The music video for “Man Down” was shot in Jamaica in April 2011 and was directed by Anthony Mandler.

On May 1, 2011, Rihanna posted three images from the shoot via Twitter. One of the images showed her on a beach wearing a white Dolce & Gabbana dress, while another image showed her riding a bike in Portland Parish. The video premiered on 106 & Park on May 31, 2011. In an interview with MTV News on May 16, 2011, Mandler discussed the music video more in depth:

“We shot the video last month in Jamaica and it’s my favorite song she’s ever recorded, so I was really excited to get involved. And it’s just one of those songs that demands a strong narrative and visual, and let’s just say she let me go all the way. So I think you can expect something that’s dramatic and shocking and intense and emotional and uplifting and enlightening.”

The video begins when Rihanna shoots a man making his way through a busy train station. After committing the crime, the camera focuses on the shot man and later Rihanna flees the scene. To create a timeline of events leading up to the crime, the video travels back in time to the previous day, when the singer is seen riding her bike and meeting with people in Kingston, Jamaica. There are also scenes of Rihanna alone inside a bedroom at dusk. Then at a nightclub, Rihanna begins to dance and flirt with another club-goer, who’s actually the man that she shoots at the beginning. After she leaves the club, the singer’s dance-floor partner follows her outside and begins to get violent. The video then cuts straight to the scene of a disheveled Rihanna crying in the street, after what appears to have been a sexual assault. The video concludes with the singer running to her home where she grabs a gun hidden in a dresser drawer, then that’s when they replay the beginning when she shoots him.

The Parents Television Council (PTC), a non-profit organization that advocates what it considers responsible entertainment, criticized Rihanna for “cold, calculated execution of murder” in the video. The council disagreed with Rihanna’s suggestion that killing a rapist is a proper form of justice and her rationale that it “sends a very strong underlying message 4 [sic] girls like me.” They also stated “If Chris Brown shot a woman in his new video and BET premiered it, the world would stop. Rihanna should not get a pass.” PTC also criticized BET for airing the video. However, other commentators argued that the PTC’s reaction to Rihanna’s video is an example of double standard, with Julianne Escobedo Shepherd of AlterNet arguing that the PTC did not condemn Kanye West’s video for “Monster” which featured deceased women hanging from the ceiling and West holding a woman’s decapitated head. Shepherd also noted that the PTC did not criticize Eminem’s video “Love the Way You Lie”, which, according to Shepherd, “glorified and romanticized” domestic violence. In response to the PTC, Rihanna stated:

“I’m a 23 year old singer who doesn’t have kids. What’s up with everybody wanting me to be a parent [to their children]? I’m just a girl, I can only be our voice. We all know it’s difficult and embarrassing to communicate touchy subject matters to anyone, especially our parents. The music industry isn’t “Parent’s ‘R Us.” We have the freedom to make art; let us! It’s your job to make sure your children don’t turn out like us. You can’t hide your kids from society, or they’ll never learn how to adapt. This is the real world!”

The director of the video, Anthony Mandler, also responded to the news in an interview with Hollywood Reporter, stating that:

“It’s (the video) doing exactly what Rihanna and I hoped it would do, which is shine a light on the very dark subject matter… This medium used to be a great medium of messages… I grew up in an era of Madonna releasing videos and sparking controversy. I think most people are wasting this medium… The fact that there’s an argument to ban this because this will make girls retaliate from abuse with murder is skipping over the point. We obviously have a huge issue to deal with as a country.”

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