The picture shows a woman, seated, back arched and head thrown back as if laughing – although her head above the chin is cut off, as if to say that who she is doesn’t matter; her near leg is raised provocatively. It’s not a seated pose; it’s not a comfortable pose. It is, in fact, a pose, a seductive pose. Every time I drive past the billboard, my first thought is that it’s an ad for a call girl service. My second thought is to wonder whether it’s legal to advertise a call girl service in my state.
And then I read the caption – again. It says “Drop Dead Gorgeous.” Kinky, eh? Not really. See, it’s an ad from the local AIDS council. The sexual overtones of the picture are most definitely intentional; but it’s an ad for using protection with sexual activity.
Okay, kudos to the organization for trying to reach men with the message about STD prevention. But that’s the last positive thing I have to say about it. Drop Dead Gorgeous? Because STD prevention is all about preventing me from getting hurt by them.
The woman has no face. She is not truly a women, but a body, and it is this that is apparently supposed to grab men’s attention. Make sure this body doesn’t hurt you. This billboard does not advise sexual responsibility for one’s own actions; it makes a walking death trap out of a beautiful woman, as if the only concern for a person to practice safe sex is their own risk of disease.
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