client: RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company
improvement: Brassiere
date: October 7, 1978
Take 5 with Jeff Jarvis
San Francisco Examiner
October 9, 1978
Free Again
The Billboard Liberation Front has struck again. Again? Yes, these are the folks who last December, liberated a cigarette billboard. It read: “I’m realistic, I only smoke Facts ‘They altered it slightly , so it read: “I’m real sick”. To drive the point home, a large arrow pointed to the surgeon general warning about the death and destruction cigarettes cause.
Well, they struck again at Oak and Franklin streets, Market and Guerrero streets, and at Frederick and Stanyan streets. They covered the naked, hairy chest of the man in the ads with brassieres.
Sunday afternoon. The Ex’s own John Jacobs talked to Simon Wagstaff, gazebo painter and spokesman for BLF, which he says is 350 people, mostly professionals, lawyers stockbrokers, advertising executives and the like. Here’s what he said.
Jacobs asked Wagstaff the simple question, “WHY”
“Because they’re there.” he replied
Wagstaff elaborated. He said the BLF’s aim is to “upgrade and improve billboards, to improve the written message. We use paper and rubber cement. We don’t damage billboards. The unprofessional groups use spray paint, but that’s below our standards. ” There’s nothing tacky about the BLF.
Wagstaff elaborated some more. “Billboards are the only form of advertising the consumer can improve. You can’t do it with radio or television ads or magazines. Here you can improve the messages. At times it’s more imaginative than the original.”
So why did you cement a bra over the Camel man’s chest?
“You can’t show a naked woman’s chest. So why show a naked man’s? It’s unfair. It’s a double standard. And the sight of it could have an adverse effect. Especially on young people. Young boys could be attracted to men, like the Briggs amendment.
“These advertisers should have a sense of public responsibility… The Turk is a very macho image. This is stereotyping of men, macho, virile, bald on the chest. “It’s unfair. Some of us are kinda wimpy. We’ don’t have hair on our chest and when we smoke, we cough.”
“Man should be portrayed more realistically. We don’t want our bodies used as sex objects to sell cars or cigarettes or anything else.”
“Generally, anyone would be shocked by the sight of a naked male chest. Imagine what effect it would have on a little old lady or a Girl Scout troop, or when the mayor shows a visiting dignitary around or a visitor from the Middle East, where they are much more modest?”
We can’t wait to see what the Billboard Liberation Front does with the Marlboro Man.