Mommy, why are her legs spread like that?
Imagine driving down the freeway carpooling kids to school, la-dee-da, and whammo! Traffic jam.
Um…and…why? Some Clio-chasing, PR-hyped, advertising opportunist has decided that legs akimbo and spread-eagle are terribly clever attention-getters.
Touted as break-through and ‘edgy’ I’d argue this one lands in my ‘damaging drek’ category for uncouth & clueless ads.
No, it doesn’t ‘target’ kids directly, it just desensitizes and distorts their body image and worldview as they’re caught in the blast zone of poor taste.
When kids are confronted with porn-style exploitation and ‘let’s get attention at all costs’ hyper-sexuality, there’s a wee problem. And it’s the wee ones who are ultimately impacted.
Ambient advertising like this can’t be ‘turned off’ like electronic media. And c’mon folks, blatantly draping body parts off signage that’s 48 feet wide and 14 feet high is not exactly subtle.
It’s not easy to just ‘look the other way.’ So what’s a consumer to do? Sound off, stand up, and blog your brains out for starters…
This campaign happened to chime into my e-mail when I was on Peter B. Collins’ radio show talking about crass commercialism and corporate profit at the expense of kids’ psyches!
We’d ironically cut away to TRAFFIC report, and I found myself speechless, scrambling for an intelligent comment other than “yougottabefreakin’kiddin’me.” (Thank you, Peter, for graciously filling air time while I tried to get calm and peel myself off the ceiling; what a pro!)
AdRants was touting this media buy as “great” and the campaign as “fabulous!” which prompted me to post a counter-comment on their blog, predictably met with dismissive roll-of-the-eyes, “get over yourself” defiance.
Just once I’d like a plea for self-regulation and responsibility to be met with something OTHER than the signature send-offs, smirks, cynicism, ‘lighten up’ tsk-tsking about the need for a sense of humor, or ‘the client loves it’ pablum.
I say let’s strap these drooling sophomoric hipsters into carpools toting kids for penance!
Let THEM sit in bumper to bumper traffic answering the ‘why’ & ‘what’ questions that pop out of kids’ mouths!
Or hey, let them watch tweens crawl inside themselves with appearance-driven angst when a sibling asks ‘so…what is that ad FOR?’
They don’t realize kids take their cues from the adult world in terms of what’s valued and important. Kids are trying to make sense of the imagery they’re seeing.
From behaviors to billboards we’re selling objectification and senseless smut that will imprint, outlast, and take its toll on kids long after the media buy.
A rebel yell for common sense needs to take on a Howard Beale-style uprising like the movie Network! I’m ready. Are you?
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[...] and marketing’s negligent disregard for kids’ exposure to ambient advertising (ever try to ‘turn off’ a billboard stuck in traffic?) and #2: industry’s unethical [...]
[...] After all, these are the same colleagues who deemed this sexist spreadeagle traffic-stopping billboard “brilliant” with zero accountability in ambient messaging exposure to kids. It’s a waste [...]
[...] gee, gosh, media and marketing didn’t cause it, [...]
[...] that some ambient advertising seems harmlessly amusing (ok, downright entertaining) and some feels destructive and commercialized beyond words? Personally, my tolerance level swings like a [...]
[...] because it’s evident the sophomoric schoolboys at Adrants continue to drool over these ‘body as billboard’ gimmicks. This time they headlined, “Cleavage, hip, abdomen, arm tattoos promote game,” and [...]
[...] to pop a cold one. No, they’re not ‘targeting’ kids, but they’re getting splashed in the backwash of behavioral [...]
Sorry, but only adults will get the intended context. It will simply look silly and bizzare to innocent minds.
Disagree, Eric. Kids are bombarded with early sexualization cues and ambient ads like this constantly, and their ‘innocent minds’ are sadly not allowed to remain ‘innocent’ very long in our society.
We’re filming a documentary on this very issue showing the reverb on K-5 playgrounds, called Body Blitz, Media Shaping Youth…we’ve got the evidence in the can.
Whether it’s a 9 year old on a field trip talking about banana slugs “doing it” and “needing a condom” to very wee ones that flinch when they hear the word ‘crotch’ (even applied to tights in a talent show!) they may not understand the full context, but the damage to self-worth is there.
We’re seeing it show up via body shame, self-conciousness, appearance-based obsessions, even dieting and eating disorder issues, all stemming from objectification and crass infiltration of ’sex’ being sold on every ambient channel of childhood.
The APA has a full study on same, if you’d like to click on our ‘body image’ section to read more. The links & research are all there.
[...] Oh, and I’ll take a first shot over the bow and say “save your e-mails, guys, I’m not buying the ol’ “Axe is just a parody/satire” bit. Bleh. Colleagues have already tried that excuse. Lame one, folks. One person’s misogynistic misfire is another person’s hipster ‘joke.’ [...]
[...] has also been following other ad campaigns that feature women in spread-eagled poses and pointing out the overly sexualized nature of our [...]
[...] has also been following other ad campaigns that feature women in spread-eagled poses and pointing out the overly sexualized nature of our [...]
Paintball guns.
That should do it.
Dear Amy,
This is my first visit to your blog – came here by way of Jen Laycock’s article at Search Engine Guide. I want to applaud you for speaking up about how contemptible this advertisement is.
I was just at Whole Foods this evening. At the checkout, at the eye level of an 8 year old, they’ve got a magazine cover with an utterly naked couple on it. It is sincerely disturbing that a store can put things like this right where a family is having to stand to buy food, and somehow, the store is not seen as subjecting minors to pornography…an obviously unforgivable thing to do.
I am not surprised to read about the eye-rolling, oh-come-on’s you get for voicing your opinion. At this point, Amy, we’re not just dealing with today’s children, but their young parents who have also been raised in the exploitative media atmosphere. It is little wonder that, programmed as they’ve been, they can’t understand your objections. But I hope you keep making them…and not just for the sake of the children. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the world every worked in such a way that we grownups could hang onto our own innocence and pride as well?
Miriam
[...] you read through our blog, you’ll see I am concerned about far more substantive issues (and far worse ad campaigns). NYT: What is your reaction to their note in response to your inquiry and to their [...]
Hey gang…check this new post on AdRants…look/sound familiar?
http://www.adrants.com/2008/03/bottoms-up-ad-messes-with-kids-mind.php
Who IS that masked man advocating for kids? Could it be the same one we reamed about in the note above?
One can only hope the change of heart is real and the tides are indeed turning!!!
[...] to championing change with ALL positive picks…so c’mon industry, help our ‘damaging drek’ blog category go [...]