An ad on the back of some Chicago Transit Authority buses this summer is turning heads and raising questions about its intent.
The ad, designed by Graphtech Group, a New York-based ad agency, for Necessary Objects, a clothing line, features the words ”Necessary Objects”
in large type along with photographs.
Three are models` faces, one is of the backside of a female nude sculpture, one is of a sculpted leg and another is of a male nude sculpture.
Sue Purrington, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the National Organization for Women, says the ad seems to be selling women`s body parts.
”It`s pretty appalling,” she says. ”Every time we think we have advanced as women … somebody comes along with a little more sophisticated, subtle message that we are still valued for our body parts and what they are.”
Mindy Gale, a vice president at Graphtech, says the ad, also appearing in some women`s magazines and buses in New York and New Jersey, was designed to underscore the ”neoclassical” flavor of the clothing line.
Of the allegations of sexism, she says: ”The president of Necessary Objects, Ady Gluck-Frankel, is one of the most successful women in the clothing industry, and she would never try to say anything that way.”
