Written by: Shereen Gaber

Ramadan is the time for commercial overload. From phone plans to charities and everything in between, there are commercials for literally everything to the point that it actually gets really annoying. However, commercials urging people to donate to several charities are the most common. Personally, I really hate charity commercials because it feels like they’re trying to pin the guilt and responsibility on us, the more fortunate bunch. As if it’s our duty, and not the government’s, to take care of the problems of those who are less privileged. Besides, people should donate because they genuinely want to help those in need.

 

The most infuriating commercial I’ve seen as of yet, one that caused quite an uproar on social media, is Dalal Abd El Aziz’s commercial promoting for fresh clean water to reach those who don’t have access to it. The commercial basically shows you a family that drinks water straight from the Nile, as filthy as it is, no filters, nothing. Dalal Abd El Aziz looks disgusted throughout the whole commercial and when she sees the woman and her daughters drinking the filthy water, the only thing that she can think of saying is “ma3lesh”.

 

What is this woman supposed to do with “ma3lesh”? Will it get her clean water? Will it pull her out of her misery? No. Abd El Aziz even goes on to say that getting clean water to this family will only cost 2000 LE. I’m pretty sure the commercial cost way more than that to film.

 

The commercial actually shows you the woman drinking the water, as if it’s normal. How can they film something like that? How can they let her willingly drink that pile of filth knowing it can cause her kidney failure or worse? Instead of thinking of temporary solutions to help her, they just watch as if they’re helpless and can’t do anything about it.

 

Then Abd El Aziz has the audacity to ask her if she only has daughters and the woman answers, with absolute sadness, yes, as she looks to the ground totally heartbroken. First, what does that have to do anything with what the commercial is about? Second, what’s wrong with having girls? If she had sons, would she be living a more humane life and having access to clean water? It’s 2017 and some people still think that having sons is better than having daughters. Not to mention they think that having more kids is something to be proud of. This mentality in itself is toxic since it raises the problem of more people abandoning their children or even worse.

 

This whole commercial tries to guilt trip us into thinking that this woman is living in this state because she needs our help. Is it normal for people to live in a country where they can’t even have access to clean water? Is it the civil society’s duty to provide this family, and countless others, clean water? More than half the Egyptian population lives below the poverty line, how are the rest of us supposed to take care of all of them? Not to mention that Egypt is going through an economic crisis right now that even middle class families are having financial difficulties.

 

If anyone can help the poor then that’s great, but this commercial is just all wrong. They could’ve just interviewed the woman without featuring a celebrity who basically did nothing but watch the woman in disgust and just told her “ma3lesh”. Raising awareness to problems that truly exist is never a bad thing, but how you deliver the message is just as important.