Sexist and dangerous Samaritans ad

What ideas? I'm curious now.

Mine too. We chatted about it again today, & he came up with lots of inventive, wacky ideas to deal with the problem at stations! When he's on a roll he's unstoppable & hilarious.❤

Yup. You can just imagine it. Friday afternoon at the office: "Here, fancy a flier? I'll sort this. I'll just ask a few blokes down the pub tonight. Jobs a good un" Tick!

Not yet, thankfully. I assume the time will come. Probably be some non binary entitled young thing.

And I bet nobody’s telling Andy’s Man Club that they’re hateful for being single sex & need to start including trans-identifying women.

It's numbers as well. They may well have done what they said. It also may have taken them ten minutes as they only asked ten people.

Of course they are, that is the whole point of Andys Man Club. They are opening new clubs every week. There are three in my small city and hundreds of men attend and support each other every week. It is toxic to tell men they are no good at talking to each other, they absolutely are more than capable.

"Lots of questions. Including was it ever really tested with the public? Or were results falsified"

Indeed. I've done a lot of market research. It pays quite well these days. My last job was for Meta Quest, and they obviously had a large budget.

As i said earlier in the thread, charities on a lower budget? Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest of results were falsified. The advertising company isn't going to feel terribly obliged if it eats into the overall fee after all..

And if it was a man approaching a woman asking about coffee, that would very likely come across as a chat up line & just one more problem for her to deal with.

They should have just made both people in the ad the same sex.

There's no flipping way I'd ever approach an upset-looking man and ask him if he was OK (much less ask where I can get coffee). I suppose it's sad that I think that way, and I'd love to live in a world where I could safely do that. Wouldn't we all. But my safety comes first.

Approach an upset-looking woman though? Yes, been there and done that, and felt totally safe doing it.

I'd like to say I'm shooketh, but nope.

Asking commuters, great but how many were men?

Did not one man say anything about the coffee line? Or did a few and were ignored?

And asking commuters, were they in a rush? Not really paying attention? Didnt want to stand there and discuss the finer points? Is it at all possible that most of the men they asked were of a mind to believe women are support humans and preventing men suicide is their job? Same for women, did they mostly ask women who believe everything is womens job?
Were there any dissenters? Who were ignored because the ad company wants this to work regardless of womens feelings or lived experience.
Lots of questions. Including was it ever really tested with the public? Or were results falsified.

How thoroughly and depressingly predictable.

I’ve been reading this thread for a while and I see the usual suspects have turned up to tell off the silly wimmin for being scared.

I’ve travelled a lot for work over my career. When travelling I dress for comfort not style, and I’m overweight and normal/conventional looking, not pretty or glamorous. I cannot count the number of times that normal chit chat (about the service running late or moving stuff off a seat) with a male fellow traveler has taken a turn where I’m suddenly aware I’m being propositioned. Of course, answering questions briefly and concisely and not engaging further gets me labelled as a stuck up bitch. Luckily I’ve never had someone then follow me to the car park, although I’ve dived into the loos after getting off a plane to avoid the guy in the seat next to me who was following me into passport control. (That one was hoping for an hook up while waiting for a connection, to celebrate his first time travelling to America on business) Other women tell me of similar stories. And that’s separate from the blatant sexual harassment and groping from strangers in a crowded carriage.

So yes, it blindingly obvious that none involved in that advert has been a woman travelling by public transport. I answer questions and am polite but I don’t engage any more.

But even so, surely some of those men would have said that it looked as though the woman was chatting him up.

As I said up-thread my limited sample thought so, and he raised that the resulting disappointment once it had been sorted out that she wasn't intending to chat him up would be counterproductive to the man's mental health.

Even if you purely centre the man's feelings and don't consider the woman's safety at all, it's still a terrible course of action to have modelled to less socially experienced women.

that it looked as though the woman was chatting him up.

They might have thought that was the point. A lot of men think of us as sexy service humans.

Pleased to report I showed this to my partner and he was able to say why it's so blindingly stupid.

They said that they tested it with various groups.

Before the launch across digital and traditional media, as well as with posters in railway settings, the campaign’s potential effectiveness was tested with commuters, the public and people with lived experience.

Maybe this is what they actually did:
Before the launch across digital and traditional media, as well as with posters in railway settings, the campaign’s potential effectiveness was tested with male commuters, other men and men with lived experience.

But even so, surely some of those men would have said that it looked as though the woman was chatting him up.

Y was wondering about the ad agency: very poor service on their part! Though the client should’ve identified the problems.

if You look up the agency and the team that created this ad they are all men. Just saying.

The problem is also whilst in the narrative of the ad the man is suicidal and needs someone to intervene to help him. Therefore, in the advert’s world, the man is innocent and in need. If a woman speaks to him she WILL save his life (there is no option here that he will jump before she speaks, or jumps regardless). This advert is storyboarded that

Man is suicidal
Woman chooses to distract with a comment
Man breaks out of his own feelings for long enough to “lose the moment” and go on to access help.

It’s an advert, that is the only outcome here.

In real life, though, the facts may be completely different and may NOT play out this way. The ad assumes all gloomy faced men standing by railway tracks are one thing whereas life has shown many of us that scenario may be wildly misjudged.

That’s why it’s not recommended to approach strange men and ask where you can get coffee. You may not be saving a life, you may be opening yourself to harassment, abuse, assault etc and it’s impossible to know in advance.

I mean, if it’s so unthinkable to show a man approaching (why?) a couple could have been talking to each other - “is he ok? Should we say something? Let’s go over? excuse me, is this the platform for the blah blah train?”

@CauliflowerBalti
To clarify, I posted that posters on this thread can contact the Samaritans [email protected] email with feedback about the advert. The Samaritans said they welcome feedback to improve future campaigns (and this is a good thing).

In answer to your question about my post:
No - This does not mean “we” are “organising an attack on the Samaritans”.

It might be that a few women may choose to write an email to the Samaritans with their, brace yourself….views.

Women have views, women express their views, some women may write their views down and send them to the Samaritans (in hope for change) because...

Some women might not agree with the Samaritans advert attempting to appeal to
“an embryonic noble nurse that is supposed to be curled, efficient, and self-sacrificing at the heart of every true woman”

(quote from Margaret Atwood, The Edible Woman p.g. 132)

I believe 10-12 is the age these men deliberately target because girls of that age won't identify the gits' motivation.

And I bet public transport is one of the most frequent settings for this. Certainly recall some horrible man doing this to me age about 10/11 on the tube. Gross fucker. OBVIOUSLY didn't report it- didn't actually even know what had happened at the time, or even what sperm was.

Those stats very much support the woman talking herself out of it position.

Also if women approached random upset men more (as suggested by this ad), they'd undoubtedly get assaulted by strangers more often. Plenty of examples on this thread. Women generally don't do this as know the risks.

Bit like driving drunk without a seatbelt: not guaranteed to end badly but why put yourself in that position?

So women are more than 1000x more likely to be attacked by a stranger than a man is to commit suicide?

Quote from wikipedia

Frotteurism is a paraphilic interest in rubbing, usually one's pelvic area or erect penis, against a non-consenting person for sexual pleasure.It may involve touching any part of the body, including the genital area. A person who practices frotteuristic acts is known as a frotteur.

Toucherism is sexual arousal based on grabbing or rubbing one's hands against an unexpecting (and non-consenting) person. It usually involves touching breasts, buttocks or genital areas, often while quickly walking across the victim's path.[1]Some psychologists consider toucherism a manifestation of frotteurism, while others distinguish the two.[2] In clinical medicine, treatment of frotteuristic disorder involves cognitive behavioral therapy coupled with the administration of an SSRI.

In retrospect, I first experienced this from an adult man, aged 11. Possibly 12. How many of us haven't experienced this? How many women report it?

I didn't report it to anyone, because I didn't even understand why he was doing it. It still happened though.