Tech Store's Ad Mocks Sexual Harassment in Schools — Company Refuses to Apologize

Online electronics retailer JabkoLevně has launched an ad campaign set in a school classroom, built around sexually suggestive double meanings. In one clip, company owner Adam Boriik, playing the role of a teacher, addresses a student: "Nováková, you've changed a lot over the summer. Those are huge... Can I touch them?" The video creates the impression that he is touching the schoolgirl's chest, before revealing he's actually referring to phones lying on the desk.

In other clips from the series, the fictional teacher complains to a colleague that a "used fifteen" was left on the staff room table, one he "tried to get into," or describes a student who was "doing it under the desk with a sixteen," after which the teacher "took her to his office." All these scenes play on smartphone model numbers, disguising them as references to minors.

Complaint Followed an Earlier Round of Ads

The company launched this campaign shortly after the human rights organization Konsent filed a complaint with the Advertising Council over a previous series of videos set in a gynecologist's office. In one, a doctor examining a patient in the chair remarks that she is "all scratched up," before pulling out a phone at the end. Another clip featured the line that "the thirteen is already too old for the doctor" — an allusion to an underage patient that then turned into a joke about an outdated iPhone model.

According to Konsent director Johanna Nejedlá, the ads are unacceptable for several reasons: they exploit sexualization with no connection to the product and target vulnerable groups. "This is a sensitive setting — a gynecological exam — and in the second video, a child is being sexualized. That truly crosses every line of what's acceptable," she said.

Not an Isolated Problem in Czech Schools

According to Konsent, cases of sexual harassment and abuse in Czech schools are far from rare. As part of an earlier campaign called "School Is Not a Place for Dating," the organization collected more than two hundred testimonies about teachers sending explicit messages, asking about students' underwear, and pursuing intimate relationships with them. According to the organization, around 120,000 people in Czechia have had a sexual relationship with their own teacher, and another 1.5 million know someone who has been in a similar situation among their acquaintances.

Among the stories collected is one about an English teacher who slept with his students (later marrying one of them and becoming deputy headmaster), and another about a sixteen-year-old who became intimately involved with her homeroom teacher during a school ski trip.

"We're Just Making Jokes"

Company owner Adam Boriik dismissed the criticism, arguing that the videos don't trivialize the issue of harassment — quite the opposite, he claims they draw attention to it — and have no negative effect on society. "I don't think that just because something is a problem, joking about it should be forbidden. We're just making jokes," he said, adding that how a joke lands depends on the individual.

According to him, the company has been publishing this kind of content for about a year and this is the first time it has received negative feedback — he claims positive reactions have outnumbered them. After the complaint, the company even offered to partner with Konsent on an educational campaign against sexual harassment, but the organization declined, citing its code of ethics: it cannot collaborate with anyone who promotes sexist advertising.

Nejedlá says the main problem is that the campaign uses unacceptable behavior purely for entertainment, without any commentary on the underlying issue. In her view, this kind of humor in a commercial context blurs the line between unacceptable behavior and social norms, dulling society's sensitivity to serious matters.

The Advertising Council Has No Real Power

Boriik acknowledged that the Advertising Council had already criticized the company's ads before — one clip was found to violate the code of ethics. However, since the company is not a member of the council, its rulings are not legally binding, and after the previous review the company saw no reason to change its strategy. "As for how we shoot our ads, we're not planning to change anything," he said.

The Advertising Council is a voluntary body that monitors compliance with ethical standards in the industry, but its decisions are purely advisory. The Advertising Regulation Act bans commercial messages that violate good morals, are discriminatory, or demean human dignity — but according to Nejedlá, holding the authors accountable is difficult, since they claim the material isn't advertising at all, just social media content. She believes it's time for lawmakers to consider how to regulate cases like this.

Experts also point out that advertising relying on sexualization or violence, while attention-grabbing, is usually counterproductive from a sales standpoint — mainly because it drives women away from making purchases — which is why this approach has long fallen out of use in serious Czech advertising circles.

Source: seznamzpravy.cz