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In these articles
the idiots at Valley Metro censor My Sisters Closet for their tongue in cheek ad about selling used furniture and clothing.
Jesus, don't these govenrment nannies have any real problems to solve.
Don't these government nannies at Valley Metro have something useful to do?? Valley Metro pulls 'sexually explicit' ads from light rail Dustin Gardiner, The Republic | azcentral.com 2:31 p.m. MST April 27, 2015 Depending on the viewer's mind-set, those words displayed alongside a picture of a nightstand could be an advertisement for bedroom furniture or for a no-strings-attached encounter in the bedroom. The double entendre is one of a handful at the center of a dispute between My Sister's Closet, a Phoenix-based consignment-store chain, and Valley Metro, the public-transit agency that operates the light-rail system. Transit officials pulled the store's preapproved advertisement and three others from the outside of a light-rail train this month, hours after they were first displayed. The ads were deemed "too sexually explicit" to be displayed on the train, according to an e-mail to the store's ad agent from Outfront Media, the billboard company that sells advertisements for the 20-mile rail system that runs from Mesa to Phoenix. But the owners of My Sister's Closet plan to fight the agency's decision, which they say is based on "Victorian"-era sensibilities, and are considering filing a lawsuit. "I was blown away," said Ann Siner, co-owner of My Sister's Closet and two related consignment-store brands. "I think it's completely foolish, from a taxpayer standpoint. It's like, 'Come on.' " Transit officials pulled the My Sister's Closet's preapproved advertisement and three others from the outside of a light-rail train this month, hours after they were first displayed. (Photo: Michael Schennum/ The Republic) If the suggestive ads aren't accepted, the store plans to withdraw $60,000 in advertising from Valley Metro. Advertising revenue the agency receives is a relatively small piece of its overall budget, but it helps offset how much money that cities have to contribute to fund light-rail operations. Hillary Foose, Valley Metro's director of marketing, said three of the four ads submitted by the store were "sexual in nature" and violated its advertising standards that prohibit language that is obscene, profane or vulgar. The ads previously had been approved by Valley Metro, and My Sister's Closet signed a contract to keep them on light rail through the end of the year. "It uses sexual innuendo to make a point or make an advertising pitch that we just thought was not appropriate," Foose said. "We have to stick very strictly to those standards because we're such a public, visible part of the community. For us, it is sexual content, the double entendres, the innuendo." Foose said that although the ads had already been approved for light rail, she decided the sexual innuendo was over the top after seeing all three ads plastered side by side, wrapping the outside of a train. She oversees the agency's advertising and reviews ads to ensure they meet standards. The ads in question depict images of furniture or clothes alongside an expression that can be understood in different ways. For example, one ad includes a black cowboy boot alongside the words "Make A Booty Call." Another ad features a chest of drawers next to the text "Buy a Bigger Chest." Siner said she thought the play on words was a clever attempt to draw new business, in particular using humor to appeal to the Millennial crowd that often uses the light rail in downtown Phoenix and Tempe. The ads have already been displayed on billboards or transit facilities in the Valley and in San Diego, where the business also has stores. In particular, the cheeky "One Night Stand" ad began appearing on Phoenix city buses a few years ago. The "Booty Call" ad is expected to soon be displayed on bus shelters in San Diego. My Sister's Closet has "Booty Call" ads displayed on My Sister's Closet has "Booty Call" ads displayed on bus shelters in San Diego. (Photo: My Sister's Closet) Foose said the agency doesn't have an appeal process, but hopes to find a creative solution with the business. The one ad that Valley Metro accepted depicts a red stiletto alongside the words "Sell Your Sole." Foose said similar double-meaning ads would be acceptable. But Jason Rose, a public-relations guru representing My Sister's Closet, said the business plans to take its complaint to the Valley Metro Rail Board of Directors, a governing body made up of local city leaders. He said the agency hasn't given his client due process to challenge its "silly" decision. Rose questioned why Valley Metro would ban a clever ad at the same time it allows beer advertisements that some might find more objectionable. But Foose said the agency requires that alcohol advertisements comply with the same policies that prohibit sexually profane or vulgar content. In addition, she said, it prohibits alcohol ads at rail stations within 600 feet of a school or church. Foose said the distance requirement doesn't apply to ads on the sides of train cars. Siner said she hopes to avoid litigation, if possible, but My Sister's Closet is considering filing a lawsuit on the grounds that the owners' free-speech rights under the First Amendment have been violated. She and her sister, Jennifer Siner, started the Valley-based women's clothing-consignment store in 1991 and have since expanded to include My Sister's Attic, a furniture-consignment store, and Well Suited, which sells used men's apparel. The ads promote the three brands. James Weinstein, a professor at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and an expert on free-speech cases, said he doesn't think the business owners' right to free speech has been violated, though he says he finds Valley Metro's decision laughable. Weinstein said state and federal courts have ruled that a government agency can impose content standards for advertising space sold on its property as long as those standards aren't a mask for "viewpoint discrimination." In other words, Valley Metro can censor ads it finds distasteful, but it cannot prohibit ads because they advocate a specific opinion, he said. "If they want to deprive us of all those cool puns, I don't think it violates the First Amendment," Weinstein said. "It might violate common sense."
More on the prudes at Valley Metro who are censoring My Sisters Closet Oh, come on! Those ads aren't vulgar; they're racy Editorial board, The Republic | azcentral.com 5:16 p.m. MST April 27, 2015 We're not about to make light of the decision by the Valley's public-transit agency to pull some mildly racy ads from the outside of light-rail train cars, butt… Oops. Really, no one ever should expect a sense of humor from a government agency. Nothing against the Valley Metro officials who made this choice, mind you. Unlike the rest of us, they don't have the luxury of just snickering at a suggestive pun, no matter how clever the joke may be. But the thing about the ads designed for My Sister's Closet is that they are clever. Yes, in a double entendre sort of way. But they certainly don't strike us as crude or overtly sexual. Transit officials pulled the My Sister's Closet's preapproved advertisement and three others from the outside of a light-rail train this month, hours after they were first displayed. Valley Metro's taste standards properly forbid ads that are obscene, profane or vulgar. These ads clearly are none of those. Like Supreme Court justices, we know obscenity, profanity and vulgarity when we see it, and we don't see it in the My Sister's Closet ads. In fact, the ads harken to a more innocent time than ours — a time when a measure of imagination was required to read between double-meaning lines. When the consignment store's ad suggests you ought to "buy a bigger chest," it means you should consider a bigger chest of drawers. Whatever did you think it meant? If this really were a discussion of something lewd and crude, Valley Metro would have a much stronger argument for banning the ads. There indisputably is way too much of both in our public spaces. But these ads are neither. They're suggestive. We know they're actually referring to cowboy boots in that "Make a Booty Call" ad. Or ... do we?
Don't these government nannies at Valley Metro have something useful to do?? Sex in ads on Valley light rail? Say it isn't so! Laurie Roberts, The Republic | azcentral.com 2:17 p.m. MST April 27, 2015 Laurie Roberts: If Valley light-rail operators truly want to protect us from the obscene, how about skipping a tax hike election in the summer. Valley Metro is apparently so flush with cash that it can reject advertising that offends its management. My Sister's Attic, a local consignment shop, planned to spend $60,000 hawking its offerings on the side of light-rail trains – ads that might actually draw your attention. Ads that might even make you chuckle. The store sells all manner of women's clothing and furniture. So comes its ad for its night stands: "Wanted: One Night Stand." And its chests of drawers: "Buy a Bigger Chest." And its footware: "Make a Booty Call." The ads were approved by Valley Metro but once they went up, they apparently so shocked the sensibilities of management that it immediately ordered them pulled from the light-rail trains. Hillary Foose, Valley Metro's director of marketing when she's not living in the Victorian era, told The Republic's Dustin Gardiner that three of the four store's four ads violated advertising standards that bar language that is obscene, profane or vulgar. "It uses sexual innuendo to make a point or make an advertising pitch that we just thought was not appropriate," Foose said. Sexual innuendo in an advertisement in the 21st Century? Oh the horror. Please say it isn't so. It seems to me if the prudes at Valley Metro really want to protect us from things that are "obscene, profane or vulgar," they might want to start with the proposal to ask Phoenix residents for $31 billion – that's with a b, not an m -- much of it for light-rail extensions. This, in a city that can't afford to hire cops or keeps its pools open. The .73-cent sales tax – to run through 2050 -- will be on the ballot when every Phoenix resident is naturally attuned to politics and ready to cast their ballot. If the ballot box is on a beach, that is. The election is Aug. 25. What, you didn't think they'd risk putting their hand into your pocket when you were paying attention, did you?
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