A company rep explained the Manhunt ad campaign that prompted a Mom's Talk column last week from a mother who felt uncomfortable about it. (Click here)
Here's what they said:
We chose to debut the campaign in Los Angeles. The city that serves as the focal point of our highly sexualized film and television industry would surely be the perfect place to debut our ad. Right?
Not quite.
We received dozens of complaints about the campaign here at Manhunt HQ in Boston, as did our ad agency, Lamar Advertising. Citizens were reportedly concerned about children being able to view our billboards. One annoyed parent even wrote an online op-ed piece last week claiming that her complaints got our ads taken down (actually, our LA campaign expired as scheduled on 11/20/11).
In truth, we went out of our way to comply with regulations on advertising content and its proximity to certain areas. Here’s what a Lamar Advertising spokesman had to say about the controversy via e-mail:
Lamar has taken a unified stance in defending our right, and theirs [Manhunt], to advertise this business on our billboards, provided they are not within 500′ of schools, churches, playgrounds, etc.
When we originally placed the units, we used our restriction codes that we have in our system for alcohol, to make sure that we were placing Manhunt in appropriate locations. Beyond that, we spent all day yesterday auditing each one of their locations to make sure that we didn’t miss anything or that a school/pre-school hasn’t popped up recently near one of their boards. We found a couple locations that were down the street (within 500′) from a church, so we have scheduled a rotation to move these boards to a better location for Manhunt.
So Manhunt was within the letter of the law, AND went the extra mile to make sure our ad was appropriately placed.
Now, with a link to our story, their readers are leaving comments here and taking the poll. If you have a thought, please write in our COMMENTS area below, and also weigh in on the poll.
Camilla Baklayan
7:08 am on Tuesday, November 29, 2011
I CAN NOT BELIEVE THE LAMAR COMPANY WROTE THIS!!! They didn't remove any of the billboards that where on Ventura that were clearly closer than 500 feet from both schools and even the Armenian church! You could see the board from the front door of the church. I called and the answer I got was "I went to the location and it was 500 feet away" that was Ray Baker, and he is in charge of The Los Angeles area. That company has the worst billboards, really low class!
Gerardo
9:15 am on Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Why people always used children as an excuse to discriminate I seem many billboards of almost naked women promoting alcohol and no one says a thing about it. It's not easier to talk to the kids and let them know that gay people exist that is normal and you should be very comfortable with who you are and what you want in life? is better that parents talk to they kids about some thing that it's real and it's not going to go just because we closed our eyes and cover our children eyes.
patchy
12:12 pm on Tuesday, November 29, 2011
So you are suggesting that we talk to our toddlers, preschoolers and young children about SEX, because "it's real"? And that it is okay for naked men and women to be seen all over town on billboards? And... I do say something about the naked women billboards, particularly Burberry with the naked lady in the trench coat. These kinds of things do not belong in public but in adult-only areas or magazines. The problem is... I cannot cover my children's eyes while I am driving them to school.
Sparky Sparkindarkness
11:25 am on Tuesday, November 29, 2011
It's a shame that the campaigns of homophobes constantly try to hide gay couples and any depictions of GBLT people from view. Poor precious straight people, their innocent eyes are wounded by our existence
patchy
12:06 pm on Tuesday, November 29, 2011
The problem is that in this specific instance... the men are NAKED and the advertisement is overtly sexual in nature. Why do you think they invented parental controls for television and the computer? So that CHILDREN do not need to be exposed to sexual situations-- of ANY KIND-- while they are.... CHILDREN!! I have an equally hard time regarding the naked women billboards and the Michael Kors billboard with a man and a woman. And the wool suit billboard with a half-dressed lady on top of a man.
Liz Lane
8:46 am on Wednesday, November 30, 2011
But did you call and ask for that Michael Kors billboard to be taken down?
Sparky Sparkindarkness
12:16 pm on Tuesday, November 29, 2011
The man are shirtless - that's not normally considered obscene nudity
Overtly sexual? 2 men moving into a kiss? This is so common - actions that by straight people would never be considered sexual or obscene are instantly condemned when it's gay people doing it
And I love how people bring up these straight billboards after the fact but they're never the ones that are complained about and take up these articles, they're only mentioned in passing later to trry and prove non-homophobia.
Gerardo
2:18 pm on Tuesday, November 29, 2011
I'm sorry I must to not see what you people see naked guys??? They only shirtless and let me point to you I have seen more shirtless guys running on Ventura blvd with tiny shorts, i guess they should be arrested because they running naked??
Joe Lazzerini
1:19 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
Freedom of Speech!!
Lightnapper
5:57 pm on Monday, December 5, 2011
@Patchy-- your comment regarding taking the children to In -n- Out Burger on a field trip has been deleted. Why? As my wise Romanian grandmother used to say-- "The truth hurts, and nobody wants to hear it, especially when it's true." Now go back to Jay Leno's lazy monologue. I'm going to finish my Animal Fries.
patchy
6:23 pm on Monday, December 5, 2011
@lightnapper- You know... I don't know what happened... maybe it was flagged as inappropriate by a vegan. People seem so much more concerned about what the children are putting in their mouths than what they are putting in their eyes anyways so.....whatever. I was just trying to point out that I was with about 25 children as they saw the billboard.
Lightnapper
12:08 pm on Wednesday, December 14, 2011
lol. Weirdly humorous. Leno could sure use some new writers. No matter what our views, I am glad you weighed in. It has certainly caused a heated, but interesting, debate.
Emily Koehn
4:56 pm on Tuesday, December 20, 2011
@patchy, your response to gerardo, is overtly dramatized. The idea of teaching young children about homosexuality is not to teach them about sex, but about love.