Public urged to forget ‘badly designed’ social security advert

AMMAN — The Social Security Corporation (SSC) on Thursday called on citizens to forget about a “resurrected” advertisement it had withdrawn eight years ago, showing a bride with a caption reading, “I was insured when he married me.”

The advert, which the organisation pulled shortly after its 2006 debut generated controversy, saw a surge in popularity on online social networks earlier this month.

When the advertisement was originally released, activists criticised it as “offensive”, saying it reinforced the stereotypical image of women as material objects.

In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, on Thursday, SSC Media Director Musa Sbeihi acknowledged that the poster was not well designed, but stressed that it was not meant to offend women. Instead, he blamed a lack of professionalism at the advertising agency that the SSC worked with at the time.

He also said that the SSC has launched several media campaigns during the past few years in cooperation with women’s organisations which helped spread awareness among women on the importance of subscribing to social security insurance.

He also expressed hopes that media outlets and social networks would cooperate in “burying” the “offensive” advertisement forever as it had been withdrawn and completely cancelled, Petra said.