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Since I don't have a TV, I didn't actually see what the following article talks about. But I am thoroughly disgusted. I urge you to pass this information along and to speak out!!
Back to your regularly scheduled wiccan-chat after this message...
The Media and Women Project is a new national consumer advocacy initiative and network working to promote fairer, healthier, more positive images of girls and women in the media through awareness and concerted action.For more information, for your subscription, or to unsubscribe at any time, please contact [email protected]
During the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Australian Olympics, American television advertising hit a new low.
Using terrifying gratuitous imagery of violence toward women as their visual hook, the Nike corporation offered up the following commercial for those millions - including, surely, thousands of children -- who were watching this special prime time event.
A beautiful young woman wearing only a sports bra, jogging shorts and jogging shoes, is shown running through the woods. Suddenly, she is pursued by a masked man brandishing a chainsaw. We find ourselves in the midst of a seconds-long horror film, the woman desperately running, trying to escape her pursuer, as the musical soundtrack intensifies the horror of her predicament.Ultimately, she outruns him; he stumbles, removes his mask and drops his chainsaw in exhaustion, as she then continues jogging into the woods and presumably to safety beyond. The immediate danger now past, a crawl displays the Nike sign, and queries, "Why sport?" "You'll live longer."
If Nike used images of black men being lynched, in order to sell shoes, certainly the NAACP would cry "Foul."
If Nike used images of Jews in concentration camps during the Holocaust, in order to sell shoes, certainly the Anti-Defamation league would cry "Foul."
If Nike used images of gay-bashing, in order to sell shoes, certainly gay activist organizations would cry "Foul."
Women ourselves must now cry "Foul." And we will hopefully be joined by many men who agree.
Express your belief that it is NOT acceptable to take the image of an attempt to brutally murder a woman, wave it in our faces and the faces of our children during what parents have every right to consider a wholesome hour of television viewing, and justify it in the name of "edgy" advertising.
Whatever cultural pathology underlies the current plethora of images portraying violence toward women, it is crucial that we resist it. It is insulting to women, and horribly disrespectful to the many who have suffered and died in just such violent ways as this commercial portrays, that the seriousness of this issue be reduced to a pitch for corporate sales.
The ad just ran; it is imperative that we respond immediately. Please write or call today to express your displeasure. Demand that this commercial be taken off the air. Demand an apology to the women of America. Tell Nike you will not be buying their products until the apology has occurred, and the commercial has been pulled. Tell NBC that you are appalled they would clear such violent advertising, especially during a prime time event which would obviously be viewed by so many children.
If we pool our voices here, we can make a tremendous, very positive noise. One is reminded of the words of Mahatma Gandhi: "If I could awaken the women of Asia, I could save India in a day."
Call or write:
NIKE: Tom Clark, President of New Ventures, and Philip Knight, President and CEO of Nike; One Bowerman Drive
Beaverton, Oregon 97005
(503) 671-6453
NBC: Robert Wright, President and CEO of NBC;
30 Rockefeller Place,
New York, New York, 10112
(212) 664-4444
Please spread this information to as many people as you can.
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