning of a word or message, whilst connotation refers to the implied emotional, cultural, and social meaning. The issue with this video is that whilst “loser”’s denotation is shameful and harsh, its connotation, especially in the online era, is of a word used jokingly between friends, not to talk about criminals and people abusing women.
Holding up the L is potentially even more scandalous: the sign was initially popularised by viners, YouTubers, and more recently by the video game Fortnite, where it is commonly used to mock other players after beating them. It goes without saying that a sign well known now by the public for its explicit connotations of mockery should not be used in such a tragic context, and it is unfathomable that a group of advertisers producing a video with top tennis talent for an extremely famous tournament managed to miss this.
Whether it tries to or not, the advert manages to somehow compare losing a tennis match to abusing a woman, and in doing so it completely downplays the issue it is trying to tackle. Unfortunately, this flawed connotation is then substantiated by the concept of social proof: by having powerful and successful women propagate this message, it is subconsciously taken more seriously by the audience.
As if that weren’t enough, the final section of the video also has the players speaking directly to the audience saying “You are a loser” repeatedly. Whilst this can be considered as Chutzpadik advertising2, a style where the producers use “bold language and transgress social norms”, the advert falls flat and it looks like it is trying to blame the audience.
Starting difficult discussions regarding topics such as domestic abuse is vital to ensure that society progresses as a whole, but they should only be engaged by those that can portray the issue without minimizing its problematic nature. The Fundación Mutua advert has most of the good components of a powerful and impactful message: social proof, good intentions, and a massive platform, but all of this goes to waste if the message isn’t communicated correctly, and in this case, it was not.
References:
- “Connotation and Denotation“, California state university, 2015
- “Chutzpadik advertising and its effectiveness: Four studies of agencies and audiences“, Journal of Business Research Volume 137, December 2021
Sad thing is, they won’t take any measures to combat this beyond a corny advertisement