By Ghui
A Samsung advertisement that has since been pulled has generated fierce online debate. The advertisement featured emotional exchanges between various family and friends on topics that range from drug addiction, mental health to LGBTQ. A particular storyline that involved a hijab donning mother and her drag queen son was alleged to have to have been religiously insensitive which in turn saw Samsung remove the advertisement from circulation.
This advertisement has caused backlash from both sides of the fence – those who opposed the advertisement in the first place and those who opposed its subsequent removal.
From a marketing perspective, Samsung has probably struck gold – regardless of whether the advertisement is still showing, people are talking about it. So much so that it has even hit international news.
It seems a shame to focus narrowly on the apparent controversy generated by the advertisement. Singapore is a secular, multi cultural, multi religious and multi racial country bound by what one would hope are a common set of national values. What are these values that unite us as a nation?
Surely, love is a value that should transcend our differences and go right to the heart of what we all have in common?
Beyond a marketing campaign that tugs on heartstrings, the advertisement speaks to love – parental love and acceptance – something that anyone should be able to understand. Even as parents guide and support their children into a life they hope their children may live, this does not always pan out according to our wishes. This is the way of life. But this doesn’t mean that it has to be acrimonious or bad or negative.
Is it not more important to love and understand the children we actually have rather than the children we hope to have? After all, our reactions to our children’s choices often reflect to us our own issues and insecurities that we should also deal with. Imposing these issues on our children or on society is an avoidance of our own inner conflicts and struggles.
While I appreciate that the advertisement might be triggering for some, it also begs the question : past a certain point, is society responsible for our various triggers? Surely, we are responsible for our own triggers! How do we navigate our relationship with social media as a society? Do we simply ban and cancel anything that we are uncomfortable with or do we take a step back to reflect first?
There are of course certain things such as racism, paedophilia, the incitement of hate crime and criminal activity that will have to be regulated and legislated against. But we have to remember that there is a difference between criminality and something that you simply do not like.
As an objective viewer, I do not see this advertisement as one about religion. Rather, it is a tribute to a mother’s unconditional love for her adult son.
https://www.tiktok.com/@wakeupsingapore/video/7055324033646218497?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1
Added to this, the advertisement also touches on many real but taboo issues in our society. There is friendship, there is addiction, there is mental health, there is human failing and a desire to make amends.
There is accountability, responsibility and forgiveness. Above all, it feels authentic to life as it really is.
Too often, we as a society shy away from anything that is uncomfortable or confronting. Does this serve us or does it simply repress underlying issues causing them to manifest in other ways?
To mature as a society, we have to face up to the realities of life. We can’t just pretend that life is perfect. How do we support one another if everyone is too busy pretending that they fit into a picture perfect postcard?
Take racism for example. Some people refuse to acknowledge that racism against minorities is not uncommon in Singapore. As a result, everything gets blurred. Legitimate criticism of immigration policy may be labelled racist while actual racism may be swept under the carpet as “isolated incidences”. If we simply acknowledge that there is commonplace casual racism and have a civil discussion on the issue, we can come forward together to create something better. If we are serious about solving it, we must, at the very least, acknowledge it.
We are a mature people, or so I hope, and we can have difficult but necessary conversations.
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