A supposed advertisement for South Australia’s University Of Adelaide has come under fire for displaying what many are calling an example of ‘mansplaining’ in action.
First brought to attention thanks to the Shit Adelaide Instagram account a few days ago, the image in question depicts a male student surrounded by five female students as he appears to be explaining a concept to the seemingly bored women. The image is flanked by the crest for University Of Adelaide on its left side.
“@eightpercentjazz has noticed that our innovative education precinct is now offering a Master of Mansplaining,” the Instagram caption reads, as countless comments flooded in accusing the University of promoting ‘mansplaining’.
As the ABC explains (because I’m well aware of the irony of putting the concept into my own words), “The term ‘mansplaining’ is now widely used to refer to a man explaining something to a woman in a way that is considered patronising, arrogant or condescending.”
Understandably though, a vast amount of commentators have also empathised with the women in the advertisement, noting that they too had been in a similar situation, or had noticed similar behaviour during their time at any institution of higher learning.
“I’ve been walking past this poster for months and wondering what the hell the marketing people responsible for this were thinking,” wrote one user on the post.
A friend shared this and it's a real Adelaide University poster and I will be over here laugh-crying until I die.
PS: Just look at these poor women's faces… 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/n1LrdQjDKj— Toula Drimonis (@ToulasTake) June 29, 2018
A spokesperson for the University Of Adelaide explained to the ABC that the image in question is not actually related to the university, and rather part of a seperate section that had been cropped out.
“The hoarding in which that image appears belongs to Renewal SA, not the university,” the university spokesperson explained. “Our logo is part of a separate image, which has been cropped out.”
“The photo in question on the Renewal SA hoarding is not a university image. It was not supplied by us. It was not approved by us. The people depicted in that photo are not university people.”
The image in question is located on the old site of the Royal Adelaide Hospital, which is currently being redeveloped by Renewal SA, an urban development initiative of the South Australian government.
The ABC notes that once work is completed, the old RAH site will house the University Of Adelaide’s Australian Institute for Machine Learning, becoming a precinct for arts and education.
A video released by Renewal SA that outlines the current ideas for the RAH site actually features the individuals depicted in the misleading advertisement (viewable below at 1:25), clearly showing that their presence is not related to Adelaide University.
Check out Renewal SA’s ‘Your Ideas’ video:
