ReportingJason DeRusha
Posted on 01/15/2008 7:32:59 AM PST by mn-bush-man
(WCCO)
A Target Corporation branding campaign is stirring up online controversy because of a billboard which shows a woman, lying spread-eagle, on top of the Target billboard logo.
"I was very offended by it," said Minneapolis mother of two, Lisa Ray.
Ray is also the founder of Parents for Ethical Marketing, and she wrote about the billboard on her Web site, asking, "Is this what you meant by targeting women?"
"It surprised me that something that would come out of Target would be so blatantly sexist," she added.
The ad is part of a winter campaign depicting men and women interacting with the Target logo. One image shows a man ice skating on the logo, another shows a family sledding on the side of the bullseye.
"It's never our intention to offend any of our guests or the public," said Target spokeswoman Amy VonWalter. According to VonWalter, the company has only received one complaint about the ad.
A picture of a New York City billboard was uploaded to the photo-sharing site Flickr on Jan. 6. That was picked up by a blog on marketing to children called "Shaping Youth." That got Ray's attention, and she wrote about it on her organization's Web site.
"I could not understand how anybody making an ad would put that together and not have one person in the room say, 'Wait a minute,'" said Ray.
"It's simply an advertisement with a woman making a snow angel, laying on our bullseye," according to VonWalter.
"There's no snow under her, I honestly didn't get the snow angel thing at first," countered Ray. "I personally am not shopping at Target anymore, I made that commitment, because of this ad."
Ray said her concern is the increasing number of sexualized advertising images in media campaigns. She said that because Target positions itself as a corporation that cares about the community, she holds Target to a "higher standard."
"One little ad by itself may not mean anything, but you have ad after ad after ad," said Ray.
VonWalter said that while she respects "everybody's opinion" in her view the ad is "absolutely not" offensive.
Some people need to get laid I swear, since they see perverted things everywhere....
Exactly what I saw, a snow angle
Looks like a fun place to shop! http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennett4senate/2173666425
LYING on our bullseye. What an idiot.
I think Lisa Ray needs a life.
It looks like the woman is making a snow angel.
Really ... what is this world coming to?
This "Mom" must be one of the few women that see signs.
Oooops ... my bad. It was a billboard, not a road sign.
Check out the bullseye.
“It surprised me that something that would come out of Target would be so blatantly sexist,” she added.
A woman making a snow angel on a Target sybmol is blatantly sexist. Dumb. Just dumb.
I do not particularly find the ad offensive. The problem is Target would stand on its head if that is what it took to be politically correct and non-offensive to queers and the ROP crowd. As far offending folk who were raised with the standards of decency prevalent in the last two centuries they could less.
As Napolean famously said, “Do not ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence”.
It looks like Target just dropped the ball on this one. They are so used to seeing the logo, they don’t “see” it anymore.
Much ado about nothing. She looks like she’s making a snow angel or something.
Some people have too much time on their hands.
She isn’t naked for crying out loud. Looks like she’s doing exactly what they said...creating a snow angel, no snow, but still it’s hardly obscene unless you’re a Muslim.
This is NOT a very suggestive pose. She's in full ski gear, for crying out loud, as if jumping.
Good catch. Little Lisa seems kinda strange ...
Interesting bullseye, but i guess after smiling 'Bob' all over the TV, anything less than in-your-face is considered subtle symbolism.
Yeah. She loves Al Franken and hates Michele Bachmann.
I’m shocked.
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