« Those sneaky, sneaky television networks | Main | Lindsay can always blame the advertising »

Spa billboard gets under local women’s skin Chicagoland continues to get upset about billboards. First there was that innocuous divorce-lawyer ad. Now it’s this spa billboard. (Click the photo to enlarge.) The Tribune published a whole story, but all you really need are the quotes from local women and the spa owner. Woman: “I was shocked. I was offended as a woman, angered as a mother and embarrassed as a resident of Glenview.” Spa owner: “No, I will not bring it down.” Woman: “I’d like for them to replace it with another ad.” Spa owner: “I will leave it up.” Woman: “I’m a mother, a wife, a member of the PTA, and this is an affront to everything I work for and try to instill in my children.” Spa owner: “I don’t want to sound like a chauvinistic pig, but this is a man’s world.” Woman: “It doesn’t represent us as people whose beauty emanates from within.” Spa owner: “You don’t like what we sell? Goodbye. Good luck. Go somewhere else.” Woman: “It demonstrates that there’s a set of values they support that are the antithesis of my values.” Spa owner: “My next billboard is going to be of a 300-pound woman and it will say, ‘Could you help me please?’ Then everyone would be after me saying, ‘My son is traumatized because you showed me a fat woman.’ You can never win.” —Posted by Tim Nudd

May 31, 2007 | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c51c053ef00d835805b6169e2

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Spa billboard gets under local women’s skin :

Comments

Interesting, the more ads we see like this the more we will get use to them.

Posted by: Even Brown | May 31, 2007 10:28:02 AM

The ads sucks, but good for him for not pulling it. Too bad real clients aren't that ballsy.

Posted by: yikes | May 31, 2007 10:41:55 AM

With the amount I had to squint to see that copy in a still image, if I encountered it on a freeway I'd be dead and have taken several cars with me.

Posted by: Pace | May 31, 2007 11:02:10 AM

agree with yikes, the ad is not very good. but it probably grabs your attention. certainly shouldn't be pulled, people need to lighten up.

Posted by: t | May 31, 2007 12:40:09 PM

It's a really really really really bad ad, to be sure...but it's done, it's up, the client has approved it, and obviously loves it, and his refusal to bring it down probably means it's working. Good on him for leaving it up. If only the guy who opened the "Pink Taco" mexican restaurant in New Mexico, or the Saskatchewan Pork Council's "Pork: The One You Love" people, had enough balls to ignore public outcry, maybe we could finally see some edgier stuff., instead of a pair of developmentally challenged animated beavers (for instance).

Posted by: Leo_Whore | May 31, 2007 1:53:07 PM

This is just another example of the liberals and their radical agenda and I really, really wish it was Ann Coulter up there because, even though she's 45 years old and single, I'm totally, totally in love with her.

Posted by: Bobby | May 31, 2007 2:29:04 PM

Mmmmm, Ann Coulter and Nancy Grace in a mud wrestling battle...TO THE DEATH

Posted by: Japanese car owner | May 31, 2007 2:46:32 PM

To me, this woman needn't worry-- the terrible design of the ad is totally undermining any impact or "wow" factor a racy ad might hope for. Does anyone remember the car accidents caused by the original Wonderbra ads? The "Hello Boys" campaign featuring model Eva Herzigova married wit, simplicity, and, lets face it, a supermodel, to practically lethal effect.

Posted by: Nomi | May 31, 2007 2:54:46 PM

Bobby, you’re being sarcastic, right? Isn’t it typically the church-going conservatives that get all worked up by this type of thing? Especially, the women – their husbands exploit the masses, look for taxes loopholes and bring home enough money for them to eat like hogs. Of course, the husbands then cheat on the wives because they become such eyesores, but that’s another story. Certainly the wives don’t want to leave the good thing (all that good food and the McMansion), so they look for causes like this to champion. By the way, Anne Coulter has a penis.

Posted by: Rock | May 31, 2007 3:46:17 PM

I saw this ad first hand and it did catch my attention. My only reaction was that it is a really bad ad for a place I had considered upscale.

Posted by: f | May 31, 2007 5:45:17 PM

If ever there was a question Bobby was a joke, he just laid it rest with that comment. There is no way anyone could seriously believe that.

FYI - I think when it comes to complaining about stuff in the media, both uber-libs and uber-conservatives share the blame.

Mann Coulter. Yikes indeed.

Posted by: yikes | May 31, 2007 6:15:23 PM

The ad does not offend me as a woman. Sir spa owner, however, is a royal bag of douche.

Posted by: | Jun 1, 2007 12:32:20 PM

I can see where women would be pissed at this ad. It does after all suggest liposuction for a model-perfect butt. I mean if THAT needs lipo, what the hell do the rest of us do?

Posted by: ubermom | Jun 1, 2007 3:42:02 PM

Someone's impersonating me. While I love Ann Coulter, I would rather see her selling something cooler like Whiskey than a Spa. And I have no problem with her being 45 and single! I don't know why some people think being single and childless is a bad thing.

For the record, I'm not offended by this ad. Women are always talking about their "problem areas," what's wrong with an ad that offers solutions to those problems?

Ironically, the woman in the billboard doesn't appear to have any problems as far as I'm concerned. Maybe they should follow Dove's example and try using real looking women? Because right now it looks like this:
Problem: Beautiful Woman. Solution: Photoshop.

Posted by: The Real Bobby | Jun 5, 2007 4:52:38 PM

Post a comment

Name:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments:

The opinions expressed in comments are those of the individual poster. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Adweek or Nielsen Business Media. Comments of a promotional nature or comments that are otherwise inappropriate may be removed.