Give SAFRA a Break

Are we getting too sensitive these days?

I read with amusement, the saga over an alleged sexist ad which SAFRA has been running at several bus stops around Singapore. The ad shows a gym scenario where two young men working out are checking out a girl who is standing in the foreground. It is accompanied by the caption “A great workout, good friends and some healthy distractions.”

Sexist?

Maybe a little, but it is really borderline if you see the ad in it’s tongue-in-cheek context.

Imagine my surprise when I read in the news today that AWARE has joined in the witch hunt (pun not intended) to criticised SAFRA strongly on this. The women’s rights organisation posted an open letter on its website yesterday, saying that SAFRA’s ad “contributes” to “a culture that ubiquitously encourages everyone to see women as existing to be ‘checked out’…for the pleasure of heterosexual men, regardless of how we feel about it”.

Er…. relax can?

Take a look at this alternative version I created with two females checking out a hunk, with the same caption:

Okay right?

I can laugh to both versions. Can you?

Cut SAFRA some slack.

To their credit, SAFRA has so far stood their ground that the ad is not to be taken too seriously and I hope they continue to do so. Stand firm if you believe if you did nothing wrong.