Objections to a BuzzFreeProm ad has led the organization to pull it and apologize. The ad reads: “Go from prom king to queen in three shots or less.”
Lisa Derrick at La Figa had the following exchange with the talent behind the ad:
I will go further. I think that being a “queen,” in the jail sense, is about being, both literally and figuratively, on the bottom. The imprisoned, gay men and, for that matter, women, are all on the bottom in this sense. (The corsage on the prison uniform is a hint that it’s not just about being gay, but about being female.) The problem with this ad, for me, is that it conflates sex and power. That the conflation can span so many different categories suggests that it resonates strongly. And that is what is disappointing to me. I would prefer to live in a world in which sex and power could be disentangled, as opposed to one that affirmed their entanglement. Let’s try to keep kids safe some other way, eh?
BuzzFreeProm has since put up an apology:
Other anti-drug and anti-drinking ads: an anti-meth campaign reminiscent of reefer madness, a vintage hanna-barbara anti-drug commercial, bizarre anti-drinking and driving messages, and threatening women with unattractiveness.
Comments 16
SarahMC — May 2, 2009
"It's not homophobic it's just misogynist!"
Nothing strikes fear in the heart of men like the threat of feminization. :eye roll:
yikes — May 2, 2009
Well done, Lisa.
SarahMC — May 2, 2009
I am so sick of organizations, companies, and individuals claiming they're "sorry if they offended anyone." Can nobody make sincere apologies anymore? God forbid people admit when they're been wrong or insensitive or even downright bigoted.
edward — May 2, 2009
I love when they say "Well, I have friends who are homosexual!" like it makes it okay.
yikes — May 2, 2009
What would Freddie Mercury say?
harper — May 2, 2009
In addition to the problems already mentioned, I think the ad makes it seems as if prison rape is an acceptable punishment for teen drinking/ drunk driving. While a prison sentence may be an acceptable punishment for some crimes (though prisons are certainly problematic), rape is never acceptable. Not only does this ad illustrate homophobia in society, it also makes a statement about how society views the human rights of people who are incarcerated.
Bagelsan — May 2, 2009
So, it's cool to strike a strong note with students by threatening them with rape?? Seriously? (And yeah, threatening men with rape to keep them in line works best when they can be feminized first, because then all the mechanisms that threaten women with rape kick in and can be applied to the guys as well. Yay.)
Heather — May 2, 2009
It's interesting that they're using the term 'queen.' I've only ever heard 'bitch' used in that context...as in 'you're my bitch.' Not that it makes the ad any less egregious.
yikes — May 2, 2009
from Urban Dictionary:
Prison Queen
A person who is not prison material, but winds up in jail anyway. Usually is raped and beat up daily.
The ad: offensive on many levels, indeed.
MissPrism — May 3, 2009
Yikes, indeed - I wonder what kind of person is "prison material," seeing as actually going to prison doesn't qualify you as such? Might it have a teeny-tiny smidgen to do with race and class?
TM — May 4, 2009
"The problem with this ad, for me, is that it conflates sex and power" Do you think rape is only about sex? That crime, always conflating sex and power, tsk tsk tsk.
Bagelsan — May 4, 2009
Yikes, indeed - I wonder what kind of person is “prison material,” seeing as actually going to prison doesn’t qualify you as such? Might it have a teeny-tiny smidgen to do with race and class?
Lol. A magic combination of "you don't want to be treated like you're a woman do you??" and "you don't want to be treated like you're black and/or poor do you??"
“The problem with this ad, for me, is that it conflates sex and power” Do you think rape is only about sex? That crime, always conflating sex and power, tsk tsk tsk.
I thought that was the point of the comment? Rape *isn't* only about sex.
Endor — May 5, 2009
Where's the resident misogynists to tell us we're just making it up?
Duran — May 5, 2009
Do you think that threatening misbehaving teens with poverty and lack of societal respect is as offensive as this? "3 shots...and you're gonna be flipping burgers for the rest of your life" Why/why not?
Bagelsan — May 6, 2009
Duran: I don't think that's as offensive, personally. Burger-flipping isn't gendered like the original language, it doesn't threaten physical harm or use rape as a punishment (I doubt many people would non-hyperbolically compare working at McDonald's with rape), and it's a slightly more realistic consequence (though still not very) in that good colleges aren't generally keen on admitting kids who get expelled for drinking at school functions. I'd see it more as "if you do dumb stuff you will mess up your career plans" which seems appropriate for a message directed at high schoolers. (If the burger-flipping message strayed into the "poor people are losers, and probably drunks to boot!" territory that would be offensive, though.)
coe — October 27, 2009
wow, my initial read of this ad was way off. i thought it was an ad discouraging teens from drunkenly raping their prom dates for fear of going to prison and getting raped themselves.
guess we're not quite there yet.