1. A Texas-based car decal company called Hornet Signs has recently been accused of promoting rape culture.
2. Users began attacking the company online over their decal, furious that Hornet Signs would think something like the abuse and kidnapping of women is something to joke about.
3. Hornet Signs put out an official statement[1], saying that they wanted to use the controversy to help victims of abuse:
Let's embrace the situation and take this opportunity to help victims of abuse all over this great country. Take the outrage and turn it into positive solutions. We have not profited by one penny on this but go to our website to find out who can! Take our challenge and let's be proactive in bringing awareness and finding solutions. Go to our facebook page and share with us what others are doing to bring awareness and solutions to this disturbing social issue. We have read every comment between Friday and now. We have seen a tremendous amount of negativity but with that somewhere there has to be just as much positive activity! The negativity still keeps the issue in front of us but we want to try and convert that into positive solutions.
4. Hornet Signs also asked outraged Facebook users to vote on what the company should do.
5. Hornet called it a "an experiment in marketing," offering to put the hog-tied woman decal on eBay and give the proceeds to charity.
6. As of Monday, the majority of users just want the company to take it down.
7. There's also a petition that's being circulated, hosted on Moveon.com[2].
8. A local news station picked up the story, as well, interviewing[3] Hornet's owner Brad Kolb, who said the woman on the decal was an employee who volunteered to be photographed.
9. On Sunday, Hornet posted a YouTube video explaining that their experiment in marketing was raising awareness to the issue of violence against women.
10. They, also, made it clear that "Hornet Signs and our individual employees do not condone abusive behavior, in any form to any individual."
11. Hornet Signs said they are teaming up with The Advocacy Center For Crime Victims And Children and donating money for each like they receive on Facebook for the rest of September.
12. As The Frisky[4] points out, Hornet is not the first company to sell this kind of image.
Read more: http://buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/texas-company-selling-a-truck-decal-of-a-hog-tied-woman-accu[5]
References
- ^ an official statement (www.hornetsigns.com)
- ^ Moveon.com (petitions.moveon.org)
- ^ interviewing (ktemnews.com)
- ^ The Frisky (www.thefrisky.com)
- ^ http://buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/texas-company-selling-a-truck-decal-of-a-hog-tied-woman-accu (buzzfeed.com)
