Critics say the ad, for a Samsung smartwatch, encouraged unsafe behavior. It attracted 27 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) from viewers who noted the number of recent high-profile cases where women had been attacked in similar circumstances. But now the ad has been cleared by the ASA who say it “did not encourage an unsafe practice” and was “not irresponsible”. In April, women’s safety group Reclaim These Streets described the campaign as “tone deaf” in the wake of the death of Irish teacher Ashling Murphy, who was killed after going for a run in January. The 23-year-old’s death in Tullamore, Co Offaly, caused shockwaves and sparked vigils across Ireland and beyond in her memory, as calls were made for change in the way gender-based violence is tackled. It led to the hashtag #shewasonarun as women shared stories of being harassed while running. Responding to the complaints to the ASA, Samsung acknowledged that the ads may have been “perceived as insensitive by some viewers, particularly in light of recent high-profile attacks on women at night”, and apologised. The ad will not be shown again in the UK The tech giant said the ads would not be shown again in the UK, but welcomed clarity on whether or not the campaign broke advertising rules. Samsung said that while the ads were not intended to encourage women to run at night, “the unsafe element complained about the risk of predatory individuals attacking the woman in the ads and that running alone at night, alone of, they do not present this risk.’ They added that victims of attacks who chose to run alone at night “should never be blamed or judged for choosing to take the risk” and believed a ruling that advertisers could not show people running alone could be perceived in this way. Accepting complaints could set precedent for ‘victim class’ Ad clearinghouse Clearcast said the risk was not the fault of the woman running and was concerned that accepting the complaints “could set a precedent for wider victim blaming, making it difficult to assess future ads”. The ASA said it recognized some care would be needed when running alone at night, but that the woman in the ad appeared alert in a well-lit area. The warden added that he thought that running alone at night, in itself, was not likely to result in harm or injury.
