Monday, July 18, 2011

Halifax newspaper pulls Venus Envy ads

The Metro paper in Halifax has pulled an ad by local queer owned Venus Envy because they deemed it innappropriate.  The paper cited "graphic depiction of a sex toy" as their reason for pulling said ad and suggested that readers and other advertisers found the ad offensive.  The sex toy in question is the "the Rabbit" - and yes, yes it is the very same one (though perhaps hers was unfortunately less rainbowy) that Charlotte developed a lengthy relationship with on Sex and the City. 



People will likely protest that they don't want their kids' tender eyes to see said Rabbit.  To this I say: "Poppycock!"  "Hogwash!"  and "Mallarky!"  If we're more worried about our kids finding out about how satisfying sex is a wonderful, nurturing part of life than we are, say, about their daily dose of advertised encouragement of self-hatred, body dissatisfaction and the other general shite and misogyny much advertising pushes, then we all need to give our heads a giant collective shake. 

But I wonder, in my heart of queer hearts, if perhaps the Metro didn't pull the ad because the mere sight of our be-rainbowed friend Rabbit is offensive.  I wonder if the pull, and the complaints that resulted in the pull, have just as much to do with the rainbow-y-ness of the Rabbit, as with the site of that rascally old Rabbit itself.  The ad is full of words and phrases that depict queerness and sex.  And queers loving sex and being public about it?  Now, that is downright scary.

3 comments:

  1. It definitely seems to have a lot more to do with the rainbow factor...considering the, um... 'graphic' part of the toy isn't even shown in the ad... Ridiculous.

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  3. I just deleted my previous comment because of heinous crimes committed against grammar. Here I go again:
    In my WASPY world, I was never taught that sex should be enjoyable whether you were gay or straight.

    I am also fairly certain that that ad would not have made it to print in my community at all, given how conservative most people are. I also agree with T Lee--the toy in the ad is hardly recognizable as anything. It is ridiculous what the morality police will allow to be advertised and what they deem is inappropriate.

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