Gym Billboard deemed "sexist"

**Curt James** · 07-04-2013, 03:48 AM

Originally Posted by JAM

If anyone is ever offended by anything it just means they can't control their own emotions.

**MikeS** · 07-04-2013, 07:10 AM

Originally Posted by GDavis

Here's the thing. They clearly want to attract men. Men like women, especially crazy sexy ones. They use the women to attract the men. The women don't like that. So who is at fault here? The company for using the women or the men for actually liking and being attracted to women in the first place?

Nobody bloody complains about those diet coke ads that are sexist and degrading towards men do they no sir http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuHV4...c581Tszs7UuCWb

bottom line: if you don't like it, don't look. Simples.

**AnglicanBeachParty** · 07-04-2013, 07:48 AM

Using sexy women to advertise things? Wow, this could maybe even catch on as an idea for advertising other products!

Oh, wait ...

**hifrommike65** · 07-04-2013, 10:05 AM

I reserve the right to consider certain things offensive. The Westboro Baptist Church pickets military funerals with signs that say "Thank God for IEDs." I find that deeply offensive.

**The Ultimate Warrior** · 07-04-2013, 11:20 AM

Maybe the complainers like the one in the video just need to get longdicked.

**JAM** · 07-04-2013, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by hifrommike65

I reserve the right to consider certain things offensive. The Westboro Baptist Church pickets military funerals with signs that say "Thank God for IEDs." I find that deeply offensive.

That's exactly what they are going for with that. Your outrage and being offended is fuel to them. Any attention is good attention to them. Groups and people like that are internet trolls IRL. I used to be offended by things like that but got control of myself and realized I don't want to associate with people like that anyway so I don't give them the satisfaction of my attention or even thoughts. Why waste my energy thinking about those people when its ultimately a waste. They are too far gone. The best way to handle them is just ignore them. I guarantee they would loose all the wind in their sales if everyone (especially media) just ignored them and didn't argue. Just be like 'huh, well I guess you're free to think whatever you want. More power to you' and then never pay them anymore attention again.
It's amazing how many things you'd think are offensive are happening and have happened that you had no idea about and it magically had just as much affect on your life.

**~gymdiva~** · 07-04-2013, 11:58 AM

only thing that made me react was that that was an ad for a gym...I thought it was going to be for alcohol

**AlphaMaleDawg** · 07-04-2013, 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by GDavis

Equinox gym is being accused of sexism, thanks to the giant photo of a woman wearing a skintight minidress erected in a high-traffic area of Bethesda, Maryland. It's the latest backlash against the company's racy branding efforts.

A group of activists are calling on the chain of luxury fitness centers to remove the billboard, and to rethink their approach to recruiting new members. The group, which calls itself Sexism Matters,launched a blog and a petition on Change.org on June 28, demanding that a local Equinox gymtake down the billboard, which they say promotes "a not-so-subtle sexism that infects our culture and degrades an entire gender." So far, the petition has received more than 300 signatures.

The ad, shot by controversial photographer Terry Richardson, features a model in a skimpy minidress and heels, on her hands and knees on top of a pool table grasping a cue, along with the caption, "Dexterity." Equinox hired Richardson to shoot the ad campaign, his third for the company, in January. The series of photographs shot for this year's campaign all feature a male and a female model in suggestive, nonathletic poses in a sleek modern home in the Hollywood Hills. One picture shows a woman from the waist down, walking up a staircase wearing only black underwear and heels, with the caption "Stair Master."

At the time of its release, Equinox members from major cities across the country took to the gym's Facebook page to ask what racy shots of skinny models in skimpy dresses had to do with getting fit.

One commenter wrote, "These women do not look fit...this self-obsessed need-to-be-voraciously-predatorily-sexy thing is out of place." Another commented, "Another couple million spent on the degradation of women. Good work fitness guys." [/FONT]

The new petition launched by Sexism Matters goes into greater detail about the problems with Equinox's campaign, and in particular the Bethesda billboard. "Our children shouldn't be subjected to this. Our female friends and family shouldn't be viewed like this, nor forced to conform to it. Our male partners and colleagues shouldn't be boxed in to thinking this is normal.

This is the kind of not-so-subtle sexism that infects our culture, and degrades an entire gender…We work out to stay healthy. We go to the gym to become stronger. We celebrate our bodies' abilities on the track, in the pool, and on the court. We do NOT accept the excuses. We will NOT tolerate this billboard. And, we will NOT be joining your gym. We are all too busy working, running, teaching, living, and laughing to be seen as objects."

Other Bethesda locals have echoed these concerns. "I think it's a sexist ad. I'm not too happy to see it," one area resident told WTOP News. However, she qualified her statement by adding, "But I also agree strongly in the First Amendment and freedom of expression."

The woman who launched Sexism Matters (she asked not to have her name used) told Yahoo! Shine, "Different communities should be able to say what they will and will not tolerate in their environs, and the Bethesda community is not OK with this image. The area is absolutely a gathering place for families. Young professionals and families with kids go there on the weekends. There are bookstores, and street fairs almost every weekend. It's different from downtown in LA or Manhattan. It's a place where I want to raise my kids."

A spokesperson from Equinox told Yahoo! Shine in an email, "The billboard has been up since January and will be coming down mid-July as previously scheduled." While the timing might suggest that the petition is making an impact, don't bet on it. The elite gym (memberships cost about $120-$180 per month, with a $600 initiation fee) hasn't shied from controversy in the past and the company's creative director, Bianca Kosoy, specifically chooses provocateurs like Richardson to shoot its campaigns.

Past ads have also been called also been called sexist and offensive. In 2012, she told the New York Times that the ads were like "gatekeepers" that separated out potential clients who might not be (what Equinox deems) hip or edgy enough for the brand. "We know we're not for everyone. Either you get it or you don't."

Obviously a bunch of jealous lazy fat bitches behind the whole sexism crusade

**AlphaMaleDawg** · 07-04-2013, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by mdvsony

not to sound naive but when i was in the US last January, i was told not to go equinox as it was predominantly gay gym?

This was NYC...so maybe it was just a local lol

WTF? No, not at all. I used to go to one, not one noticeably gay person. If there were, you couldn't tell. There is an abundance of really hot girls there, however.

**Curt James** · 07-04-2013, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by MikeS

Here's the thing. They clearly want to attract men. Men like women, especially crazy sexy ones. They use the women to attract the men. The women don't like that. So who is at fault here? The company for using the women or the men for actually liking and being attracted to women in the first place?

Nobody bloody complains about those diet coke ads that are sexist and degrading towards men do they no sir http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuHV4...c581Tszs7UuCWb

bottom line: if you don't like it, don't look. Simples.

Sex sells.

But there's obviously a difference between a magazine ad and a giant fuarking billboard. At least to some. Didn't the one woman comment that it's a neighborhood community, not Times Square? I expect one thing in Mayberry and another in Vegas.

And it's not as simple as don't look. Most people have peripheral vision and little kids soak up all kinds of information visually.

Originally Posted by AlphaMaleDawg

Obviously a bunch of jealous lazy fat bitches behind the whole sexism crusade

lol Some but not all, right? People — male, female, lazy, productive, skinny or fat — have different levels of tolerance.

Hey, don't get me wrong. In my Perfect World™ the woman in the ad would be wearing a lot less.

**JAM** · 07-04-2013, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by GDavis

Equinox gym is being accused of sexism, thanks to the giant photo of a woman wearing a skintight minidress erected in a high-traffic area of Bethesda, Maryland. It's the latest backlash against the company's racy branding efforts....

...The new petition launched by Sexism Matters goes into greater detail about the problems with Equinox's campaign, and in particular the Bethesda billboard. "Our children shouldn't be subjected to this. Our female friends and family shouldn't be viewed like this, nor forced to conform to it. Our male partners and colleagues shouldn't be boxed in to thinking this is normal....