Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Blog 6 Bad Idea From IKEA - Removing Women from Saudi Arabia Catalog Versions


Blog 6: Bad Idea from IKEA - Removing Women from Saudi Arabia Catalog Versions

 

It seems as though we are advancing in every aspect in the world except for the in pictures where women are being removed from pictures and advertisements. Not too long ago, during the raid of Osama bin Laden’s compound a White House photo captured President Obama and members of his National Security team watching events unfold. The gripping image went on to be reproduced by nearly every media outlet, but one -- an Orthodox Jewish newspaper Der Tzitung -- published its own version, removing Secretary of State of Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason, Director for the picture. When asked why they were removed these two ladies the newspaper responded by saying, “in accord with our religious beliefs, we do not publish pictures of women.” IKEA’s catalog has decided to remove the images of women from their catalogs to “align with cultural standards”. So what exactly are the cultural standards in Saudi Arabia, for women to not be seen in the media as if don’t exist?

 

The problem with the IKEA ad in Saudi Arabia is that it is not showing realistically equality within its society. But this inequality among women is just not in advertisement; it is in religion, jobs, education, healthcare, government, and sexual orientation. This has been passed down from generation to generation all over the world even though we are trying to change around the way society looks at women. Different countries view women in different ways some more equal than others and why is it still some that are not as equal as others when it comes to women views?  

No comments: