Bikini Backlash Against Hasidic Blockage of Vodka Ads in Crown Heights...

Sometimes the old “sex sells, what’re you gonna do?”; “grow up and get over it”; or first amendment screeching pisses me off.

I’m just so sick of being bombarded by increasingly sexual imagery EVERYWHERE. And of course I worry about the effect it must have in some way on my little kids. And no, I’m not a prude, I just don’t want some come-hither young model with a finger placed against her lips and a hand down her crotch handing me a vodka or a bra out of some ad on the back of my bus!

Sometimes it is with models/kids so apparently young it is disturbing, and often uses imagery evocative of real domination, rape or violence (think of the lifeless looking, skinny female bodies, sometimes with heads cropped out of the picture, draped over beds or even dumpsters) And I’m certainly not Hassidic, or even religious.

Child development experts have long raised concerns about children’s exposure to sexualized images, but no one seems to give a shit. There is even speculation that, physiologically, early exposure to these images (combined with other factors) may trigger the onset of puberty, and we have certainly seen an increasingly earlier onset over the course of the past decade or so.

From psych/emotional perspective, continual exposure to sexualized images in the media may lead young people to believe that more teens are sexually active than is
actually the case and that “fringe” or exploitative sexual behavior is de rigueur.

In addition to all of that sweetness and light, increased exposure to unrealistic sexualized role models – for both boys and girls – effects self-esteem, body image and expectations regarding the appearance and behavior of the opposite sex.

Go ahead, say I’m whining, but I really think we need to wake up to this problem and perhaps insist, as a society, that this type of advertisement has it’s place. And it ain’t on the back of the bus, on the sides of the bus, or plastered on giant windows on major avenues.

Rant done.

Not necessarily agreeing with randolph but there is a Hassidic rapper – Mattisyahu. He does reggae style rap.

The other issue is that Crown Heights is NOT all Jewish. There’s a huge Caribbean community there that may well fall into Georgi Vodka’s demographic and Georgi does have a right to market to that community. The ads are not my taste – a little too obvious and not the product of a whole lot of thought – but they are not pornography. The Lubavitchers live in a secular city in a secular society. Their political connections should not result in this kind of censorship. It is a First Amendment issue.

Matisyahu

A radio show I was listening to yesterday said that when men have their fourth kid, it’s minivan time!