The XX Factor

The eterally awesomely grouchy Copyranter points to a provocative ad campaign from the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The pair of arresting images features a "woman" as a) a punching bag and b) a slab of meathook-hung carrion. The accompanying copy reads: "IT'S NOT ACCEPTABLE TO TREAT A WOMAN LIKE ONE." Copyranter wonders: "Like what? A woman?"

The ads are akin to PETA's shock-happy petsploitation ads that seem more targeted toward freaking out their viewers than conveying their message. This time around, does positing women as dead meat and punching bags reinforce or counteract the message? Hard to say.

Perhaps this anti-domestic violence campaign learned something from Larry Flynt's infamous Hustler cover featuring a woman being fed into a meat grinder . Not everybody liked it, but who could forget it?