Things That Make You Go “Yuck”

I was riding the train into New York yesterday, and at one Connecticut station, I saw a billboard for New York Sports Clubs. It had a guy standing on an outdoor basketball court blocking two other guys who were obviously going to get into a pushing match at the very least. The caption read, “What do you want to do?” and then “play”. It was a good ad, and I thought, gee, I’d join a club like that.

On the way back to New Haven, I saw another of the billboards in NYSC’s ad campaign. This one showed the side of a house with a bedroom window. Inside was a woman in a bra and panties, and further in the room was a man in a tie, the implication being either husband or father. Dangling out of the window was a half-clad well-muscled boy who was, according to the picture, barely escaping detection. “What do you want to do?” read the caption, and then “scram”. It was a bad ad. It was tasteless and disturbing and ugly. It was the sort of ad where the male executives clap each other on the back and say, “Good one” and the conservative right says, “See, NO family values, let’s legislate censorship.’’ Too bad you can’t legislate taste.