Twenty-Four Full Moons Over Midtown
Did you ever see a toilet paper ad with a baby's cute tushy on display? Well if you walk through Times Square starting July 1st, you're going to get to see a lot of tushies on an ad, but they won't belong to babies (and they won't be very cute, either)! According to Advertising Age (warning: this link contains a number of mostly-unobscured buttocks), "the Toto Washlet company will unveil a giant two-story billboard wrapped around three sides of a Times Square building (eight derriers per side). And on that billboard will be giant two-storied rears, smiling down on the city." And by "smiling down on the city," they mean that these bare bottoms will literally have smiley faces doodled on them!
Why, you might ask, would such an over-the-top display of naked rear ends be necessary? Well, apparently there's this ingenious device, called a Washlet (same warning as before) that's about to hit the American market, which offers a more hygenic alternative to toilet paper, employing water and warm air.
Now I'm all for good marketing, and I even appreciate some good hygiene. But come on, people! All this effort to get us to have a cleaner bottom - and no one seems to care about the extra schmutz right in front of our eyes!
Oy, Allison. Not being a New Yorker myself (actually, not even living in America anymore), I probably would have missed these bare bottoms. But boy! Am I happy I didn't from your blog. This is possibly the most awful thing I've seen yet. And ordinarily, I'd find these types of things funny. But this advertisement is showing how depraved our society truly is!
Phhhhh!
Posted by: Melanie | June 28, 2007 at 09:41 AM
"Washlet"?
Appears to be a tren-dy word for "bidet". Now if I had fur and a tail, I can see how a bidet has the advantage over TP. But I don't, so what's the appeal of this? "My butt's too Sensitive (TM) to be wiped like one of the common rabble"?
Think I'll find that Jeff Foxworthy bit about "Starin' at a Big ol' Moon"...
Posted by: Ken | June 28, 2007 at 01:36 PM
My favorite line is when the ad company "claims the ad was too graphic to run in luxury print titles"--but, on the other hand, it's fine for the entire world to be bombarded by it in Times Square!
How revealing. Are they saying that modesty is just for the upper class? Pretty elitist if you ask me. It's the same problem with American Girl dolls: really nice and age-appropriate, but not many people can afford them. Hello-- parents who don't have a lot of disposable income still care about protecting the innocence of their children.
Posted by: wendy | June 28, 2007 at 06:19 PM
I'm sure this isn't your highest concern, but it's annoying to me that on their website there's four women and two men, when it so easily should have been three women and three men.
AND, all the women are young; the only older person is a man.
I mean, if it's just supposed to be "cheeky," then how about a little equality?
Posted by: lizriz | June 28, 2007 at 07:11 PM
Wendy--Great point about the American Girls dolls. I've noticed something similar when it comes to finding modest clothing. If you've got plenty of money and especially if you have plenty of time, you have afford to go from store to store, finding long skirts and modest dresses that are still attractive and age-appropriate. But if you're a working woman with a lower-middle class income, you're more at the mercy of what's in fashion right now.
Posted by: naomi | June 29, 2007 at 08:45 AM
It seems that the more our culture/society is "supposedly" becoming more advanced, the more we are going backwards. In the late 60's and 70's, we were all so anxious to get beyond Victorian mentality as far as sexuality and our comfort levels with our bodies that we rushed into the dregs of the Middle Ages in many aspects of our present life. Foul mouth language in our media and exposed body parts on gigantic billboards in Times Square in certainly not moving in the "right" direction...we're not advancing, we're regressing!!!
Interesting blog, Allison. Keep it coming!!
Posted by: Marlene | June 29, 2007 at 11:40 AM
I saw a version of this ad on salon.com. Irritating to say the least as it showed up at the top of the main page and along the right side. Repeatedly.
Posted by: thejoyprincess | July 02, 2007 at 10:09 PM
Oh good grief. All these grown-ups with all these important jobs, and the level of discourse drops to jr. high and the chance to ogle bare butts.
Posted by: Liz Neville | July 04, 2007 at 12:43 PM
A judge approved a temporary ban on the billboard today.
Posted by: tamar | July 10, 2007 at 05:38 PM
I second that, Marlene.
Posted by: Patricia | July 16, 2008 at 12:28 PM