Seen on a sign outside a bakery in a college town where ~10k students and their parents are about to descend:
“It’s easier to kidnap thin people. Protect yourself. Eat a pastry.”
Do you find this funny? I didn’t. I grew up in a college town where a coed was kidnapped and murdered, and I can’t imagine the horror that family would feel to drive past such a sign. I’m sure the owners (it’s a mom and pop store, not a national chain) don’t really mean to imply that being heavier could really prevent a violent crime, but the end result, in my opinion, is victim blaming. Am I being overly sensitive?
I am overweight and I laughed out loud. The fact that it is in a college town is a coincidence. It is a pastry shop, after all. No doubt they wouldn’t put the idea of a coed being kidnapped and murder in their immediate thoughts because it is not a common thing. Justifying an extra pastry with humor IS common.
I’m overweight too and I also laughed. I suppose in a world where mothers are staying with their new freshmen and even bringing their own shower caddies (see the “crying in my room thread”), the idea of joking about kidnapping in a college town is too much for some people, but I think it’s cute and funny.
As a person who has been called “thin” many times, I find the sign highly offensive, because, you know, thin people can run fast and kick serious butt. Im kidding. I think the sign is humorous.
I think it would be more tasteful (no pun intended) if it used other methods to advertise other than a kidnapping but I think it also depends on the context and the graphics used along with the billboard. If it he overall tone is lighthearted and meant to be funny, it could come across better than one that is dark and looks more like a scare tactic
I don’t think it is hilariously funny, but since you asked, yes, I think you are being overly sensitive. And “victim blaming”? That’s really a stretch imo.
Do you think Gary Larson of “Far Side” comics funny?
I’d guess no from your reaction.
I think he’s hilarious (as did my mom) and my sister and dad thought it was terrible.
It’s just in how the humor strikes you. No right or wrong in my opinion.
Perhaps ‘victim blaming’ is a stretch. I’ve been ill all summer so I am overly tired, cranky, and sensitive. That’s why I asked. I vaguely remember from marketing class that it’s not a great idea to tie your brand to something with negative connotations, but to each his own, I guess.
That was an interesting comment, Consolation. I had to look up ‘coed.’ I wasn’t aware of the background behind it. I remember it being used to describe students at the local coeducational college (as opposed to the cadets at the all male college), but I was too young to realize they were just referring to women.
People are entitled to be offended by whatever they wish. That said, no it’s not offensive to nearly anyone and for two reasons: not many people will draw the connection and the connection isn’t explicit but implicit, meaning the restaurant isn’t responsible for the relationships you draw in your head.
Example from my life: an actual serial killer abducted a kid from the pond where everyone was skating. Skating ponds remind me of that but that’s in my head and it’s not the fault of skaters that I draw this connection. This is what Proust gets at with the memories brought up by the taste of a madeleine.
I think it’s funny, and have seen it posted on FB numerous times. It’s along the lines of signs in stores that say, “Unattended Children will be given an espresso and a free puppy.”
Found a perfect example just now: NY restaurant under fire because people misinterpret a sign. The sign says they now have a ““Pic-a-Nika” pizza topped with Southern fried chicken, sea-salted watermelon, arugula, goat cheese, ricotta and bleu cheese on a sunflower seed crust”. It’s a pizzeria and the words are a caricature of an Italian saying “pic-a-nic-a” and the ingredients are basically a picnic on a crust … except people either see racism where it doesn’t exist or want to be offended or are racists because they associate fried chicken and watermelon only with black people and that became: this sign means “pick-a-n*****”. So the hate rolls in because people impose the junk that’s in their heads on others.
Im kidding. I think the sign is humorous.