Lavrinovičius publicity scandal was told by acclaimed Giants: one thing hurts and sincerely confuses

In the uproar, basketball players have been defended on social media in recent days by probably most of the famous faces who have spoken on the subject. As a result, J. Didžiulis and his wife, who wanted to defend the women who survived the violence, had to endure not only additional attention to their family, but also a considerable explosion of criticism, which has so far not diminished.

Playing on a sensitive topic, the singers decided to go back to speaking in public on social media to defend their opinions and explain in more detail what they really aspired to.

“More sensitivity and more awareness when it comes to sexual violence and violence against women. That was our only goal.

We answer your questions:

– Why do we raise this problem in public?

– Why the execution of a sentence does not erase all the past;

– What we did for Lithuania;

– Why “do public relations for yourself”.

It should be clear that this is not against Lavrinovich personally, but about a socially responsible company that had to take into account the segment of our society to which this issue evokes painful associations.

Anyone who understands public relations knows that we have done a “bear service” for ourselves by “raising the shark.” We knew it would be inconvenient and useless for us. But we still stood up to let victims know someone cared. To give them the courage to speak.

If we want real change, we must not avoid uncomfortable questions. We cannot stay quiet and believe that the situation will take and change on its own. Even when it’s very, very uncomfortable. That’s why, ”said a well-known couple.

Along with this message, the two also released a video in which the singers told in more detail what they most want to attract the attention of the public.

“We understand what is too cold here. We understand how uncomfortable it is for you, we understand how uncomfortable it is for the Lavrinovich family and we are very sincerely disappointed by that. Believe me, it doesn’t suit us either, but for some reason we are not talking at all about victims of sexual and other violence: women. And this is extremely important to us, ”said J. Didžiulis.

E. Jennings stated that one third of Lithuanian women have suffered sexual or physical violence.

“One thing that confuses me, it doesn’t even confuse me, but it honestly hurts me is that many women keep everything to themselves. They save that inconvenience, “she emphasized.

“We are talking about a couple hundred thousand women who have experienced so much pain and cannot talk about it. Therefore, our problem is not with the Lavrinovich brothers, but with Telia, who declared itself a company, believing in social responsibility, setting an example, but unable to show awareness and sensitivity to this very issue.

So people come from the side saying that they are heroes and that everything is fine. I’m sure they can be good bees, but for a certain segment, for a certain part of the people, it is painful, because it sends a signal that nobody cares and nobody takes violence against women seriously, ”said J. Didžiulis.

To her husband, Jennings added: “For women to be able to talk about such events, they need to feel heard and seen. This is very important. If we want to grow and change as a society, we have to talk about these complex things. “

Continuing the idea, J. Didžiulis emphasized that women who experienced it should not be condemned.

“About half of the people in Lithuania, when an event of sexual or other violence against women occurs, believes that the woman is to blame. You can imagine it!” The famous singer was not surprised.

Filling.

Telia stops advertising in response to outrage

“When choosing famous people to be the faces of the brand, we are always guided by Telia’s values. The new” Hedgehog “campaign is no exception, in which we provide 3 times more data for the same amount before the end of year and we have chosen the description of “three brothers” as a creative solution.

Over the past 15 years, the Lavrinovičiai brothers have been actively involved in various commercial announcements, public and charitable projects. During the decades of basketball players’ careers, they represented Lithuania in the national and Olympic teams, thus earning not only the name of the country’s sports ambassadors, but also the trust and sympathy of a large part of society. These are the merits and arguments why we, like many other companies before us, chose the Lavrinovičius brothers for advertising.

Telia unconditionally adheres to the rule of law and respects the privacy of Lavrinovich and their families, which is why we do not value the distant past of these people, morally or legally, as they have long punished, reconciled and publicly closed the issue with everyone. sides.

In any event, we understand the sensitivity of the publicly raised issue and regret that our publicity may have seemed unacceptable to some people when it was viewed very positively by a large portion of the public.

Telia always advocates dialogue and constructive discussion, we are open to different opinions, but at the same time we do not want to divide the public with our advertising. That is why we have decided to suspend the current Hedgehog campaign and continue to unconditionally support the values ​​and initiatives of freedom of expression, women’s rights, equality, diversity and non-discrimination, ”says the press release.

Read more about the scandal here.