Taking issue with an adult ad in Xpress

I appreciate the level of evident integrity and thoughtfulness that goes into the publication of the Mountain Xpress. This is why I was particularly disturbed when I perused the most recent publication and saw an ad for Club Xcapades that features a photo of a girl who looks to be no older than about 12 and is scantily clad. It even appears that the airbrushing of the photo accentuates a childlike image: She is flat-chested, with the visible arm ridiculously thin.

I am wondering if your editors screen potential ads at all, and if so, how did this one pass? I implore you to pay attention to what you are communicating by allowing such images to be portrayed in your publication. I sincerely hope that you will take a look and question your decision to include images such as this.

Thank you.

The editors respond: Thank you for your letter, and for taking the time to spell out your quite understandable concerns about the image of the young woman in the advertisement. We agree that she does indeed appear too young to appear in an ad for an adult establishment. And while our editors do not review every ad, in response to concerns like yours, we've instituted a new policy whereby our advertising director will review any similar ads prior to publication.

— Lisa Wolfe
Asheville

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5 thoughts on “Taking issue with an adult ad in Xpress

  1. chops

    While I, too, disapprove of the practices of businesses such as Club Xcapades, I have to point out there is some unfair discrimination here.

    When you say that a thin, flat-chested woman is “childlike” – that’s judgmental. I personally know women who are thin and flat-chested in their 30s, 40s, even 50s.

    One of my favorite bumper stickers that I’ve seen around town is “Change the way you See, not the way you Look”. The premise of this message is that we as a society have been conditioned by the media to judge people based on appearance, and we need to put less value in the way we look.

    But this is difficult to do. You may see someone who looks a certain way, (slender) and assume something about them (that they are young), because of your own biased expectations. It didn’t seem to me that the model in this ad was too young, but I concede this may just be based on my own (admittedly subjective) perception.

  2. Trey

    I guess to most of the women up here, she does look ridiculously thin.

    And yes, if she would have had large breasts, some whiner would write in and complain about how our society is forcing women to have unrealistic expectations about there own bodies.

    Everyday I’m here this town slowly creeps closer to turning into a real life “PCU”.

  3. BusGreg

    I didn’t see the ad in question, and don’t care to. That MontainX would respond to this is silly. It is afterall an ad for a legal, licensed establishment.
    I can’t comment on the picture, but it seems to have been addressed in the previous 2 comments.

  4. Trey

    I think it would be more appropriate to point out the blatant false advertising.

    They NEVER have girls that hot working there. Or so I’ve been told.

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