Members of a US university group have accused Singer-songwriter, Adele's smash hit song 'Hello' of normalising sexual harassment. The University of Oklahoma's Gender + Equality Centre's members have distributed campaign posters featuring popular song lyrics to promote Stalking Awareness Month. On the poster, they have used the Hello lyrics, "I must have called a thousand times" followed by the slogan, "Even great songs can normalise sexual harassment."
Kathy Moxley, director of the Gender + Equality Centre, explained that the song was chosen to raise awareness during the "Stalking Awareness Month". "To begin a much needed conversation about harassment on college campuses, the University of Oklahoma Gender + Equality Centre had used popular songs that students listen to, to attract students' attention and make them aware about subtle messages in popular song lyrics," Moxley said. "The music examples were used to demonstrate how aspects of popular media could be interpreted to normalise unhealthy relationship behaviours," Moxley added.
Adele's 'Hello' isn't the only song the Gender + Equality Centre uses for their posters. The centre also tried to draw students' attention with the line "Baby, I'm preying on you tonight. Hunt you down eat you alive" from Maroon 5's 2014 single, 'Animals'.