Art & Domestic Violence: Marketing 101

Following in the hailstorm of controversy and media attention Sarah Cameron of Fluid Hair Salon, Tyler Shields and Glee actress, Heather Morris are the latest members of Gen-Y to utilize the “image” of a Domestic Violence Victim for their expressions of art.  

Understandably, Mr. Shields has and always will be a perpetrator of controversy. It maximizes profit. The lure of violence and ‘sexy’ women, portrayed under the guise of art is fast becoming a useful and instantaneous global advertising technique.  

To make acceptable by the masses, this marketing strategy is best utilized if the person of controversy feigns shock at the backlash, quickly apologizes and then pledges to donate money to a Domestic Violence-type cause.  

Pictures of women with bruised and bloody eyes has become predictable – media commenting on pictures of women with bruised and bloody eyes black is equally predictable - and at this point – simply boring. 

Like children seeking attention... if the positive is not forthcoming, children utilize negative. 

Like parents teaching respect... let’s no longer give it to them. 

Following the backlash from domestic violence advocates:

1. Cameron and Shields feigned shock yet simultaneously acknowledged indifference;
2. Both deployed the typical non-apology of “I don`t regret the image but I regret if anyone might be offended” and;
3. Both predictably pledging to donate to a Domestic Violence organization.

Cameron, Shields/Morris and their supporters maintain society is too sensitive and they are not responsible for someone’s interpretation of “art”. Heather Morris of Glee has remained noticeably silent.

It isn’t art to victims of domestic violence. It is a photo; it is a picture – a mirror image of themselves, a reflection of pain, humiliation and suffering. No one is being too sensitive, they are reliving trauma. PTSD is prevalent among victims of domestic violence but statistics may never reveal the true and accurate extent and depth of this debilitating disease. 

If a victim of 9/11 was portrayed – jumping from a window in fear - would that be ok? It’s been 10 years; people must be over it by now?  

Cameron chose to beautify domestic violence to advertise her hairdressing skills, Shields/Morris chose to sell pictures of a “bruised-up Barbie” (doll) and the media chose to give them the controversy they heartlessly inspired to achieve. It’s Marketing 101 - Cause and Effect, in which an action or event will produce a certain response to the action in the form of another event. It’s also Parenting 101. 

Like children seeking attention... if the positive is not forthcoming, children utilize negative.  

Like parents teaching respect... collectively, let’s no longer give it to them.

By: Lisa A. MacLeod, Women at Risk Advocate, Founder of Help Open Pandora’s Box

Look Good in All You Do

Over the past couple weeks, Fluid Hair Salon has come under a firestorm of criticism and threats due to their choice of visual images manifested for an ad campaign entitled, “Look Good in All You Do.”

Two young ladies, the owner Sarah Cameron (25 years) and her friend, acting as creative consultant, Tiffany Jackson (27 years) have posted statements on the salon’s blog to clarify their intent and try and bring some sense of calm back into their lives. Tiffany’s mother has also posted a statement, which in itself indicates exactly how young these ladies are simply as business professionals. The salon has since been vandalized and Sarah, herself has been warned by police about her safety and to not be alone.

“Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love... Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate (the white man), but to win his friendship and understanding.”

“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. … Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” (Rev. Dr. M.L. King, Jr (1929 – 1968))

A decade ago, 15 and 17 respectively, these lades were both impressionable teenagers. Tiffany disclosed she endured 4 years of abuse at about this same time and is a survivor of domestic violence. Part of the Y generation, or more correctly, the Y-Not Generation, they watched along with the rest of us the transition from “that can only happens in the movies” to... "No, it can happen."

Society must acknowledge that this generation has not yet had the life experiences to temper the acceptable and the unacceptable. They have been born into and/or grown up with terrorism and war. What used to be an R-rated game monitored by parents is now actually broadcast live 24/7. The unreal  - is now real.

It appears this generation is immune to what is offensive and what is not. It is no longer a judgement issue or a moral issue - it is a life experience issue and the individual’s perspective thereof. Fashion, art or any other form of creative expression is deemed through emotions - a catalytic medium for an individual’s perspective reflected and thus subjectively felt by the targeted audience.

To Sarah and Tiffany, if you sincerely wanted to bring awareness to Domestic Violence as you claim, the woman in the photo would be standing - portraying strength; not sitting submissively with a gaunt, terrified look. The man would be in handcuffs with an equally coiffed police officer dragging him away.

That image is one of empowerment. That image is one of strength and that image is one warning anyone who exerts force over another will be arrested. That image is also one this author has personally never ever seen reflected in advertising. (hint, hint)

Ask yourself, Y-Not?

Look good in all you do.

By: Lisa A. MacLeod, Women at Risk Advocate and Founder of Help Open Pandora’s Box

How To Open Pandora's Box

Written By Timothy Sexton, eHow Contributor

The original legend of Pandora's box dates back to the myths of ancient Greece. Pandora was an Eve-like being who was created as the first mortal woman on Earth. In one of his more petty moments, Zeus presented Pandora with the box of a gift that she was never to open, all the while knowing that one of her greatest gifts was an insatiable curiosity. Pandora opened the box and released all the known evils upon the world. Frightened, she quickly shut the box, trapping just one thing inside: hope. Contemporary usage suggests that engaging in something with the power to unleash evil is tantamount to opening Pandora's box, but since Pandora had no idea what was actually inside the box, this idea clearly misses the point.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Opening Pandora's Box

1. Understand that if you follow the myth strictly, then it is impossible to know that you have opened a Pandora's box until after it is too late. To fully apprehend the mythic meaning of opening Pandora's Box rather than the misinformed modern day concept, it is vital to realize that Pandora was completely in the dark about the contents of the box. For this reason, the idea that some sort of progress that contains the potential for unleashing evil upon the world is tantamount to open Pandora's box only makes sense before there is any recognition of this potential.
2. Be ignorant of the full nature of the box since for Pandora the contents were entirely mysterious. This makes opening a Pandora's box in the contemporary sense more difficult than is commonly accepted. For instance, there are some who would say that splitting the atom opened a Pandora's box because the potential existed for the devastation of the world. Since it was known that nuclear fission had this potential, the metaphor is incorrect. A somewhat more accurate analogy would be the effort by the US to help the Mujahideen rebels to drive the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan. This directly led to the current state of Islamic terrorism so that can be termed opening a Pandora's box due to consequences that were apparently not foreseen.
3. Shut tight any possibility for hope to beat back the evils that have been unleashed by opening Pandora's box. The fact that hope was trapped inside the box alongside all the evils of the world is perhaps a bit of a puzzle. The lesson to be learned is no matter what kind of malevolence may be introduced into the world at large by opening a Pandora's Box, each of us is capable of possessing individual hope that these things can be contained or even eventually controlled. An additional lesson is that Gods--who dole out human destiny capriciously and often for sport--are inclined to include a shot at redemption, an escape clause, in the worst of human fates.
4. Go forward with the understanding that the conventional understanding of opening Pandora's box is not entirely accurate. It is only with hindsight that we realize today that the box Pandora opened contained not just evil but hope that those evils could be overcome. This is the reason that the metaphor of opening a Pandora's box is applied anything that contains the potential for unleashing confusion, chaos and uncertainty upon the world. Authentically opening a Pandora's box, however, contains no such expectations because Pandora herself possessed no understanding of whether the contents of the box were good, evil or indifferent. So, technically speaking, to open a Pandora's Box means merely to unwittingly unleash an unknown entity upon the world while keeping the possibility for hope closed inside ourselves.

Read more: How to Open Pandora's Box | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4793247_open-pandoras-box.html#ixzz1FSNaKQGP