Guatemala: A Tasteless Advertising Campaign

“Living instead of dying” is what Claudia Navas said from Ordinaria Locura [es], where she details serious problems that Guatemala is facing in regards to violence against young women, she said:

Las cifras de feminicidio en el país son alarmantes, según la Policía Nacional Civil, hasta el 2 de octubre se habían registrado 377 muertes, cifra que seguramente ha aumentado, pues tan sólo al hojear los periódicos cada día me encuentro con una víctima más. Entre ellas, a muchas que ni siquiera han llegado a la mayoría de edad.

The statistics of feminicide in the country are alarming, according to the National Police, in the period up until October 2nd, 377 women were murdered, a number that surely has increased since then from looking at the newspaper every day, I find another name, many of who have not reached 18 years old.

In light of these tragic statistics, a Guatemalan shoe company launched an advertising campaign that many bloggers thought was out of line. The international blog VISUALMENTE [es] explains the content of these ads in a post called Poco hombre. The blog article also features the two ads in question.

El 19 de noviembre en Guatemala una empresa zapatera llamada MD lanzó una campaña por su nueva colección de zapatos. “Está de muerte” es el eslogan que acompaña las piezas gráficas de esta patética campaña de publicidad, en cuya imágenes aparece el cadáver de una mujer desparramado sobre un sofá, y en otra, el cadáver de otra mujer en una camilla de una morgue o de un hospital, eso sí, ambas con unos zapatos muy lindos y vistosos, pero muertas. ¿Mujeres muertas para promocionar zapatos?

On November 19 in Guatemala, a shoe store called MD launched a campaign to promote their next collection of shoes with the slogan “it is to die for.” On one of the posters, there is the body of a dead girl lying on the sofa, and on the poster, there is another girl, who is dead in a morgue or a hospital, both of them are wearing a beautiful pair of brand new shoes, both of them dead. ¿Dead women to promote shoes?

Desing Drink [es] agreed that it was in extremely bad taste on her post:

Coincido con muchos periodistas guatemaltecos que tachan la publicidad de la zapatería MD como INOPORTUNA, ya que el pasado 25 de noviembre se conmemoró un día más de la NO VIOLENCIA CONTRA LAS MUJERES, una fecha que ni siquiera debería existir.

I agree with several Guatemalan journalists that reject MD's advertising campaign, considering it inappropriate, especially since last November 25 the Day Against Violence Against Women, which is a celebration that should not exist in the first place.

Black Creative Box [es] also shares their point:

somos nosotros los exagerados? Es cierto que la publicidad mientras más controversial mejor pero existen millones de formas de hacer una campaña de zapatos.

Are we overreacting? It is true that in advertising, the more controversial the better, but there are million other ways of making a campaign for shoes.

Guatemalidades [es] shared on her blog a story of a girl (Wendy) murdered by an angry boyfriend, and their rejection against the advertising on Guatemalan streets:

..no pienso comprar nunca zapatos en MD. las muchas Wendys de Guatemala que han visto sus sueños truncados por una violencia tonta y la rídicula imposición de la moda y la necesidad de “venderse” para convertirse en mujeres “honradas” y “esposas”. esa misma moda que descalifica el cerebro y cualifica a la mujer por el tamaño de sus tetas y el diámetro de su cintura, es aberrante usar la muerte para vender precisamente lo que provoca la violencia.

… I refuse to buy MD shoes, since there are a lot of Wendys in Guatemala that have seen their dreams shattered because of senseless violence and a ridiculous imposition of fashion, and the need of selling themselves to become “honorable women” and “wives”. The same trend is the one discounting intellect and valuing women for their breast size and waist size. It is disgusting to use death to sell because it instigates violence.

La columna de Ana shares the concerns, saying on her post Muerte Súbita:

Esa publicidad, que copia una corriente surgida algunos meses atrás en otros países, y que fue interrumpida inmediatamente por las entidades de mujeres y de derechos humanos, debe ser retirada de inmediato porque es una bofetada en el rostro de las mujeres guatemaltecas. Guatemala es el segundo país en el mundo –solo Rusia le gana– con el mayor número de mujeres asesinadas.

That advertisement, which copied similar ads in other countries that were immediately put to a halt by women's rights and human rights groups, should be removed immediately because it is a slap in the face Guatemalan women. Guatemala is second in the world – behind Russia – with the highest number of murdered women

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