11.24.2003
Virgin Mobile Ad Causes Complaints
A Virgin Mobile ad for cell phones in the campus newspaper stirred some folks at the University of New Hampshire last week, enough for the paper, The New Hampshire, to put out an editorial.
Two letter-writers describe the ad: "The ad depicts the shiny body of a tautly thin, headless (!) woman holding a cellular phone across the front of her hips just enough to cover her vagina. The slogan reads, 'A gift from somewhere near the heart.'"
They go on to voice complaints: "This is not to blame the model, her loved ones, or the photographer Šnot EVEN Virgin Mobile! This is to point out a culture that says it¹s A-OK to use women as ornaments, exploit our bodies to sell products, and use this same model (white, hairless, and grossly thin‹childlike??) over and over again to do it is not all right. These companies are doing exactly what we are telling them to do: SEX SELLS. Why is the TNH buying???"
The editorial board had spent an hour the night before publication debating the ad, and ultimately decided to publish it, writing in their editorial, "The advertisement section of our newspaper does not reflect the opinions of the products advertised or the way in which it is presented. The ad pages are forums for the businesses to express their ads in the context that they choose to represent themselves with, which in many cases is the notion that 'sex sells.' And in the end, it is the readers that must use his or her own discretion when viewing an ad."
The Mass Media, along with other campus newspapers, printed the ad as well. I haven't heard of any complaints, though we were anticipating some.
Ads are a touchy subject on college campuses. Witness the skirmishes over the "CampusTruth" ads at Stanford and Yale.
The Mass Media experienced a brief controversy over an anti-abortion insert earlier this year. Instead of tossing it into the garbage where it no doubt rightfully belonged, some students complained that the newspaper had taken money from such a group and inserted it.
There was an editorial about it, as a result.
Ads from student groups have also been subject of complaint (mainly about flyers advertising the literary magazine), but that's a separate matter for a separate post.
Two letter-writers describe the ad: "The ad depicts the shiny body of a tautly thin, headless (!) woman holding a cellular phone across the front of her hips just enough to cover her vagina. The slogan reads, 'A gift from somewhere near the heart.'"
They go on to voice complaints: "This is not to blame the model, her loved ones, or the photographer Šnot EVEN Virgin Mobile! This is to point out a culture that says it¹s A-OK to use women as ornaments, exploit our bodies to sell products, and use this same model (white, hairless, and grossly thin‹childlike??) over and over again to do it is not all right. These companies are doing exactly what we are telling them to do: SEX SELLS. Why is the TNH buying???"
The editorial board had spent an hour the night before publication debating the ad, and ultimately decided to publish it, writing in their editorial, "The advertisement section of our newspaper does not reflect the opinions of the products advertised or the way in which it is presented. The ad pages are forums for the businesses to express their ads in the context that they choose to represent themselves with, which in many cases is the notion that 'sex sells.' And in the end, it is the readers that must use his or her own discretion when viewing an ad."
The Mass Media, along with other campus newspapers, printed the ad as well. I haven't heard of any complaints, though we were anticipating some.
Ads are a touchy subject on college campuses. Witness the skirmishes over the "CampusTruth" ads at Stanford and Yale.
The Mass Media experienced a brief controversy over an anti-abortion insert earlier this year. Instead of tossing it into the garbage where it no doubt rightfully belonged, some students complained that the newspaper had taken money from such a group and inserted it.
There was an editorial about it, as a result.
Ads from student groups have also been subject of complaint (mainly about flyers advertising the literary magazine), but that's a separate matter for a separate post.
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