Shock advertising by student groups draws criticism on campus

This past week, members of the Organization of Women Leaders wore T-shirts with the line "We're not just hooters" next to a Hooters restaurant logo. There were also posters that asked, "Can you be feminine and still be a feminist?" And not long after that, posters appeared promoting 'The Man Show,' with a Maxim woman displaying a gray bikini. These T-shirts and posters have, however, been controversial.

Aaron Snyder, the president of Footnotes, designed the poster promoting his a capella group. "We made the poster an imitation of a Maxim cover because Maxim is the prototypical guy's magazine. That cover was intended to point out the humor of the upcoming program, 'The Man Show.' "

"We focused on Maxim, a magazine that appeals to men's interests in the topics listed on the top of the poster: sex, sports, beer, gadgets, clothes and fitness. Our goals were to get people's attention, and to make them laugh by turning 'Maxim' into 'The Man Show,' " Snyder said.

"Under a picture of a male bodybuilder, wearing nothing but briefs, were the words, 'The Man Show: Curiously Strong A Capella.' In both of our posters, we highlighted the gender theme running through this event through gender-specific pictures."

Snyder said people reacted to the poster with mixed emotions. "Guys in particular have made a point of saying things like, 'Every guy on campus loves you right now,' and girls have told me that our posters are hilarious."

"However, some people took offense to the posters, on the basis of their objectification of women. In fact, within hours of their posting, somebody had ripped most of them down, all over campus," he added.

The posters also coincided with eating disorder awareness week, which Snyder and the other a capella groups had not known about when putting up their posters.

"Our timing was unfortunate, but we were not trying to upset anybody. Since it was all an innocent joke, we were a little unhappy that some people went out of their way to destroy our time and effort over a misunderstanding of our intentions," Snyder said.

"We never offend people purposely, and if we offend people by accident, we lose money on our posters if people rip them down."

Nancy Ippolito '03, president of OWL, said that her group's T-shirt campaign was a success.

"As with any potentially controversial campaign, the goal of inciting dialogue and raising awareness has been accomplished. Not only have we had a volume of sales, but we have generally had a positive response."

Tzivia Friedman '02 said in an e-mail she is disturbed by the "increase in highly sexualized images that are being used to advertise events on campus."

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"Although it may be assumed that Princeton students are mature adults capable of handling such provocative and graphic depictions, these pictures insult and offend large numbers of students."