“The Autocomplete Truth” is a 2013 UN social campaign shedding light on the issue of gender inequality. It illustrates the power of virality, indicating the essential coverage of campaigns in the online world (Panagakou, 2018). The significance of the placement of autocorrect results over women’s mouths on the images is to illustrate that many women worldwide do not have their voice due to sexism and the overall impact of the patriarchy on society.
The text explaining that the Google searches are the actual language that is being written in the search bar is intentionally included in the advertisement to show that the problem is real and not made up. If Google searches were generic and just pointed the overall negative effect of gender inequality, the “The Autocomplete Truth” would not have the same impact. As soon as the viewer of the images realizes that the searchers were made by actual users around the world, the message gets even more powerful. To some, the searchers may seem shocking, while to others, they may seem normal.
The central argument of the searches with autocomplete results points to the urgent need to continue making a case for women’s rights, their equality, and empowerment. The ads were supposed to show how far the global society still has to go in order to achieve gender equality. To a large degree, they are a wake-up call for people who have not given gender inequality much attention. Even though the campaign had a widespread reaction and impact from citizens around the world, it has already been seven years, and the issue of sexism remains relevant. Therefore, the message of gender inequality is universal and should not be overlooked.
References
Panagakou, C. (2018). UN women – the autocomplete truth. Web.