Samsung apologizes after backlash over latest advertisement

Samsung’s latest commercial, which depicts a lady running alone at night with headphones on, has been dubbed “ridiculous” and “unrealistic.”

A young woman running through the streets of a city alone at 2 a.m. appears in the Samsung Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Buds commercial.

‘Night Owls’ is the title of the piece. ‘Your Galaxy. Your Way.’ The video, which promotes Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Buds 2, depicts two ladies racing through the night through dark streets and lanes.

“Sleep at night. Run faster. Push harder. Follow the herd. Not for me, I run on a different schedule: mine,” the voiceover says.

In light of the death of Irish teacher Ashling Murphy, who was killed while running along a canal at Tullamore, west of Dublin, in January, women’s safety group Reclaim These Streets considered it disrespectful.

The ad was “completely and utterly tone-deaf, especially in light of Ashling Murphy,” Jamie Klingler, the co-founder of Reclaim These Streets told The Guardian. “It’s the Kendall Jenner Pepsi moment for Samsung. It isn’t safe for us to run at night and the last thing I want is for anyone to violate our space while we are trying to exercise . It’s almost laughable how bad this ad lands.”

Esther Newman, editor of Women’s Running magazine, added that the ad was “completely unrealistic and totally blinkered”. “We have worked for years on the issues of women’s safety when it comes to running and the vast majority of women in our audience have felt unsafe whilst running, from heckling to actual abuse. We know that women often think about stopping running because of this.”

Samsung apologised for “how this advertisement may have been received” after massive criticism. “The ‘Night Owls’ campaign was designed with a positive message in mind: to celebrate individuality and freedom to exercise at all hours,”- Samsung said.