The New York Times reported today that a Dubai court sentenced two men on Wednesday to 15 years in prison for the rape of a French-Swiss teenager. Originally authorities in Dubai threatened to blame — and prosecute the victim, by threatening to bring him up on charges of criminal acts — homosexual sex, which to reiterate was rape and thus quite clearly not consensual. What is the punishment for homosexual sex in the U.A.E.? It varies. People found guilty could be, and have been, subject to public lashings, jailed, or treated with male hormones. So what does this have to do with advertising you might wonder?
I present for your consideration the print ad below. It ran in Dubai and was created by an agency in Dubai for an energy drink called Shoot Up. It creates a visual pun using the symbol for the Olympics to suggest a level of sexual performance that is generally only seen in porn films. It is first and foremost (of course) about the man being able to be with 4 women. However in this visual the women are also coupled with each other. In a society that is so clearly both repressed and repressive one could ask whether this strikes a blow for freedom or whether it is just another expression of patriarchy. In any case, it betrays a certain schizophrenia evident in many societies where traditional cultures jostle with 21st Century global capitalism. Will the art director and copywriter be subject to public lashing for this work? I doubt it. The cultural clashes and shifts represented in the unfortunate rape case in this ad are at the fault line not only in the Mid East, but in the West (women are still often blamed in cases of sexual violence while Western media utilizes sex and violence to sell). I have my own ideas about how all this relates, but I am curious to know what any readers might think of this juxtaposition and what it says.
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