Last Word on Target Billboard Controversy
I promise this will be the last time I write about the Target billboard ad. But I’ve been getting e-mails that are critical of the ad, and that viewpoint certainly was underrepresented in my initial sampling of e-mails I shared here on the blog.Kitty e-mailed: ‘I do find the ad offensive, and agree with Lisa Ray that it’s hard enough to raise our kids without these sort of images. I’d like them to scrap that particular image. I know that there is plenty worse out there, but Target is a huge company, an enormous presence in our local community and around the United States, and I expect more from them. I intend to write to them about the ad. I have two daughters and one son (all now in their early 20s); I led a girl scout troop for years, and worked with kids at my church.”
Robert added: “This Ad is obviously inappropriate. It would be just fine if the photograph was taken from a different angle (any of the other 359) and the composition would have been more effective. A similar Ad on the Windows of Target Corporate HQ was of little girls with their butts in the air. I found this was even more offensive. It also ran in the Target circular ads.”
Amy Jussel of the Shaping Youth blog (who initially posted on the ad) wanted to put the concern over the ad into context. “This Target brouhaha is trivialization/minutiae for us on the grand scheme of ‘objectification’ as you can see by the plethora of categories and topics we cover…. I simply sourced it from Steve at AdRants, called attention to the normalization of objectification (sexualized ad slop) in ambient advertising (and yes, this is MILD by comparison to the stuff I usually cover along these lines, but I was surprised that a ‘family firm’ would choose to play the ‘cluelessly crass’ ad card to post a 20 X 20 Times Square crotch shot).”
Lisa Ray wrote about the backlash she’s received personally at her blog. She wrote, “While I am saddened that the conversation moved from being about the ad and Target’s response to Amy Jussel’s inquiry about it, to being about my worth as a person, there were some good discussions elsewhere and some people even agreed with me.” I commented on her blog, “I feel badly that people attacked you, frankly, I feel somewhat responsible. I called you. You didn’t seek out publicity. You put a message on a blog that I thought raised an interesting issue. So I did a story on it. I figured people would debate the issue, not go after the person.”
Jeff Fecke also has some reaction at his blog Shakesville.