Full article at: http://www.afa.net/petitions/issuedetail.asp?id=230

Erotic Billboard Images a Traffic Hazard Study Shows
 

NASHVILLE, August 15, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Research by US psychologists from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and from Yale University in Connecticut, have found that the sight of erotic images on billboard advertising can cause a brief moment of blindness that may constitute a traffic hazard. The study shows that some personality types are affected more than others and the moment of blindness is short, but could constitute a hazard while driving.

Volunteers were shown a rapid-fire series of images such as landscapes and architectural scenes, interspersed with violent or erotic images. When the erotic images were placed close together, the phenomenon, known as “emotion-induced blindness” was recorded more frequently.

“We observed that people failed to detect visual images that appeared one-fifth of a second after emotional images, whereas they can detect those images with little problem after neutral images,” said David Zald who headed the study.

“It appears to happen involuntarily,” said Zald. “The stimulus captures attention and once allocated to that particular stimulus, no other stimuli can get through.” The blindness typically lasted several tenths of a second. That brief moment could be crucial in heavy urban traffic which invariably features multiple advertisements involving sexually explicit images.

A spokeswoman from Brake, a UK road safety organisation said, “We should be concerned if drivers are experiencing split-second breaks in concentration, which could result in an accident or death on the roads.”

Read coverage in NewScientist:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7845

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Westfield Shoppingtown Vancouver

On November 23rd, 2004, Victoria's Secret put pajamas on the mannequins in the windows that face Santa. As of January 2005, they are back to their previous sexually solicitous style.

Victoria's Secret / Mall Pictures

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From The Columbian:

Opinion - Local View: Risque mall display mars holiday time

Thursday, November 11, 2004
By Tamera Smith Allred

"Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus ... right down Santa Claus lane."

    When Santa arrives at the Westfield Shoppingtown Vancouver on Sunday, the lane our children will travel to Santa's lap will take them past 12 sexually seductive manikins clad in nothing but thongs, black stockings held up with black patent leather garters and plunging bras. It's Victoria's Secret's latest lingerie display and it pushes even their past limits. It is campy, vulgar and reminds me of something one would see in the porn district of a large city, not our local mall.

    I am a therapist who specializes in recovery from sexual abuse and sexual addiction. I am also a parent and grandparent. I know the harm of what some might consider innocuous. This is not the image of "Prancer, Dancer, and Vixen" that I want my offspring to see while visiting Santa or any other time. But there is no escape from the scurrilous display: It can be seen from Santa's sitting area and both the west and south entrances to Santa land.

    Assistant store manager Sarah Berryman informed me, "We are a lingerie store. These displays will always be there. The product is in the window to sell."

    It's no secret this company is selling seductive lingerie. They are also mass marketing the disparaging cultural message that females are a sexual commodity. It is a limited and diminished view of womanhood not the message we want sent to our youth. In their quest for the dollar, they are using a representation of nearly naked women in sexually suggestive poses. What gross insensitivity toward the vulnerable and innocent trying to enjoy a time-honored and beloved Christmas tradition in a public place.

    I asked Berryman if she had any concerns that hundreds of children would see the display as they were going to see Santa. "Tell children they are manikins," she replied flatly.

    Are a few manikins dressed like prostitutes really a threat to children? My answer as a therapist who deals daily with the ravages sexual exploitation leaves in lives is a resounding "Yes!" No computer will ever touch the complexity of a brain. Images not even conscious to us are recorded and stored for decades, available for instant recall with the right triggers.

    Victoria's Secret not responsive

    Patrick Carnes, a leader in sexual addiction and abuse recovery, warns that the "arousal templates of most children are profoundly affected" by what they see in our culture.

    Undaunted in my quest for respect for our culture's most precious resource, our children, I called the 800 number Berryman gave me for her company. I got nowhere. Next I tried the local mall manager. Brent Wise seemed like a reasonable guy in the middle of a sticky problem. "We are trying to work out an amicable solution that satisfies everybody," he said on Tuesday. Perhaps Santa Land could be moved, but why shouldn't the prime spot in the mall be used for holiday celebrations without compromising families?

    Why can't Victoria's Secret put its "Pink" pajama line in the windows for Christmas for the sake of making peace with the community with which it does business? Peace on Earth, good will toward men and all that. How much money would it really cost them?

    What if no solution is found?

    I'll take my grandchildren somewhere else to see Santa. And as far as lingerie? I won't buy from Victoria's Secret, ever. My dollars will go to a business that still has a conscience about a community's children.

- Posted with permission of author.

http://www.columbian.com/11112004/clark_co/210608.html

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Victoria's Secret tones down risqué display

Thursday, November 25, 2004
By JONATHAN NELSON, Columbian staff writer

A 40-foot gap between Victoria's Secret and Santa Claus at Westfield Shoppingtown Vancouver gave new meaning to Kris Kringle's usual inquiry: Have you been naughty or nice?

    Until Tuesday, parents and children waiting to see Santa Claus stood almost face to face with blonde and brunette mannequins dressed in sheer lingerie, thongs, garter belts and stockings. Visions of sugarplums were hardly the only thoughts dancing through heads. More ...

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From the Oregonian:

No boundaries in this sexually charged culture

Sunday, November 21, 2004

By Steve Duin

At one comfy, cluttered end of Westfield Shoppingtown in Vancouver, Santa's red velvet chair sits approximately 60 feet from the sex-starved mannequin in the red push-up bra at Victoria's Secret.

And those 60 feet -- not the 60 seconds with Terrell Owens and Nicollette Sheridan on ABC's Monday Night Football -- define the problem some parents are having with boundaries in this sexually saturated culture. More ...