I first read about the
"Mudflap" campaign over at
Meredith's site. To be honest, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Obviously, I'm a person who likes to push the envelope, and is usually trying to think outside the box when it comes to library services; and if you know me personally at all, you know that the LAST thing I am is a prude. But, I am also a "feminist," and I just wasn't 100% on board with this. And, that made me feel like a prude, and worse yet, a prude without a sense of humor. My thoughts arent, "OMG! That's horrible!" but more along the lines of, "Yeeeaaah, I don't know about that."
Tonight, while reading one of the personal blogs I frequent, I ran into the "flap" again.
SJ doesn't currently work as a librarian, but she does have an MLS, and keeps up with the goings on in library land. She had a pretty strong response to the campaign, and came up with a "rebuttal" design.
According to
LISNews, some of the listservs are all aflutter over it.
I can't wait to see what happens next. If anything.
8 comments:
Gosh! That chap is really...um...happy about the book he's reading.
You KNOW, I really hate that "I am a prude" feeling. I think it serves to keep us quiet sometimes.
Josh, I love that you use words like "chap" in instances like this.
SJ - I completely agree, and I think it's damn effective. Because, you know what? I really didn't want to come out and say that I was not in love with this campaign. So many people seemed to think it's great, and these are people I know/like/admire, and so I almost didn't say anything. I just did not want to get into the whole "feminist" debate, and have my cool cred go right out the window. And, um, WFT is up with that, anyway? Self-imposed peer pressure? At my age? After making it through college without ever drinking? Huh?
This campaign is really hard for me to comment on. I don't like it at all and I'm a librarian in Wyoming who had nothing to do with its creation. It bothers me that our state library went ahead with this and that it reflects on all of us. It really bothers me that my colleagues mostly don't understand why I hate it and I'm tired of always feeling like the squeeky wheel.
Is it the entire campaign you don't like, jessica and kaijsa? I might be missing something, but I quite like the billboards and other bumper stickers. I think mudflap girl was intended to be controversial. Without her, I wouldn't know Wyoming had a new library campaign.
LOL. I love the 2nd image. I'm rather opposed to the Wyoming libraries' use of the sexist image in their campaign.
The other parts of the campaign are fine, in my opinion. I don't like the mudflap image at all.
The mud flap girl isn't good at all-- would it be funny if instead they had caricatures of Native Americans reading? It's the same thing. There's no irony or subversion, just the same offensive symbol. Freaking CHILDREN are in libraries, little girls. Why would anyone want that as a symbol of their library?
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