[Imc] Re: Sexist ads in C-U

[eric lawrence hanzel]

Don't you have anythign better to worry about? These ads d not perpetuate
gender roles. They are merely fashionable icons of the past. More likely
to elicite an embarrassed chuckle than your mistaken banter.
Eric Hanzel

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, Sascha Meinrath wrote:

> Please Forward
> 
> SEXIST AD CAMPAIGN COMES TO URBANA:  READ ON AND TAKE ACTION!! (from Sarah
> Kanouse)
> 
> ‘Lucky You,’ a fragrance for men and women, has launched a nationwide
> advertising campaign that uses retro imagery to glorify and reinforce
> traditional gender roles.  I saw the ads in two vacant storefront windows in
> the Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana, IL.  One window is devoted to the fragrance
> ‘for men’ (blue bottle); the other is ‘for women’ (pink bottle).  No other
> differences can be ascertained;  the stereotyped images used to sell the
> lifestyle associated with the perfume are the same for women and men.  
> 
> In both windows, several cardboard boxes are covered with repeated retro-style
> images in saturated technicolor.  The central and largest image is a 50’s
> style
> pin-up girl, with short shorts, halter top, spike heels, and hair scarf,
> crouched on one leg, the other leg outstretched.  She covers her mouth with
> one
> hand, her eyes opened wide in an expression of shock.  Another (smaller) box
> zooms out from this woman to reveal the setting:  the woman is perched on the
> arm of a sofa, and the hand not used to cover her mouth is pouring coffee for
> the man sprawled on the couch.   A second large-scale image depicts the same
> woman in different costume (jeans, halter tops, long blond hair worn down)
> standing behind the man and plucking the cherry off the top of his milkshake
> while he turns his head to stare intently at her cleavage.  By portraying the
> woman as a glamorous but still acceptably obedient sex object and by
> representing the man as obviously enjoying the experience of being waited
> on by
> a sexy image, the ad campaign reinforces negative gender stereotypes of both
> men and women.  As one Urbana resident offended by the display noted, the ad
> suggests that the ‘Lucky You’ man can have a servile sex object and the ‘Lucky
> You’ woman can be a servile sex object.
> 
> I was disturbed by the displays the first time I saw them.  I immediately
> wrote
> a note to Tony Stephens, Vice President of Development for the Lincoln Square
> Mall, demanding that he call me within two days to discuss my concerns.  He
> did
> not, so I called and was told the window was the responsibility of Wenda
> Townsend,  Manager of Bergner’s Department Store.  Stephens assured  me
> that he
> had passed on my complaint to Townsend and thought it “strange” she hadn’t
> gotten back to me.  Over the next few days I tried to get in touch with Wenda
> Townsend but was put on hold for long periods of time (more than 15 minutes),
> disconnected when trying to reach voice mail, or just informed that she was
> not
> in.  When I finally had a conversation with Townsend, she was very evasive and
> internally inconsistent, stating at different times that Bergner’s was under
> contractual obligation to Lucky You to run the ad campaign; that Bergner’s had
> spent a lot of money to buy the ads and therefore must run them; that
> Bergner’s
> parent company, Carson Perry Scott,  forced Bergner’s to run the ad; that she
> would only take down the ad when Lucky You discontinued the campaign, and with
> sufficient public outcry they might reconsider.  
> 
> Townsend devoted a large portion of our conversation to legitimizing the ad
> campaign, but her arguments in defense of the images are questionable at
> best. 
> She seemed especially proud of the fact that the campaign is being run in New
> York City with a large poster in Times Squareas if its presence in New York
> proves its social merit.  She reassured me bizarrely,  “There are much more
> offensive things on TV.”  Perhaps most tellingly, she compared the ad to a
> certain famous adult magazine.  “It’s no different than putting out Playboy,”
> she said.  “That’s exactly right,” I responded, “and would Bergner’s put out
> Playboy?”  “That’s not the point,” she insisted, “it’s a corporate promotion. 
> And all the other department store think it’s perfectly tasteful.”
> 
> Townsend also tried to convince me I am the only person in Champaign-Urbana
> offended by the ads.  At the time of our conversation, I was the only
> person to
> have complained, and, she explained, “If you don’t have people coming in and
> saying it’s offensive, then it’s just a tiny minority.”  Although she
> professed
> being unable to do anything about the ad, she did admit, “if we get a slew of
> letters, then that’s a different story.”  
> 
> I am sure I’m not the only person in C-U or around the country who is
> disturbed
> by these images.  I am sure I am not the only person who wants her community
> free of restrictive caricatures of male and female sexuality.   If you live in
> Champaign or Urbana, please call Wenda Townsend at (217) 328-3800 and demand
> that she remove the display.  Write to Ed Carroll, Director of Corporate
> Advertising at Carson Perry Scott, 331 West Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 52303 to
> demand that he end the Lucky You campaign in all Bergner’s department stores. 
> If you live out of the area and are disturbed by the ad campaign, contact 
>