Last week, a commercial video for male contraceptives made by some students at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane went viral and has caused a major stir among internet users in the country. Like previous videos that were produced by students of the same university, this is not the first one to cause a state of hysteria in different sites and social media.
Although the condom advert has been described by some of the Al Akhawayn Community as a tad controversial and bold, I think everyone agrees that it has served its purpose well, which is marketing. As a matter of fact, if it were me who produced such video, I would have contacted the company to ask for some sort of compensation, as small as it may be, after the free publicity they have benefited from.
Leaving all religious opinions or what would the Moroccan society define as moral motives aside, the video had a clear purpose and was designed for a clear target, which is not the Moroccan audience. If the context of the video was explained to any “average Simo” in the street, there would have been a great chance of them understanding what the video was and why it was made, without leading to useless accusations and insults.
It may have been explained before, but I will reiterate: the commercial video was produced by students of the university, and not the university itself, for the sake of participating in a competition that is organised every semester for one of their marketing classes. This said, such video would have probably made an amazing advert in other countries that are more realistic about the use of contraceptives due to their numerous benefits.
However, our extremely conservative society saw it as a porno video. If it were a porno, which according to some is immoral and “Haram”, then why did you share it or visit the link in the first place. For those concerned, you may call yourselves conservatives, I call you hypocrites.
Finally, what has added salt to injury is the unethical use of media outlets to share this video for many reasons: more page views, criticizing Moroccan TV (which had nothing to do with the video as it is clearly a montage), hate discourse growing against Al Akhawayn University (which seems like a sport nowadays), and of course criticizing the government, the best of all sports. To Whom It May Concern, please check your sources next time before posting something on your site.
Taha Slaoui
