Regard for Women and the Incapacity for Rational Thought (Advertising, Attaboys and Tattoos)
I was presented with an issue of Eastern Michigan University’s paper, The Echo, by a friend and professor of the college. The snazzy new layout was fairly impressive and, I’ll admit, I made the assumption that he was explain to me all of the ways the publication has improved since I’ve finished my undergraduate degree. Acting exaggeratedly casual, he flicked and unfolded the paper as if he were a magician about to perform a trick. But, instead of doves, confetti or whatever modern day magicians use for oohs and ahs, I was presented with a full page color advertisement for a local gentleman’s club called Landing Strip. Featured in the ad was bottom half of a woman in eight inch heels and a skirt that was so impossibly short and tight that it had to be illustrated. For whatever reason, she has decided to stand directly in the path of a landing jetliner. My guess is that because the advertisement wants to imply that she is hoping it will land inside of her vagina. Fellas, if this girl is willing to let a 747 fly into her crotch, all bets are pretty much off. You really couldn’t ask for more sexual innuendo than you’re already getting here.
I’m not a proponent of strip clubs but I am also not going to claim that they are immoral or that this building should be torn down- that isn’t the point I am trying to make. Understatedly, topless bars have in no way assisted in the advancement of women in what is traditionally a male dominated society and they’re in the running for the biggest reason so many men see women as little more than sexual objects. If you want my take on stripping, strip clubs, pornography or anything else of that nature, I invite you to do so. I would absolutely love the opportunity. It is a big topic that encompasses a lot of very important and complicated issues and is worth discussing.
What I would like to examine here is the smaller picture. Why did the staff at this publication decide to include a topless bar as the largest advertisement in its September 14th issue? Was it just the money? I can’t believe that they honestly though that it was going to improve the school’s already tarnished image. I’m almost positive that everyone who lives or goes to school in Ann Arbor assumes that Ypsilanti and Eastern Michigan University are the sort of places where everyone is high on smack and blows the rest of their money at strip clubs before they are inevitably murdered.
At the very least, editors had to know there would be blowback from readers who felt that the ad was grossly sexist (which it was). It doesn’t even attempt to celebrate a woman’s body as something beautiful. It merely presents a reasonably creepy and extreme visual metaphor for sex. I urge anyone who feels strongly about this to write the Echo’s editor-in-chief, Danny Hopkins. He can be reached at editor@easternecho.com and via the phone number 734-487-0379. I also suggest hitting up Brian Peterson, who is the paper’s advertising manager, at easternecho.advertising@gmail.com or 734-487-0396.
The whole thing just seems somewhat stupid, but stupid is nothing new. William Riley just had an interesting debate on facebook that was started by a chain letter that claimed the health reform bill somehow endorses and encourages publicly funded abortions to beneficiaries. What followed was some of the most insane claims and interesting name calling I have ever read. I suggest that everyone friend Will and read his most recent note commenting on this- you will be glad you did, I promise.
Perhaps it is not quite as assinine a phenomenon but I’ve recently being going on light rants about the new craze of the “Eco Button” on new cars. Essentially, the buttons just make your car slower and smoother in order to achieve higher fuel efficiency. Your accelerator becomes less sensitive, the motor less responsive and it keeps you from doing something stupid like running your air-conditioning at maximum when you don’t need it. It is a unique feature but, like a lot of new features, it seems to take the driving element out of driving. If you want to make your car slower and more efficient, why didn’t you just by a slower and more efficient car or drive your current car more efficiently? Prius owners who get off on mastering the art of efficient driving are going to be furious.
Why?
Same concept applied backward.
The eco mode is simply the inverse of the sport mode offered on many faster and less economical cars. Press the sport button and your already peppy vehicle becomes a much more aggressive and a little more fuel hungry. Press the eco button and your practical transportation unit becomes a fuel sipping slug with minimal niceties. Why don’t we all just buy lightweight cars with efficient engines and without all the expensive features so we won’t have to press any more damn buttons? It might be nice to but the driver back into the driving.
What is wrong with everyone? It seems as if nobody wants to do, experience or learn anything for themselves. People are going to make the claim that their eco button is saving the environment. Never mind that they traded in a perfectly fine vehicle for one that had to be assembled from raw materials that had to be obtained, shipped, smelted, shipped, molded, shipped, assembled, shipped and then built into a car before being shipped one last time. You’ve done it! You’ve saved the fucking environment…
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And what have I been doing?
I’ve been working on writing a lot and looking into publishers. I’ve made a few more comics which I plan on posting in the next few days and I’ve been filming frequently for a project I hope to have edited within the next couple of weeks (if you, or anyone you know, would like to be interviewed for that project please contact me asap). Job hunting is always something to do in Michigan and a got a new motorcycle tire. Speaking of which.... I’ve also been considering a tattoo for quite some time now. I’d like to put early logos (30s, 40s, 50s, 60s) of vintage motorcycle companies on my arm as a sleeve. If you’re having a hard time imagining what that might look like, here are a bunch of potential decals I might use but I still have no idea how to arrange them or tie it all together visually.
I decided to do logos from companies that produced bikes during times of social unrest (depression era American and 30s-60s European and Japanese) most of which went out of business. Anyway, history lesion aside, I’d like feedback. I'm just not sold on putting logos for coporations, living or dead, on my body... but my Oscar Wilde and Aldous Huxley quotes won't take up very much room.
I’m not a proponent of strip clubs but I am also not going to claim that they are immoral or that this building should be torn down- that isn’t the point I am trying to make. Understatedly, topless bars have in no way assisted in the advancement of women in what is traditionally a male dominated society and they’re in the running for the biggest reason so many men see women as little more than sexual objects. If you want my take on stripping, strip clubs, pornography or anything else of that nature, I invite you to do so. I would absolutely love the opportunity. It is a big topic that encompasses a lot of very important and complicated issues and is worth discussing.
What I would like to examine here is the smaller picture. Why did the staff at this publication decide to include a topless bar as the largest advertisement in its September 14th issue? Was it just the money? I can’t believe that they honestly though that it was going to improve the school’s already tarnished image. I’m almost positive that everyone who lives or goes to school in Ann Arbor assumes that Ypsilanti and Eastern Michigan University are the sort of places where everyone is high on smack and blows the rest of their money at strip clubs before they are inevitably murdered.
At the very least, editors had to know there would be blowback from readers who felt that the ad was grossly sexist (which it was). It doesn’t even attempt to celebrate a woman’s body as something beautiful. It merely presents a reasonably creepy and extreme visual metaphor for sex. I urge anyone who feels strongly about this to write the Echo’s editor-in-chief, Danny Hopkins. He can be reached at editor@easternecho.com and via the phone number 734-487-0379. I also suggest hitting up Brian Peterson, who is the paper’s advertising manager, at easternecho.advertising@gmail.com or 734-487-0396.
The whole thing just seems somewhat stupid, but stupid is nothing new. William Riley just had an interesting debate on facebook that was started by a chain letter that claimed the health reform bill somehow endorses and encourages publicly funded abortions to beneficiaries. What followed was some of the most insane claims and interesting name calling I have ever read. I suggest that everyone friend Will and read his most recent note commenting on this- you will be glad you did, I promise.
Perhaps it is not quite as assinine a phenomenon but I’ve recently being going on light rants about the new craze of the “Eco Button” on new cars. Essentially, the buttons just make your car slower and smoother in order to achieve higher fuel efficiency. Your accelerator becomes less sensitive, the motor less responsive and it keeps you from doing something stupid like running your air-conditioning at maximum when you don’t need it. It is a unique feature but, like a lot of new features, it seems to take the driving element out of driving. If you want to make your car slower and more efficient, why didn’t you just by a slower and more efficient car or drive your current car more efficiently? Prius owners who get off on mastering the art of efficient driving are going to be furious.
Why?
Same concept applied backward.
The eco mode is simply the inverse of the sport mode offered on many faster and less economical cars. Press the sport button and your already peppy vehicle becomes a much more aggressive and a little more fuel hungry. Press the eco button and your practical transportation unit becomes a fuel sipping slug with minimal niceties. Why don’t we all just buy lightweight cars with efficient engines and without all the expensive features so we won’t have to press any more damn buttons? It might be nice to but the driver back into the driving.
What is wrong with everyone? It seems as if nobody wants to do, experience or learn anything for themselves. People are going to make the claim that their eco button is saving the environment. Never mind that they traded in a perfectly fine vehicle for one that had to be assembled from raw materials that had to be obtained, shipped, smelted, shipped, molded, shipped, assembled, shipped and then built into a car before being shipped one last time. You’ve done it! You’ve saved the fucking environment…
__________________________________________
And what have I been doing?
I’ve been working on writing a lot and looking into publishers. I’ve made a few more comics which I plan on posting in the next few days and I’ve been filming frequently for a project I hope to have edited within the next couple of weeks (if you, or anyone you know, would like to be interviewed for that project please contact me asap). Job hunting is always something to do in Michigan and a got a new motorcycle tire. Speaking of which.... I’ve also been considering a tattoo for quite some time now. I’d like to put early logos (30s, 40s, 50s, 60s) of vintage motorcycle companies on my arm as a sleeve. If you’re having a hard time imagining what that might look like, here are a bunch of potential decals I might use but I still have no idea how to arrange them or tie it all together visually.
I decided to do logos from companies that produced bikes during times of social unrest (depression era American and 30s-60s European and Japanese) most of which went out of business. Anyway, history lesion aside, I’d like feedback. I'm just not sold on putting logos for coporations, living or dead, on my body... but my Oscar Wilde and Aldous Huxley quotes won't take up very much room.