Billboard advertisements are meant to draw attention, but did T.I.’s “Akoo” ad take that concept too far?
In downtown Newark, N.J., in the heart of the central business district, there’s a prominently displayed ad promoting the rapper’s clothing line, showing a man with his belt unbuckled, pants partially pulled down and a black woman kneeling in front of him, clutching the back of his jeans, staring sensually into the camera. He has his hand on the back of her head.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what’s being suggested.
The display is meant to bring attention to the jeans, but it’s making full use of the abstract to do so. The only text included is name of the men’s line, Akoo.
The advertisement has New Jersey leaders up in arms and has sparked heated debate about its appropriateness because of it’s allusion to oral sex. The envelope has certainly been pushed to such limits in pop culture and jeans ads are always racy, supporters contend, but critics of the billboard say the targeting of young African Americans with such material is simply crossing the line.
According to The Star-Ledger:
City Council President Mildred Crump isn’t pleased with the billboard and is fed up with her city being a doormat for degradation.
“I’m so sick of people seeing Newark as a place where they can do whatever they want,” she said. “They think they can put it in a black community and nobody is going to say or do anything.”
It’s one of many problems Newark Mayor Cory Booker believes have to be addressed as issues of basic decency. He says he’s got kids wearing their pants too low, and others using inappropriate language in public places.
“There’s a lot of fronts to this fight,” he said. “On this particular issue, I will work with my city council to see if we can address it.”
An executive at CBS Outdoor, the New York-based billboard company, didn’t think there was a problem with displaying the advertisement.
“It was a sexy, racy fashion ad, as they so often are,” said Jodi Senese, executive vice president of marketing. There are more explicit ads CBS will not post, she said, but this one didn’t rise to that level.
Is all the fuss about the image warranted? Leave a comment with your opinion. –gerald radford
