I just discovered this little gem the other day.
The Windsor Star
Tuesdayy, March 1, 2005
Page: A1 / FRONT
Section: News
Byline: Grace Macaluso
Source: Windsor Star
Bell Canada insists it was just a joke, but a flyer depicting a textbook image of the female anatomy with body parts cut out is being decried as offensive by feminists and some of its own subscribers who are threatening to drop the service unless the telecommunications giant issues a public apology.
"It's a badly thought out piece of advertising that has offended a lot of people," said Windsor resident and Bell customer James Martin. "I've always liked Bell and have promoted its services to my friends, so it's embarrassing." The flyer, part of a multimedia ad campaign designed to highlight the Bell Sympatico Internet service and parental controls, was mailed out to households in Ontario and Quebec late last week. It shows a diagram of the female body with the breasts and pubic areas scissored. Part of the advertisement reads: "You'll do anything to protect your kids from inappropriate content. So will we."
According to Bell spokesman Mohammad Nakhooda, the direct mail piece was "not intended to be offensive in any way. The idea was to show a humorous representation of what steps a parent might take to manage what children will see, and illustrate the parental control features in our Sympatico service."
But the humour was lost on Liberal MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti. "I don't see the humour in it at all. It's degrading to everyone, particularly women, and designed to grab people's attention," said the Scarborough politician.
Berardinetti said he planned to present a petition signed by his constituents to the legislature today and urge the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services to launch an investigation. "We need to know the appropriateness of this advertising and whether it violates decency laws."
Sungee John, interim president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, called the ad clumsy. "In the future Bell may decide to do more consulting with women, especially those groups who specialize in advocating for women; they need to do better outreach before they put out such clumsy advertising," said John, a Windsor resident and Bell subscriber.
The flyer sends out a lot of "mixed messages," she added. "If you examine it through various lenses, it would be perceived as anti-women; why single out the female body?"
She also called on the telecom giant to issue a public retraction -- a demand rejected by Bell. "Beyond stating that the advertisement or direct-mail piece was not intended to be
offensive in any way ... Bell has nothing further to add," said Nakhooda, noting that the campaign had ended.
The controversial ad was a major topic of discussion among Internet websites and message boards, including one monitored by St. Clair College graduate Audra Williams. "It's not like George W. Bush's re-election, but this issue has a pretty high level of interest," said Williams.
"It's appalling," she said from Halifax. "Getting a flyer showing a female body hacked to bits is unsettling. There already are so many products out there depicting women's bodies as unclean and dysfunctional."
Windsor parent Lori Koutros agreed. "At first I laughed, then I thought, 'this is not funny at all; it's kind of disturbing that a woman's body would be depicted this way,'" said Koutros, a working mother of two. "I have a 13-year-old daughter and there are really legitimate issues of pornography and violence; that's not one of them. It's shocking that a woman's body is seen as something shameful that should be cut out; I thought we were past this as a society, but apparently, we're not."
:thumbsup: Way to go feminists!!!!!!
Keep up the good work. :disgust:
The Windsor Star
Tuesdayy, March 1, 2005
Page: A1 / FRONT
Section: News
Byline: Grace Macaluso
Source: Windsor Star
Bell Canada insists it was just a joke, but a flyer depicting a textbook image of the female anatomy with body parts cut out is being decried as offensive by feminists and some of its own subscribers who are threatening to drop the service unless the telecommunications giant issues a public apology.
"It's a badly thought out piece of advertising that has offended a lot of people," said Windsor resident and Bell customer James Martin. "I've always liked Bell and have promoted its services to my friends, so it's embarrassing." The flyer, part of a multimedia ad campaign designed to highlight the Bell Sympatico Internet service and parental controls, was mailed out to households in Ontario and Quebec late last week. It shows a diagram of the female body with the breasts and pubic areas scissored. Part of the advertisement reads: "You'll do anything to protect your kids from inappropriate content. So will we."
According to Bell spokesman Mohammad Nakhooda, the direct mail piece was "not intended to be offensive in any way. The idea was to show a humorous representation of what steps a parent might take to manage what children will see, and illustrate the parental control features in our Sympatico service."
But the humour was lost on Liberal MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti. "I don't see the humour in it at all. It's degrading to everyone, particularly women, and designed to grab people's attention," said the Scarborough politician.
Berardinetti said he planned to present a petition signed by his constituents to the legislature today and urge the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services to launch an investigation. "We need to know the appropriateness of this advertising and whether it violates decency laws."
Sungee John, interim president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, called the ad clumsy. "In the future Bell may decide to do more consulting with women, especially those groups who specialize in advocating for women; they need to do better outreach before they put out such clumsy advertising," said John, a Windsor resident and Bell subscriber.
The flyer sends out a lot of "mixed messages," she added. "If you examine it through various lenses, it would be perceived as anti-women; why single out the female body?"
She also called on the telecom giant to issue a public retraction -- a demand rejected by Bell. "Beyond stating that the advertisement or direct-mail piece was not intended to be
offensive in any way ... Bell has nothing further to add," said Nakhooda, noting that the campaign had ended.
The controversial ad was a major topic of discussion among Internet websites and message boards, including one monitored by St. Clair College graduate Audra Williams. "It's not like George W. Bush's re-election, but this issue has a pretty high level of interest," said Williams.
"It's appalling," she said from Halifax. "Getting a flyer showing a female body hacked to bits is unsettling. There already are so many products out there depicting women's bodies as unclean and dysfunctional."
Windsor parent Lori Koutros agreed. "At first I laughed, then I thought, 'this is not funny at all; it's kind of disturbing that a woman's body would be depicted this way,'" said Koutros, a working mother of two. "I have a 13-year-old daughter and there are really legitimate issues of pornography and violence; that's not one of them. It's shocking that a woman's body is seen as something shameful that should be cut out; I thought we were past this as a society, but apparently, we're not."
:thumbsup: Way to go feminists!!!!!!
Keep up the good work. :disgust:
