Verizon: Naughty or Nice?
UPDATE: Success! Verizon Foundation removed its misandrous Monsters video on December 8, 2011.
The Verizon Foundation produced a video titled Monsters. The video’s not-so-nice message can be summed up in the image shown below: “She’s afraid of her dad.” Warning: The Verizon video is XXX rated for offensive, inaccurate, and inflammatory content: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1Iawx1sRrw.
- Verizon claim: “One-fifth of the adults employed in the U.S. have been victims of domestic violence. 65 % are women, 35 % are men. (Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence)”
Response: Over 250 scholarly investigations have found similar numbers of men and women are victims of domestic violence: http://csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm . The Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence is not considered an authoritative source of information on domestic violence.
- Verizon claim: “One in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. (U.S. Department of Justice, Intimate Partner Violence)”
Response: This is a one-sided and misleading statement.
- Verizon claim: “Health-related costs of intimate partner violence exceed $5.8 billion each year. (Center for Disease Control)”
Response: This study only analyzes health-related costs of female victims of partner violence. It excludes the health-related costs of male victims. Therefore this claim is biased.
- Verizon claim: “Domestic violence is the single greatest cause of injury to women ages 15 to 44 in the U.S. – more than muggings, car accidents and rapes combined.”
Response: This claim is like saying the moon is made of green cheese. The leading causes of injury to women in this age group are overwhelmingly accidental falls and motor vehicle accidents, according to the US Centers for Disease Control.
So go to your nearest Verizon store and pass out the Abuse Deniers flyer, which can be downloaded here. See photos of the Verizon protests here.