A New York billboard brought viral controversy in Lower East Side in late February of 2011, after residents of Soho felt highly offended by an ad Life Always placed at the intersection of Sixth Ave. and Watts St. The billboard featured a young, innocent looking, African American girl with a quote stated above her picture: “The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb.” Life Always, an anti abortion organization from Texas, defended their billboard by stating, “The intent of the board is to call attention to the tragedy and the truth that abortion is outpacing life in the black community… . The goal behind this campaign is to heighten awareness and save lives,”(Reynolds). However, many residents didn’t feel the same way. Isaac
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In the essay “Representations, Cultures, Media, and Markets”, Inderpal Grewal defines representation in part as “how art, media, and communication create meaning in specific times and places,”( Grewal 265). In other words, she is arguing that everything we see is a representation thus, it stands for how we interpret messages which can have different meaning in different places or times, and to different people. The Life Always billboard was placed in a high concentrated community of African American’s during the month of February, which coincidentally happens to be Black History Month. It’s justified for African American’s to react out of shock, disappointment and pure offense. Margaret Desilus-Lacon, a middle school teacher in Brooklyn, states, “It just made people angry, sad and disgusted,” (Reynolds). It had this effect because it was purposefully constructed and timed to send off the message that an African American women womb is dangerous thus no baby should be placed in it. It sent off the message that only African American women abort their babies. It sent off the message that African American women are murders of their own fetuses. Lastly, it sent off the message that African American women abort their baby solely because they are not responsible enough to use condoms when they are having sex. Obviously this is not what Life Always wanted to portray in the ad. Life Always deeply “cares about African-American women,” (Reynolds) and all they wanted to do was to simply inform the Soho residents of how abortion is outpacing lives in the African American community. Life always only intention was to “save lives”
In the essay “Representations, Cultures, Media, and Markets”, Inderpal Grewal defines representation in part as “how art, media, and communication create meaning in specific times and places,”( Grewal 265). In other words, she is arguing that everything we see is a representation thus, it stands for how we interpret messages which can have different meaning in different places or times, and to different people. The Life Always billboard was placed in a high concentrated community of African American’s during the month of February, which coincidentally happens to be Black History Month. It’s justified for African American’s to react out of shock, disappointment and pure offense. Margaret Desilus-Lacon, a middle school teacher in Brooklyn, states, “It just made people angry, sad and disgusted,” (Reynolds). It had this effect because it was purposefully constructed and timed to send off the message that an African American women womb is dangerous thus no baby should be placed in it. It sent off the message that only African American women abort their babies. It sent off the message that African American women are murders of their own fetuses. Lastly, it sent off the message that African American women abort their baby solely because they are not responsible enough to use condoms when they are having sex. Obviously this is not what Life Always wanted to portray in the ad. Life Always deeply “cares about African-American women,” (Reynolds) and all they wanted to do was to simply inform the Soho residents of how abortion is outpacing lives in the African American community. Life always only intention was to “save lives”