Under the slogan “No one takes you into account, we made a bank for you”, the Egyptian-Gulf (EG) Bank has released its advertising campaign for Ramadan, which attracted hundreds of people on social media. The campaign consists of six ads showing a young guy who is humiliated by his father in several ways. In the ads, the father kicks his sleeping son out of the home reception in order to host some friends, turns off the television while his son is watching a football match, humiliates his son in front of his girlfriend, and even underestimates him in a fight with a man in the street, calling him “a small kid”.
At the end of each ad, the narrator states that the bank is the only institution to give prestige to those who are always disrespected and not valued.
With different scenarios between the father and his son, the common plot is always the father humiliating his son in a funny situation.
For ten days, the ad managed to catch people’s smiles and comments, as they deemed it to be representative of the fact that many families pay no respect to their children.
Although the campaign managed to grab people’s attention to the EG Bank and its new projects to support young people, it sparked waves of sympathy and criticism, as some people accused the advertisers of trying to make fun of an unhealthy relationship between a father and his son in a pathetic way, portraying it as a normal thing.
“I believe that different kinds of creative arts, especially ads, must not be considered an example to be followed by people in their everyday life,” said Dr. Emad Soliman, a psychiatrist. “However, I believe that the media must shed light on the problems and violations that take place in society,” he added.
In his opinion, watching such advertising campaigns will not influence the way which parents tend to deal with their children. However, he believes it may have an unhealthy effect on the way children and teenagers will see themselves.
“Such a campaign will recall the feelings of oppression and compulsion among teenagers, who will see themselves in the ads, which will remind them of the similar situations they have been through. This may lead them to feel more humiliated and oppressed, as it will reinforce their feeling of being rejected by the people closest to them,” he added.
However, this was not the first time for an ad to portray a father humiliating his child. Two years ago, an Egyptian advertising campaign for one of the well-known potato chips brands was banned by the Consumer Protection Agency because it featured a father slapping his child violently.
The ad was accused of supporting domestic violence and reshaping it so that it seemed like acceptable behavior.
