Conflict Studies / nota bene - rubric Social perception of conflict

Abstract: The subject of this research is social advertising in African countries and how it reflects social controversies and conflicts. The article offers a selection of social advertising by major tension hot points of social life, composed of photographs made by the author and her colleagues during their expeditions to African countries. Attention is drawn to the issues of domestic violence against women, corruption, AIDS and Ebolavirus, teen pregnancy, the "sugar daddy" practice, and other troubling phenomena. The sponsorship of social advertising is a separate point of focus of this work. The methodological basis of this article rests on the fact that social advertising reflects real issues that affect society. In varying cultures, however, the same issue is viewed differently, and demands unique approaches to people's psychology: it is quite plausible that potential conflict between the African's system of values and the message sent by social advertisement. The author concludes that, despite the fact that social advertising objectively reflects social issues, it often shows them from the Western observer's points of view, and through Western values, as the majority of social advertisements are sponsored by international organizations that also provide real help. With this in mind, social advertisement that is created solely by the initiative of private individuals who made an effort to open the eyes of their compatriots to the problems that sharply affect their society, and who fight them by the means available to them.