Samsung Singapore has pulled its LGBTQ+ inclusive advert after receiving homophobic backlash from online trolls.
In December 2021, the tech giant released an advertisement that featured an array of people testing out the company’s latest products.
Two of the participants in the video was a drag performer and his Muslim mother.
In their section of the video, the son sends his mom a message thanking her for her loving support.
“You are just unbothered having people looking or judging you differently, having a son that does drag,” the son wrote.
After she reads the emotive note, he surprises her in full drag and the two embrace.
While many praised Samsung for their LGBTQ+ inclusion, the advert also received complaints from conservative individuals in Singapore.
According to a report from the BBC, some social media users criticised the commercial for pushing an “LGBT ideology”.
In response to the anti-LGBTQ+ comments, Samsung removed the video altogether and released a statement on Facebook.
“We are aware of the feedback that one of our recent campaign films for our wearable products may be perceived as insensitive and offensive to some members of our local community,” the post said.
“We acknowledge that we have fallen short in this instance, and have since removed the content from all public platforms.”
Since removing the video, activists have called out the tech company for its decision.
Hilmi, a manager at the LGBTQ+ non-profit Oogachaga, expressed his disappointment in a statement to the BBC.
“It was the first of its kind video coming from a minority group on a relationship between mother and son [and] was so affirming,” he said.
“As a queer Malay man, I am saddened to see a video that expresses unconditional love [being] taken down abruptly due to societal pressure from a group of people with conservative values.”
Pink Dot, which is another LGBTQ+ non-profit in Singapore, echoed similar sentiments and even reposted the advert on their social channels.
“To date, it is still unclear what these people were offended by the fact that LGBTQ+ people exist in Singapore, or that we are deserving of loving relationships, or both,” the group said.
“We should also be able to express these loving relationships freely, regardless of those who want to shame us back into silence simply because they find us offensive.”
It is currently illegal to be gay in Singapore – with archaic colonial-era law Section 377A defining sex between consenting men as “acts of gross indecency” – and people who are convicted of having gay sex can face up to two years in prison.
In 2019, a study looking into religious attitudes in Singapore found that nearly 70% of Singaporeans disapprove of same-sex relationships, with 67.9% of those asked thinking that same-sex relationships were “always wrong”.
Out of the 1,800 people who were surveyed, only 16.4% of respondents felt that same-sex relationships were “not wrong at all”.
Watch the heartwarming commercial below or by clicking here.
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