Discovery Channel recently came up with a promo ad titled "The World Is Ours", which has not gone down well with many social media users. The video showed many men doing some incredible adventurous work. It also showed some animals but included only one woman.
The video is set on a song "Hooked on a feeling" by Blue Swede. Many social media users found the ad offensive as it apparently sends out a message that the world belongs only to men.
The video went viral on social media as many started slamming the channel for a representation almost excluding women. The only woman included is one in bikini walking down a jungle at the end of the video.
"This is DISGUSTING. Not a single woman featured in this video because networks like Discovery refuse to hire women as hosts on science shows. They think only men can be experts. "The World Is Male" they're saying with this. They are wrong," wrote a Twitter user.
"Quite shameful that this video has been up for over 48 hours and Discovery has still not bothered taking it down. Wonder what the male scientists in the video think, anyone know if any of them are on twitter?" said another.
The channel is being shamed and criticised by people from across the globe. While the video has not been pulled down yet, there has not been any clarification from the channel too.
We're hooked on a feeling #TheWorldIsOurs pic.twitter.com/oMx50Pdvv5
— Discovery (@Discovery) April 1, 2019
Yo, @Discovery what is this tone deaf, hyper-masculine nonsense? ??? The only woman in your reel is in a bikini being led through a jungle. What?! It’s 2019. Do better. Sincerely, Dr. Johnson, a scientist, adventurer, and woman. #ItsOurWorldToo https://t.co/4UEvuPuzPL
— Dr. Ayana E. Johnson (@ayanaeliza) April 3, 2019
#TheWorldIsOurs
— Vicky Pearce ? (@vicky_pearce) April 2, 2019
But not ours, apparently.
(@Discovery missing the extremely low bar of representation is only one of the horrendously tone deaf elements of this campaign.) https://t.co/vj3P9jsAzV
aka "The World Is Primarily White Men's". You would think a channel called @Discovery would be more than capable of finding scientists of varied genders and ethnicities https://t.co/q7GUFV356M
— Hannah Khwaja (@hannahkhwaja) April 2, 2019