I recently came across a video titled Don’t Mancriminate which is part of a campaign that claims to fight for ‘men’s rights’. The almost-five minute video takes the entire gender-equality debate to a new level by claiming that men are being discriminated against because ‘women are allowed free entry into night clubs’.
Yes, women in India often face issues like forced arranged marriages, dowry abuse, rape, sexism, discrimination at the workplace, sexual harassment when taking public transport, victimisation post-rape and other mundane obstacles, but none of these problems are as great as men paying to enter nightclubs! I mean who cares if marital rape has not been criminalised in India; does that compare with the privilege of free drinks every Wednesday night? Seriously, women when will you stop complaining!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZu1iBg_nqM]
Now watching the video was not a joyful experience for anyone, thanks to the extremely annoying laughter track, very biased participants and the liberties taken with the rules of grammar. The only guy who says he doesn’t care about free nightclub entries is actually muted while he’s speaking. The video is apparently part of a campaign by Maggcom, an online fashion and lifestyle magazine, to end discrimination against men.
Here are some of the accompanying pictures to go with this campaign:
Now there are two logical explanations for this particular initiative. The first one is that it aims to create enough outrage which will in turn help grab eyeballs and increase traffic to the Maggcom website (which I refuse to link to). The second is that it was a sarcastic and ironic campaign which failed to be as funny as we thought it would be.
If it’s the former then I should applaud the website’s marketing team because they have managed to get international coverage. Of course, you should remember that folks who discovered your site were disgusted and will probably never come back after this but kudos on creating enough outrage. If it’s the latter, then sorry man, you guys are not funny. By reducing the entire debate of gender equality to night clubs, you have ensured that no one will take you seriously. Oh and I hope the likes of Elijah Wood and Jude Law don’t SUE you for illegally using their image.
Oh and you should know that someone who goes by the Twitter handle of Angry Flat Cap liked your campaign so much that they spoofed it to start movements for Bran (Game of Thrones), trams and flan!
So what do you think of the campaign? Do you think it deserves our attention? Do you think it was a ploy to garner eyeballs? Do you really think men are being discriminated against? Let us know in the Comments section.
