 Anthony Mandler directed the music video for " Man Down " in April 2011 on a beach in Portland Parish , on the northeastern Jamaican coast . Rihanna told Rap @-@ Up that the video has a " strong underlying message [ for ] girls like me ! " On May 1 , 2011 , three camera phone teaser photos , of Rihanna on a beach in a white <unk> & <unk> dress and riding a bicycle in Portland Parish , were released . The music video premiered on BET 's 106 & Park on May 31 , 2011 . In an interview for MTV News , Mandler said that " Man Down " required " a strong narrative and visual " and that fans could expect something " dramatic and shocking and intense and emotions and <unk> and enlightening " . 
