Post–Super Bowl Thoughts

Here's an ad that's popped up all over town (you can see the sign for the Farragut West Metro stop in the reflection on the glass). The pink part that's hard to make out reads, "Not just horror movie dead, but really, truly dead"—funny, since slasher flicks are the bellwether for imagery depicting violence against women.

There's no question that an ad like this isn't checked over by a full committee of marketing execs before it's launched in a metropolitan area. Someone found this campaign aggressive, and that person(s) was overruled—or, more likely, the ad was applauded because it is aggressive (the thought being that breast cancer requires action now and these ads should draw people's attention and force them to do something).

Oh, I did something all right—I called and complained. A staffer at the Susan Komen Foundation headquarters will return from lunch to find a stern message on her voicemail: I complained that the ad couples violent words with a woman's headless torso, with informative text appearing in marginal and tiny font, and that the ad is misguided at best and irresponsible at worst.

Now, it's hard to get too worked up about an ugly ad by a fundamentally decent organization, and it would be in especially poor taste to complain about ads about breast cancer and leave it at that—breast cancer is a terrible disease that affects almost everyone at some point or another, and organizations like the Susan Komen Foundation is basically doing the Lord's work. Two close girl friends of mine recently had reason to mention it. That's reason enough for me to donate the dozens of dollars at my disposal toward research—though I could use advice (in particular that of you breasted readers who have experience with or opinions about these organizations) regarding whose cause is worthiest.

Feministing has complained that the Komen Foundation favors a "save the titties!" message, which is tacky. On the other hand, the group supports Planned Parenthood, which is a decent thing to do and also irritates the religious groups that continue to insist on a link between abortion and breast cancer incidence. Other things that don't cause breast cancer: antiperspirants, underwire bras, the pill, fondling, silicone implants. Treat yourselves, ladies!