It is easy for advertisers to abuse our sensitivities in the subway...we are a captive audience....bring along a good book for the ride and foil their plan!
1
These advertisements are easily as obnoxious as just about every other thing we're forced to contend with in the subway on a daily basis...Including those unending pre-recorded announcements that no on listens to.
2
There has long been a dispute among American comedians about working "blue." Is it really necessary to do that to be funny? Is just saying the obscenities out loud what's funny because it's shocking? If you're a talented, clever writer or comic, you'd be able to come up with really funny material without resorting to obscenities and sexual content. Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen DeGeneres have done very well with this, just to name two.
The same is true for advertising. Unless the product or message is specifically about sex, contraception or medically appropriate, in which case it is absolutely appropriate to show the product or anatomy and a clear descriptive message. If it's done tastefully, there's no reason to be prudish about it or hide children from the image. There is nothing shameful about human anatomy or natural functions (sex, too).
But for any other product or service, a clever and talented art director and copy writer ought to be able to come up with a visual concept and message unrelated to sex. If they resort to working "blue," or sexual innuendo or imagery, it seems to me that they've fallen short on creativity. Go brainstorm another 25 thumbnail sketches or tag lines.
The same is true for advertising. Unless the product or message is specifically about sex, contraception or medically appropriate, in which case it is absolutely appropriate to show the product or anatomy and a clear descriptive message. If it's done tastefully, there's no reason to be prudish about it or hide children from the image. There is nothing shameful about human anatomy or natural functions (sex, too).
But for any other product or service, a clever and talented art director and copy writer ought to be able to come up with a visual concept and message unrelated to sex. If they resort to working "blue," or sexual innuendo or imagery, it seems to me that they've fallen short on creativity. Go brainstorm another 25 thumbnail sketches or tag lines.
4
As a public health professional, I find it appalling that a city-sponsored public health campaign promoting safer sex/condom use that just has an innocuous picture of condoms in the ad is being grouped in the same category as ads that are using salacious images to sell breast implants and moving services.
As everyone knows, sex sells, and this strategy is as old as advertising itself. What is different and pernicious about it in the subway is that we are a captive audience once we pay our $2.75. The MTA thinks that entitles them to sell our eyeballs to whomever will pay for them, and subject us to a massive bombardment of messages. That is the fundamental indecency from which these others arise. When I'm with my young son, who by the way is on the spectrum and takes things rather literally, I am forced view these images with him. We cannot avoid them. So whether I want to talk to him about these things or not… the walking dead / avenging hulks with massive guns movies, or why people want to have sex on the kitchen counter while moving to a new apartment, or what a condom is for… now I need to. It wasn't my choice.'t We have been sold.
4
"As everyone knows, sex sells....?" I am an everyone and it sells nothing to me. Some pretty credible research also suggests this is not the case.
Sex should have no place whatsoever in American society. That would not only make happy the prudish trifecta of religious fanatics, helicopter parents, and pseudofeminists, but eventually eliminate many other problems, from global warming to wars of empire.
1
....especially the problem of overpopulation...
Subway ads are becoming more salacious, that's for sure. (What's salacious? Yes, I am the judge.)
We seem to have a high tolerance for sexualizing everything -- trucks, booze, bluejeans, and the like.
We had no tolerance for the subway ads that advised young people to use birth control: you remember, those Bloomberg-era signs telling teenagers that having a baby is like being grounded for twenty years.
Oh, that's right, it made pregnant fifteen-year-olds feel bad about themselves.
We seem to have a high tolerance for sexualizing everything -- trucks, booze, bluejeans, and the like.
We had no tolerance for the subway ads that advised young people to use birth control: you remember, those Bloomberg-era signs telling teenagers that having a baby is like being grounded for twenty years.
Oh, that's right, it made pregnant fifteen-year-olds feel bad about themselves.
4
I like the ads that are plastered along the wall that talk about manners for subway riders. Of course, nobody riding the subways today pays any attention to these. People will not move in and stand in front of the doors making it difficult to enter and exit. Courtesy matters and let's put more emphasis on this.
4
It seems an unfair argument to justify risqué subway ads because there may be more explicit advertisements in run in a newspaper or on television. Those mediums can be monitored. If a parent does not feel something is age appropriate for their child, it's much easier for them to steer them clear of explicit content by monitoring channels they watch and things they read. People don't have that luxury on the subway; the two cannot be compared, much less used to justify the other. Childhood should be a protected state where they can learn new things slowly, once they’re mature enough to handle them. A child has a right to not know. This isn't a threat on censorship when people aren't given the choice to look at it or not.
Our society has become increasingly insensitive to the idea of age appropriateness. Asking for a moving company to find a less explicit way to show their message is not a ridiculous ask. It's already hard enough to shield children as it is from explicit conversations overheard on the train, billboards, and other adult media, the least that can be done is monitoring the things that can be controlled.
Our society has become increasingly insensitive to the idea of age appropriateness. Asking for a moving company to find a less explicit way to show their message is not a ridiculous ask. It's already hard enough to shield children as it is from explicit conversations overheard on the train, billboards, and other adult media, the least that can be done is monitoring the things that can be controlled.
4
Please. Most of these ads are quite above chldren's sightlines. The lower ads usually have a passenger sitting in front ot it. Small children do not understand these ads anyway. So what exactly is the problem?
Do you think the whole world should revolve around your kids?
Do you think the whole world should revolve around your kids?
1
Porn culture has long infiltrated the commercial ad business. And why not? sex gets peoples attention and once that happens the message of the ad is noticed.
But the as the article states, what might be legal isn't necessarily appropriate so unless limits are placed on ads we will soon be seeing full blown sex rather than sexual innuendo on the subway. Product sellers will always argue that they are promoting safe sex or some other public benefit. But in reality they are selling their product, plain and simple. So let them buy their ads in a porn magazine, not on our public subways.
But the as the article states, what might be legal isn't necessarily appropriate so unless limits are placed on ads we will soon be seeing full blown sex rather than sexual innuendo on the subway. Product sellers will always argue that they are promoting safe sex or some other public benefit. But in reality they are selling their product, plain and simple. So let them buy their ads in a porn magazine, not on our public subways.
3
Subway ads! What about the ads that appear on television which are far worse. How do you explain to a kid about menopause, erectile disfunction, etc.? If we aren't worried about television ads that have a broader audience, why are we so worried about subway ads?
Ads for condoms are a public service. The other ads are risque, but lets face it, Sex is the most natural thing in the world. We need to stop stupid religous zealots from denying basic human animal functionality. Abstinance is unrealistic... a joke.
1
What's "racy"? I still remember a subway ad some 30 years ago which began "Enter your girlfriend" in a beauty contest sponsored by a rum company. It was a double-entendre, much like the humor of Brooklyn's own Mae West, or the triple-entendre of the wonderful song "I Can Cook, Too!" in "On the Town," currently receiving a Broadway revival.
The joys of literacy should belong to everyone, and can brighten anyone's day--except the scolds.
The joys of literacy should belong to everyone, and can brighten anyone's day--except the scolds.
1
Sex and nudity are the natural state of things. Our sick efforts to make both unnatural and immoral is doing more harm to us than anything else we do.
We are all born naked and sex produced every one of us. How can they be bad?
We are all born naked and sex produced every one of us. How can they be bad?
1
Spray paint the mess. Good job for a local street gang (e.g. the Warriors, Orphans, Lizzies, Turnbull AC's) looking for some good pub.
It's funny how decency is thrown out the window for the advertising industry to peddle almost anything. And the sexism in ads is rampant.
2
New York City is known for showcasing some of the most popular ads. The city where billboards, street signs, and ads are placed throughout buildings, where tourists, locals, and the public are able to view just by walking the town. I was drawn to this article because it focuses on ads that are seen underground. Some that are controversial yet they are ads that make you look which is what advertisers strive to do – get your attention. An ad that surfaced the subway appears to promote safe sex however if you view the ad initially you would not think that it is sending a positive message which is what created the controversy of this ad in the first place. The image does contact some modesty however it is definitely not an ad appropriate for younger audiences and children. I agree with the author that it is good for millennials to be reminded about safe sex but I wonder having this ad placed where it is even makes a difference for companies. In my opinion, there are other ways to promote it in a less explicit way than on the subway but it seems to me that this is a strategy for marketers to catch people’s attention which I can understand. I will say however, being a native of the east coast and taking the Subway, it is hard to pay attention to ads in the train since you’re constantly on the go.
The subway cars have a mishmash of ads that are not consistently placed on the cars. The worst ads on the subway are the New York State Pathways - who decided that was a good ad campaign to promote state tourism?
In the past we had the hemorrhoid remedy ad featuring a smiling subway operator emerging from his cab that had a blood red seat cushion. I suppose some things never change.
1
Get over it.... especially the condoms ad. That is not riské that is a public service announcement.
4
Ten years ago the Guggenheim Museum had an ad advertising a new photo exhibition.
With complete disregard for the young children who rode the subway the MTA ran the ad of full length photo of the back of a completely naked woman.
When they ran ads for condoms meant for gays to avoid having AIDS they had two men holding each other but were modest enough to have in the corner of the ad this statement: "Professional models used."
One young man was so incensed he ripped the ad out of the frame and tore it to pieces.
Now as the 1920s song was titled, "Anything Goes" to the further detriment of our youth and morally corrupting them.
Never mind who is protecting our youth, who is protecting us?
Not mayor de Blasio and his crew.
3
What is the big deal?
1
Nostalgic for the Comstock Laws of 1873 and the Hays Code of the 1920's, Thom?
1
I don't have a problem with the moving company ad being suggestive. I have a problem with it being a poorly conceived ad. It's using borrowed interest, and never even really pays off why it's borrowing the idea of safe sex in the first place. Remove the website and it's literally an ad for practicing safe sex.
2
Good taste has never been for sale in a NY subway. For that matter, New York in general has always enjoyed the objectionable with the sole objective of calling it art and a must see. Laughable and tawdry, for the moment it's not boring, and that's the only thing New York cares about or is good at: pushing the envelope regardless of substance. After all, that's a good part of the tourist/entertainment industry. But for sure, NY's real artistry is its pr. Somehow it manages to make its overwrought excusive retail industry and overblown repeat musical into "a must have and a must see." A little risqué ad in the subway only feathers the nest. The whole thing was probably planned.
For those of you who say, "It's only how babies are made!" Well, no, that doesn't describe breast enhancements. And how far would you go? I could describe some examples, but instead you should imagine progressively more extreme instances and ask yourself whether you would tolerate them on the subway. My point is that you probably have a line, even if it's in a different place. And society has standards as well, which are always being negotiated. The point is that many of us would prefer not to be disturbed like this on our commute. And apparently only the advertisers have the right to push the boundaries; the rest of us would probably be arrested or called out by angry fellow riders.
2
I grew up in "Taxi Driver" era New York and still visit fairly regularly to see my parents, both retired and still living in the rent controlled Chelsea apartment I grew up in. The defanging and Disneyfication of NYC is no secret, but a "family friendly" subway? New York is done, stick a fork in it!
3
The ad depicted can hardly be deemed offensive as it implies heterosexual activity between 2 white people. They might even be Christians.
As to the bikini bottom ad - the Hasidic men should just be happy that they do not have to sit next to the woman on an airplane.
As to the bikini bottom ad - the Hasidic men should just be happy that they do not have to sit next to the woman on an airplane.
5
I thought the ad with the pantsless woman intwined with the shirtless man, charming and not at all obscene. A fine ad for condoms and moving and storage. Sure beats those awful ads for cut-rate dentists in the Bronx of old.
1
A rush hour subway ride can be sweaty with bodies in close contact swaying as the car moves. If the ads are no more suggestive than the ride itself, they should be allowed.
5
Hey, it's a two-fer! Sex Ed and Spanish 101 in one ad.
12
The subject matter (condom ads) ignores the reality that most people in this country seem to be reluctant to discuss such matters openly.
A Kane
A Kane
4
Back in the 80's, London Transport did this with no worries. A popular condom then was called Jiffy. The ads read, 'Get A Jiffy for Your Stiffy'. Luckily, we had got rid of the prudes and Puritans and sent them west a bit earlier
23
In what way is an ad for condoms, which depicts nothing besides the image of two condoms in their package, provocative?
23
Not everyone who rides the subway is immoral and has sex that they need condoms.
It is in-you-face advertising.
Disgusting.
It is in-you-face advertising.
Disgusting.
1
"Not everyone who rides the subway is immoral and has sex that they need condoms."
As long as those who are moral and therefore do not need condoms or other forms of birth control do not ask the rest of us to foot the bill for their children, it's okay by me.
As long as those who are moral and therefore do not need condoms or other forms of birth control do not ask the rest of us to foot the bill for their children, it's okay by me.
Ads IN the subway cars are one thing; the new ads ON the subways car quite another. A little respite from cleavage would be welcome.
I'm thinking of the campaign started decades ago by Jackie Kennedy, re. highway billboards. Granted, the subway landscape can't compete with an outdoor landscape, but even a tad less of the incessant bombardment of things to buy: AHHHH
I'm thinking of the campaign started decades ago by Jackie Kennedy, re. highway billboards. Granted, the subway landscape can't compete with an outdoor landscape, but even a tad less of the incessant bombardment of things to buy: AHHHH
5
I think your First Ladies are confused. It was Lady Bird Johnson and billboards. And how well did that do!
5
Re billboards: actually, that was Lady Bird Johnson and her "Beautify America" campaign.
1
If the country had been founded by anyone but the Pilgrims, we would never be reading about this stuff...nothing worse than combining the American culture of faux-outrage with the inherited legacy of the British avoidance of sex....
5
My Australian buddy once told me, "I'm so happy we got the convicts and you got the Puritans"!
26
The ad shown in the picture for condoms is inappropriate for families. Kids already get health education, and adults are well informed about condoms.
is there any sense of propriety left in America?
Isn't bombarding passengers with sexually explicit messages in a crowded subways system putting women, and especially girls in less safe and more uncomfortable situation given all the gropers out there?
is there any sense of propriety left in America?
Isn't bombarding passengers with sexually explicit messages in a crowded subways system putting women, and especially girls in less safe and more uncomfortable situation given all the gropers out there?
18
'Isn't bombarding passengers with sexually explicit messages in a crowded subways system putting women, and especially girls in less safe and more uncomfortable situation given all the gropers out there?"
In fact the opposite is true. The more sexually repressed, the more likely to create an environment that is rife with perversions.
In fact the opposite is true. The more sexually repressed, the more likely to create an environment that is rife with perversions.
8
The condom ad is hardly suggestive. Your lurid imagination is not an excuse to keep common-sense recommendations for healthy living out of public places.
5
Honestly, any ad that features a female model that is extensively airbrushed, unrealistically thin, fake-breasted, hair-extension-sporting, and overly sexualized for the captivation and appeasement of our patriarchal society is FAR more damaging to women (especially girls) than the concept, discussion, or depiction of safe sex could EVER be. So, basically, any ad ever - both on or in the subway - makes women, and especially girls, infinitely more uncomfortable than a condom. Please, save your outrage for where it's really warranted.
8
Aside form the fact that I've seen racier things ON THE ACTUAL SUBWAY, what exactly is the concern? I'm not sure if the MTA is aware of this, but sex is how we get families in the first place.
12
Americans are such incredible prudes. Let's waste time dissecting ads that may be deemed 'indecent'. Meanwhile, walk down any typical MTA platform and you will pass an endless procession of posters for one 'Hollywood blockbuster' after another, with each poster prominently featuring weapons and scenes of violence. We don't consider for one moment, the effect that this has on our society, the fact that we consider violence to be 'entertaining'. But show something suggestive of normal human reproduction, or a nipple, and everyone feels the need to 'hide the children'. What a warped society we live in.
28
...I strongly agree. And of course TV and movies are the same.
7
I also strongly agree. I have been amused at friends and family who will not let their children watch sexually suggestive scenes (that is fine with me). But, said families will let their children watch extremely violent, blow up everything in sight movies.
5
“We live in a world where we have to hide to make love, while violence is practiced in broad daylight.” -John Lennon
1
Family friendly? Why? Oh, of course, because intellect, sexuality, social challenges are all the new enemy. Rich heterosexual bourgeois suburbanites have taken over the once culture capital of the world. Offended by sexuality? An ad for condoms is too racey? I'm more offended by entitled mothers with baby strollers on the streets who would never think of saying thank you when you hold a door for them.
14
"An ad on the F train has an image of a movie poster depicting the face of a woman in the throes of ecstasy next to the caption, 'The heart wants, the flesh takes.'"
Throes of ecstasy? I think the woman is just sleeping, and she is breathing through her mouth because her nose is stuffed up.
Throes of ecstasy? I think the woman is just sleeping, and she is breathing through her mouth because her nose is stuffed up.
8
Of all the potential sources of scandal in my city, Brooklyn, Dumbo is the least likely. Good service, good guys.
Sex is not the first thing you think of with Dumbo.
I think that they've been priced out of 10 Jay.
Sex is not the first thing you think of with Dumbo.
I think that they've been priced out of 10 Jay.
2
The only ads that should be allowed in the subway are for Dr. Zizmor - problem solved.
20
"Dr. Z" is a god, there in the reaches of the netherworld, down under, in the NYC subway. As proof, he hasn't aged in 30 years.
10
“I’m sorry, but it’s too suggestive,” a representative of the company, Outfront Media, wrote in an email last month rejecting the ad.
Suggestive of what, sex? Only in America, where murder and mayhem reign supreme, does sex rise to this level of hypocrisy. I guess the "representative" was delivered by a stork.
Suggestive of what, sex? Only in America, where murder and mayhem reign supreme, does sex rise to this level of hypocrisy. I guess the "representative" was delivered by a stork.
12
Sex is a natural and necessary function, as indicated by our basic anatomical and physiological design.
So are defecation and urination. If anything, they're more natural and necessary. Some people can and do live and die virgins (and don't necessarily regret it), whereas if you try to abstain forever from doing numbers one and/or two you will be in a lot of trouble.
Yet - call me peculiar, or puritanical - I really don't want to be packed in a subway car surrounded by pictures of people taking a whizz or a dump. (Although upon occasion, the subways being what they are, I have been on platforms or in subway cars where these activities were taking place in the flesh in real time.)
It's not an issue of puritanism: if anything, our culture is oversaturated with sexuality but of a juvenile type. A healthy attitude toward sex would put it in its proper time and place, not use titillation as a cheap attention-grabber to sell products.
So are defecation and urination. If anything, they're more natural and necessary. Some people can and do live and die virgins (and don't necessarily regret it), whereas if you try to abstain forever from doing numbers one and/or two you will be in a lot of trouble.
Yet - call me peculiar, or puritanical - I really don't want to be packed in a subway car surrounded by pictures of people taking a whizz or a dump. (Although upon occasion, the subways being what they are, I have been on platforms or in subway cars where these activities were taking place in the flesh in real time.)
It's not an issue of puritanism: if anything, our culture is oversaturated with sexuality but of a juvenile type. A healthy attitude toward sex would put it in its proper time and place, not use titillation as a cheap attention-grabber to sell products.
12
I appreciate the modesty rules for subway ads. All 3 of my kids (aged 14, 13, and 5) take the train every day as do hundreds of thousands of other school-aged children. And yes, I'm well aware that they are bombarded with adult material with billboards, TV, internet, etc. every day, however we try our best to keep their eyes on age-appropriate content, so keeping the subway ads "G" rated is nice!
42
So do mine and I have no problem with ads like these. If they have questions, I'll be happy to answer them and I have "the talk" with them as soon as they are able to understand. The bar what defines 'age-appropriate' content is set extremely high for no good reasons in this country.
6
Eventually only the ads without sex will stand out.
14
I vote for the current ads instructing riders how to behave on the subways. No eating, no taking up seat space with bags, no standing in doorways so that riders cannot easily get on of off. Yes, I saw the ad for condoms. Please, let's get this society's face out from between our legs. Anything gets boring after awhile if the brain is working at all...but that may be the problem. Brains are no longer working.
20
I question whether a brain is working well when it values subway etiquette over prevention of unwanted pregnancies and STDs.
1
Racy ads on the subway are like watching movie sex scenes with your parents.
16
"Limits for Decency Are Set".....hilarious.
Been riding the subways most of my life (over 50 years) and travisty how mismanaged operation it has and continues to be. Delays.....filthy tracks and stations.....many rude workers.....broken trains, signals, flooding, problems with snow.....and the list continues and coninues.
Funny that they are trying to monitor advertising. They should concentrate their efforts on making the system run more efficiently, safer, cleaner.
Fed-up with MTA New Yorker!!!
Been riding the subways most of my life (over 50 years) and travisty how mismanaged operation it has and continues to be. Delays.....filthy tracks and stations.....many rude workers.....broken trains, signals, flooding, problems with snow.....and the list continues and coninues.
Funny that they are trying to monitor advertising. They should concentrate their efforts on making the system run more efficiently, safer, cleaner.
Fed-up with MTA New Yorker!!!
14
'many rude workers'?
Where? They're all gone Fired by a 'cost-cutting MTA to pay for their own perks.
I tried to find a 'token' booth open a while back at a large station to replace a defective metro card... took a LONG time.
The recording where they tell you to report things to an 'MTA employee' thus quite comical
Where? They're all gone Fired by a 'cost-cutting MTA to pay for their own perks.
I tried to find a 'token' booth open a while back at a large station to replace a defective metro card... took a LONG time.
The recording where they tell you to report things to an 'MTA employee' thus quite comical
1
Tax the 1% and fund the subways without advertising altogether.
24
Or tax the 1% and use the money for something more pressing. With limited resources, an ad-free subway should hardly be our top policy priority.
4
Why not just tax you. I would have no problem with that.
8
Brian
When the MTA in Boston is well run as the NY MTA you can then comment
When the MTA in Boston is well run as the NY MTA you can then comment
The sex ads don't bother me as much as every other ad having an automatic weapon or handgun in them. The subway walls look like the inside of a Guns & Ammo magazine.
32
But a subway car is not the same as a magazine or newspaper or television ad, as we cannot simply not purchase the product or change the channel, as much as we might wish to.
Many of the ads are too provocative, but who looks at subway ads anyway?
Many of the ads are too provocative, but who looks at subway ads anyway?
3
People are really missing the point here.
Beyond the banality of the ads (and of course they're aimed at Millenials who as a group never met a banality they didn't like) it's my choice to go to Times Square 30 years ago. It's my choice to pick up a newspaper with racy ads. People who ride the subway usually have little choice on their transportation. That's the issue.
Beyond the banality of the ads (and of course they're aimed at Millenials who as a group never met a banality they didn't like) it's my choice to go to Times Square 30 years ago. It's my choice to pick up a newspaper with racy ads. People who ride the subway usually have little choice on their transportation. That's the issue.
57
...and let's not leave out ads on the sides of buses and at bus stops...as we try to get our kids to school
1
SEX is a stimulent to sell this that and the other, like a strong cup of expresso.
Why not have a costumed CONDOM on the subway platform giving out free condoms singing love songs.
Why not have a costumed CONDOM on the subway platform giving out free condoms singing love songs.
11
I want that job!
1
How about this? Enough advertising! I don't care what's being advertised, it's a blight everywhere. Whether one's riding on the train, jogging (or sitting on a bench thereafter) in Central Park, sitting on the toilet or waiting for a movie to start, we are forced to view ads ads ads. Whether a small plaque on a bench or an entire bus/subway car plastered with toilet paper advertising, enough is enough! I remember over a decade ago a 60 Minutes segment discussing how there is now no place on the planet where we can escape the noise of 'civilization.' Now, there is no place on the planet we can go to escape the scourge of advertising. Gross!
66
You forgot to mention....TAXI CABS! I find it so utterly infuriating...after a long day at work...and I am taking a taxi home from the subway. I am forced to listen to stupid inane TV snippets, and many times when I try to turn it OFF, it's broken. I simply cannot shut it off! Those poor taxi drivers who must listen to that endless loop during their 8-12 hour shifts. That is abuse.
Taxi TVs should be set to the OFF position, and only operate when the passenger specifically turns the TV or sound ON. But then, the TLC wouldn't get their additional advertising revenues, now would they, without first forcing their paying customers to endure ads.
Don't we have enough visual and audio clutter in this city as it is?!
And don't even get me started on the Walking Zombies (people who text while walking)!
Taxi TVs should be set to the OFF position, and only operate when the passenger specifically turns the TV or sound ON. But then, the TLC wouldn't get their additional advertising revenues, now would they, without first forcing their paying customers to endure ads.
Don't we have enough visual and audio clutter in this city as it is?!
And don't even get me started on the Walking Zombies (people who text while walking)!
9
Replace it all with poetry. Do they still have the poems on the subway. I loved that.
9
Actually I fear civilization is becoming all too easy to avoid.
1
Nothing one didn't see in Times Square 30 years ago. New Yorkers can take it; not sure about the touristas.
8
As the senior Vice-President of a brand consulting firm has, with the acumen of his experience ,observed, the ad is more suggestive of "production'than protection.The concept that the picture proposed to promote to our acceptance is more in the domain of sexual enticement than the noble ideal that is raked up with it.The feigned innocuousness of the proponents is a matter of side tracking the implied emphasis that is purely carnal and cannot be wished away by any misleading mantra of disavowal.The mellow whiff of an ad,in the pattern of ethical suggestiveness, can ill afford boorishness of presentation with any hope of hoodwinking the cognoscenti.The overseeing personnel in the administration whose burden it is to keep a watch over the moral pulse of the society should be tasked to sweep away ads of such sickly and deleterious nature so that any perverse psychological contamination of the community is guarded against..
1
I guess this is why people go to college...so they can employ pseudo-intellectual speak?
5
Oh my god children might find out how they are made!
22
I think they learned from HBO anyway. No need to worry.
1
The worst part of the "have protection" campaign is that it makes no sense. Guys in tuxedos hanging around while movers work? A father changing a baby with big rubber gloves? ...and it's for a mover? Every time I see one, after getting nonplussed over the pointlessness of the images, I wonder what the message is that the advertisers are trying to project. Is it that these movers will protect your stuff? Probably supposed to be, sure. But it seems as though the ad people got lazy and decided that the viewing public would understand their intent without actually having to go through the effort of figuring out how to convey it.
29
Since when was advertising intended to be intelligent?
5
That one's a little much, on a subway. There's enough problems with women being subjected to groping and frottage without having this in one's face as well.
Ironically, I'm increasingly wistful for the days when it took much less to get a rise out of the audience. Our aesthetic sense is like our sense of hearing, which, starting with the boomer generation of which I am a part (in some ways an atypical part), the constant diet of rock cranked up to 11 a la Spinal Tap, followed by the surgical graft of headphones and earbuds, has deafened us to all but the loudest noises. You don't have to go back to puritan times or the days of Anthony Comstock - just tone it down a little. Because when this ceases to get attention, what do you do?
Ironically, I'm increasingly wistful for the days when it took much less to get a rise out of the audience. Our aesthetic sense is like our sense of hearing, which, starting with the boomer generation of which I am a part (in some ways an atypical part), the constant diet of rock cranked up to 11 a la Spinal Tap, followed by the surgical graft of headphones and earbuds, has deafened us to all but the loudest noises. You don't have to go back to puritan times or the days of Anthony Comstock - just tone it down a little. Because when this ceases to get attention, what do you do?
45
"Frottage" --
You win the internet for today...
You win the internet for today...
6
A Calais delicacy made with frogs' legs and cheese.
Frotter - verb meaning 'to rub' in French. Nice usage!
3
Kids on the subways are subjected to a never-ending barrage of ads about inappropriate touching (they even have announcements on this one over the intercoms), abortion services, Planned Parenthood, HIV, drugs of all kinds for all purposes, not sharing needles, safe sex, environmental concerns, domestic abuse counseling, welfare services, legal ads for highly nebulous afflictions for which "you may be entitled to a cash settlement", divorce services, services for illegal aliens, etc., etc. Is it any wonder that they grow up thinking the world is little more than a cesspool of problems or that "anything goes" since the authorities running our transportation services are promulgating the messages? I can recall George S. Kaufman getting thrown off television for simply being happy that a program he was on was one on which you would not hear "Silent Night"! Surely there must be a happy medium between the Uptightness of Then and the Freeforall of Now.
12
If they're free and king-size, I might be able to use 'em to carry aound pickles or noodle soup.
27
No, king size means "regular" when it comes to condoms.
They don't sell "smalls." Rather, they can't sell "smalls."
They don't sell "smalls." Rather, they can't sell "smalls."
3
Of course sex sells but it's an easy way out and often ads depicting sex or nudity are some of the most uncreative. As a parent, I resent having my six year old exposed unnecessarily to not only inappropriate ads but ones that didn't need to be inappropriate to get their point across. The subway is a transportation necessity for many families and as such, should have higher standards for what is displayed in it so that children don't need to see the trash that they will see soon enough and still won't be ready for.
54
Parents who are scared to have their kids see nude bodies (you seem to be objecting to "sex OR nudity") are doing them a disservice. If our culture wasn't so squeamish about bodies, ads like these would be much less effective.
1
I have no objections to nudity or even sex. But we often see ads where women seem to be having orgasms hanging out of cars half dressed or walking down the street in a thong. I'm not sure anyone would consider this a healthy or positive view of a woman's body or position in society. Since my daughter was 3, I talked to her about how babies are made (sex, not storks) but I have issues with her seeing women objectified or doing mindless acts in exhibitionist manners. There is a difference between honoring the body and sex and objectification.
1
The subway is not the place to objectify women.
75
Say that about 100 times in a row and it still wouldn't be too many.
20
Is there ever an appropriate place to objectify women?
38
Of course there is, my apartment.
6