Library Marketing
In these wacky consumerist and message-saturated times libraries, too, must compete for attention.
Wyoming Libraries has a pretty slick ad campaign which has some witty bumpersticker slogans but also includes a modified "mudflap" girl. I don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand, it is an image that has been modified and does not necessarily carry the misogynist overtones of the original image.
On the other hand, I immediately recoil at the sight of the image, even though it's modified, because the original is such a powerful one of the objectified female form.
Thoughts?
3 comments:
i'm all for making reading and libraries "sexy," but maybe it should be in a less skanky way.
Seeing as how Colorado is just a hop, skip and a jump away from Wyoming, this hit the fan so to speak last summer here. While historically the mudflap girl is a misogynistic representation of female objectification, I think that this illustration carries little of the same undertones. This lady's figure has been altered to not only appear not as voluptuous, but I also appreciate how her hips of a realistic womanly size. In addition to altering the drawing of the woman, I quite applaud the Wyoming State Library, who has one of the largest endowments to publicly support libraries of any state, for creating a marketing campaign that is very specific to their state...people going to auto parts stores in Wyoming and seeing this emblem to advertise online electronic databases will actually have an attachment to this image...I applaud Wyoming for thinking outside of the library box...so much so that I actually bought this tshirt.
I agree with Baby G about advertising in a less skanky way. Also, I tried to visit the Wyoming State Library page to look at all their ads but they were down. I think mudflap girl would be less controversial if it said something about the new auto repair database instead of just having the mudflap girl. Maybe they do on their actual poster/bookmark but, since I was not able to access it, I just feel a little put off by the mudflap girl. Honestly, if they showed the same woman with clothes on, I would think it was clever. But there's not way she is not nude unless she is wearing a wetsuit with footies...and yeah, that's not happening.
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