Saturday, February 20, 2016

#OneHitMeansOut PSA

I came across this video right before the Super Bowl, but it's something that is still being talked about online, both in articles discussing the PSA and, perhaps even more importantly, amongst individuals on social media. There's been a lot of things going on with the NFL taking a stance on domestic violence as of late, but, this recent PSA made by Women in the Media titled "Topless Women Talk NFL" reminds the public that, while it's promising that conversation around the issue is finally happening, the league still has a long way to go.



The title of the PSA is misleading. You probably wouldn't expect it to be addressing what it does, but perhaps this is exactly the point Women in the Media was trying to make. The title almost mirrors the hypocrisy that the NFL seems to be perpetuating, commenting on this shallow type of support as one woman in the PSA states, "Wearing pink for breast cancer was awesome, thanks for caring about our boobs, now start caring about the rest of us."

The PSA is just as chilling as it has been effective, resonating with people across the twittersphere and racking up video views on YouTube; however, even with a hyper-relevant release date right before the Super Bowl, it was never talked about by larger news organizations such as ABC, NBC, or Fox. Rather, it's controversial, but compelling way of addressing the issue had smaller outlets geared towards a generally younger audience, such as Vice and EliteDaily, shedding light on the PSA.



That being said, I wonder if it may have been beneficial for the larger, more established outlets to pick up on a PSA like this. While it is somewhat disturbing, the chilling imagery of the women is upfront and arguably more effective because of it's aggressive approach in confronting the issue. One of the larger organizations shedding light on the PSA, TheWashington Postsays the filmmaker "hopes the #OneHitMeansOut campaign will be embraced by fans on social media... 'The NFL is not going to change unless fans and players force them to see the importance of this issue'" (2016).

Given the cases we've seen where social media has actually brought sexual assault victims justice within the legal system, like in the Steubenville rape case, it seems fair to say that social media could potentially have a really impactful and effective way of continuing to bring this PSA to light, as it has thus far shown that it already has. However, given the type of coverage we've seen established outlets produce regarding issues of sexual assault, would it be even more effective or potentially even more controversial for them to shed light on this PSA as well? #OneHitMeansOut

1 comment:

  1. I like the message being portrayed about caring for women in ways other than breast cancer, but I'm not sure this message is the way to go about it. While it does a good job of getting people interested and talking about the campaign, it is doing so by sexualizing women. Is that the only way that people will listen to an anti-violence campaign? Showing topless women? I'm not sure people will be sharing the video for the right reasons. I think the most powerful part about the video is showing the physical abuse on the faces of women, which makes the issue more real.

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