York Region is scrambling to remove an ad campaign that’s offensive, misogynistic and slut-shaming.
A poster and social media campaign directed at women was launched by the Public Health department in mid-August. Called Don’t Try To Keep Up With The Guys, it depicts a young woman who has supposedly consumed alcohol and is embarrassed by photos posted on Instagram the next day. In small print, the poster reads, “It’s not just about keeping an eye on your drink but how much you drink.”
Maija Duncan, a student at York University, spotted the poster inside a women’s washroom stall in the Student Centre on August 28. She shared a photo on Facebook asking, “I wondering if the guy’s washroom has an ad telling them not to be fucking predators?”
Ann Ramkay, a Public Health manager with the York Region, confirms no such ad exists for men.
“The campaign was targeted to women because even when women drink the same amounts as men, women absorb and metabolize alcohol differently,” she explains. “Women are at a greater risk for alcohol related harm because they often weigh less, have more fat tissue, less water in their bodies and lower levels of enzymes that break down alcohol.”
The ad was developed in-house by York Region Public Health staff, who create campaigns around health promotion regularly. Current campaigns include cycle safety, anti-smoking and proper food handling. The campaign warning women not to binge drink was placed in washrooms at restaurants, bars and the York University Student Centre in time for frosh week.
While binge drinking at bars and on college campuses is a serious issue, this campaign plays into rape culture myths and places responsibility solely on women. The series of Instagram pictures depicts a young woman making friends, consuming alcohol and then basically waking up in her underwear.
More productive discussions around consent, sexual violence and alcohol – no matter what gender – have been happening in Toronto bars this past year. In January, local bartenders fundraised to increase anti-assault training in bars after the owner of College Street Bar was charged with sexually assaulting a 24-year-old patron.
That same month, art curatorial collective Aisle 4 launched On The Table, a series of artist-designed coasters on the subject of consent and sexual violence that was distributed at over a dozen bars during the Toronto Design Offsite Festival.
“There’s so much victim blaming,” Shannon Linde, a member of Aisle 4, said in a previous interview. “It’s so engrained in our culture.”
It appears, however, that more people are taking a stand against this type of messaging.
Janice Walls, a spokesperson for York University, says they were notified of the campaign and “troubled by the content of the advertisement.”
Since the Student Centre is operated independently, the school was never consulted about it.
“We have been informed by the Student Centre that they instructed that the ad be removed,” Walls adds.
Ramkay confirms that the majority of ads will be removed today (August 30).
“Of course our focus is never to offend anyone,” she adds. “We’ve decided to take the campaign down and offer our sincere apologies to anyone who did finds the campaign to be offensive.”
michelled@nowtoronto.com | @michdas
