More than one blogger this week has been pontificating on the wonders of the Wyoming Library Campaign’s mudflap girl. Here she is:
I’m sorry, Wyoming. I realize that you hired “a team of Wyoming library public relations specialists” and that those professionals “have been planning this campaign for months.”
And I know you state the goal of the mudflap babe is to first allow people to see the babe, and then to somehow… miraculously… get from the mudflap babe to the realization that “There is something for me at the library, and I can grow, explore and wonder.”
Uhm… I just don’t see how the mudflap girl does that! See, I grew up in the midwest. Driving down I-70. Behind trucks. Big trucks. Lots of trucks. With mudflaps. Those mudflaps looked like the one below:
[I asked my wife to take a peek. She said "but that's a naked lady!"]
Sorry, Wyoming. I simply do not see how mudflap babe shows me that libraries are “reliable and exciting.” Or how said hottie shows me that libraries “add value to our lives.” Whose value? Certainly not the women being treated as eye candy.
< / sarcasm off>
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
Whew. And I thought it was just me.
I completely agree with you. I’m glad someone finally said it.
Hahahahahaha – right on Dave! But maybe they thought it was ok because – did anyone notice – the uh “huge” difference in bosom size between the two images? Oh -the things that marketing firms talk us into!
Personally, I can’t stand those mudflaps… or the bobbing version of the mudflap girl that I often see suckered to the inside of car windows. Oh yuck.
What does make me laugh out loud and applaud the campaign is the risk that the Wyoming Library system took in building and launching their campaign. They’ve shaken the library cage and everyone in it, especially the people responsible for the success (and failure) of libraries everywhere. Maybe the campaign will shake a few people OUT of the cage and into a new generation of library service that turns disinterested non-users into enthusiastic users.
If nothing else, the Mud Flap Girl has made the library news circuit, started a conversation, and served her purpose: to make people notice the Wyoming Libraries. We notice, we’re talking, and we won’t soon forget. That’s marketing at its best.
Ruth, I’ll give you (and the PR dudes) that – a good marketing campaign should be talked about, and should stir people up – either negatively or positively.
And they definitely did that.
Gail – Yes, I did notice… I thought about mentioning the book/bosom switcheroo, but decided I didn’t want to go there!
Actually, the issue is not whether we talk about the campaign, but whether our users talk about the campaign. Or for that matter whether it brings people into libraries or increases the positive attitudes toward library services.
Having worked in male-dominant professions, my take is that this is a particular disservice to woman truckers, who will be forced to go along with the joke or be perceived as humorless feminists, blah blah. Been there, done that, got the teeshirt.
Ooh – Karen, that’s true. It’s all about the patrons! Will this get them talking, or usher them into libraries? not sure.
How funny – how often do libraries focus on some new tool, blog, campaign, etc… then think it’s a success when other librarians talk about it? Success comes when your CUSTOMERS talk about it (or better yet, start using your services).
My point (and I do have one): If we match (or exceed) all that librarian talk with librarian action and offer meaningful services (even the ones we don’t understand), our customers WILL have something to talk about. Even better, something to use.
It could be worse. They could have covered the Mud Flap Girl with a flannel shirt. (smiley goes here)
One more thought: imagine if this were rolled out as an internal campaign at the library (to, I don’t know, get employees to fill out their leave requests in a timely fashion). How well would that go over?
It’s “do as we say, not as we do.” Not to flog this to death… but there’s a whiff of condescension about this campaign.
I was wondering if I should post about this, since I didn’t get to really say what I think during the most recent Uncontrolled Vocabulary. But I think you’ve pretty much summed up my thoughts, David, so I have nothing left to say besides, “Yeah! Right on!”
I saw it very differently. I saw them as reclaiming that image from its original usage. To me that image says, hey, that girl you found so sexy isn’t so one-dimensional. She loves to read. There’s a lot more to her. And they’re also saying that reading is sexy. I love it. It’s a wonderful thing when we can reclaim an image that has meant something negative and turn it into a positive image. I also think if a marketing campaign captures the attention of a group that normally wouldn’t pay any attention to libraries, then that is a good thing.
Saying that truckers who have that mudflap girl on their trucks don’t respect women or that people who like scantily-clad women can’t also respect women is a bit of a reach.
But it really is interesting how everyone is seeing this through their own personal lens (influenced by our history and biases) and how that makes each of our views of this completely unique. There is no right or wrong with this, but I certainly hope it will get Wyoming-ites talking as much as it has gotten us talking.
As someone who likes scantily-clad women, you make an excellent point, Meredith. On the other hand, even with the book in hand, the figure still looks like a typical objectified female-figure to me. It just doesn’t look “reclaimed” to me so much as “playing into typical stereotypes.” But that’s almost certainly because of the lens I tend to see this through.
If you ignore this one part of the ad campaign, the rest of them make sense. http://www.wyominglibraries.org/campaign.html
Actually when I first saw it I thought it was a joke!
Why is no one calling her “Mud Flap Woman”? I mean, come on, show some respect. What do you think she would say to “Mud Flap Man” (or the other Mud Flap Woman!) at the dinner table about all this kerfuffle?
My first reaction to this was negative as well. I’ve tried to put a fun, playful spin on it, but found I can’t. I’ve always hated those mudflaps and their variations. I won’t ascribe any particular values to all truckers, but I do take issue with the the objectification of women that the mudflaps represent to me. Others will have a different take on it. I will be very interested to see if there is an increase in library usage as a result though.
p.s. really like some of the other parts of the wyoming campaign though!
The file actually has the word “girl” in its name.
There is a blog out there that has responded to this campaign with an image of a man who is “enjoying” what he is reading as well. I’ll mention it in as work-safe a way as possible if I write about this.
I find it interesting how we view our patrons… an image that wouldn’t be appropriate in a library or university is just fine for the masses.
Thank you for this post.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post. I don’t see why calling the image sexist such a shocker for people. I don’t need libraries to be “sexy,” I’ve got enough people hitting on me at the reference desk as it is.
I am so tired of people talking about how the library is claiming or transforming this image. In reality they’re just riding on the coattails of a pop culture image, and a disrespectful one at that. They’re just trying to get attention because everything has to be sexy these days, so of course the library does too… and I am so tired of it.
Yeah, marketing succeeds if it gets (the right) people talking. But just because it gets people talking does not mean it’s respectable or a good promotion of how the library should be viewed. So what if everyone in Wyoming recognizes the Mud Flap Girl? Why does that make the image a good candidate to promote the library?
Esti – you’re compeletely right, and I think many of these commenters would agree with you. Just because they can does not equal cool, I should do this!
This campaign offends me. Period. I get that not everybody is offended, but it makes my blood boil when I hear people basically reject the idea that it’s offensive at all. While I don’t expect everybody to agree with me, it does feel good to read several thoughtful posts like this one that really echo how I feel about sexist advertising, which I’m against. As a librarian, I don’t think we should play on the sexism in our culture to sell libraries, and as a librarian in Wyoming, I’m disappointed and upset that this campaign is representing us all.
Maybe they are trying to make a point…that if you read, you might be able to do other things in life that you like if you want (like with an education.) Or they just like mudflaps.
After the initial “Oh no, they didn’t…” I took a double-take and noted that the breast outline is completely forsaken for the arm holding the book. While I can see why some are offended, I found the fact that I had to take a second look to reconcile the image of memory with the new, literate pin-up thoroughly amusing.
Would I wear it on a t-shirt to a grocery store, mall or local watering hole? Proudly.
Would I put it on my business card, letterhead or hang a poster-sized rendition in my library? Absolutely not.
The point is to get people’s attention, and apparently the mudflap girl done just that! Enough said!!!
I’m hardly liberal but most of the comments smack of conservatism at its worst. Libraries face an age of extinction that in its current form will dry up as quickly as the Amazon.
As someone who works in libraries check out this link to describe the changing face of the library (in New Zealand):
http://www.lianza.org.nz/library/files/store_011/StrategicFramework2006.pdf
My point being, change and regrowth has to start somewhere, and I’ve very much noticed the United States is a firm believe in symbolism. It’s not a criticism and I admire and relish patriotism, I also understand the use and history of the mudflap girl and the “play” on the image as most people obivously do but then choose to take grievance with the campaign because of old hurts.
I’d rather people have suggestions or ways to make the promotion more appealing than be outraged at every little thing.
Well…. You can’t argue with one thing;
I’d have never heard of Wyoming Library were it not for the debate about ‘mudflap girl’
(not that I can make use of their service here in the UK)
SquashedBox.com
Hey Dave, why not grow a set of large ones and stop whining about truckers not respecting women?
I got a clue for you crybaby, there are other professions that don’t respect women! Why not pontificate about athletes, entertainers and other multimillionaires that have no respect for women?
The mudflap girl has been around since the ’40’s and was a way for truckers to pass the time while being away from home.
PS- I’m not a trucker, but I just like to post a comment when someone doesn’t really know WTF he’s talking about!
Riko – I think you completely missed the point of my post, which had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with “truckers not respecting women.”
you are all fucking gay.
who gives a shit whether or not someone puts a pin up girl on their vehicle or not!?
don’t you all have anything better to bitch about?
wow, i mean, wow… I never have, but if i were to put up a poster of some incredibly hot woman on my wall, or put a fucking mudflap girl on my truck, that doesn’t mean i treat women as an object.. and as a matter of fact, i have a lot of women that are really good friends of mine that don’t give a rats ass about something as petty as a mudflap girl.
sexist my ass.
if anything, people like “feminists” and “womens lib” need to grow the fuck up, get their heads out of their asses, and stop making mountains out of ant hills.
Hi Dave — I wondered what the *flap* was all about (LOL)
I think that they should alo use the nasty “Calvin Peeing” flap —
or perhaps the bulldog one . . .
It is an intresting point Meredith made about reclaiming and adding dimension of reading and thinking to the exaggerated female image shown on the typical mudflap.
but I do wonder at its effectiveness; to whom is it supposed to appeal and get in the library? teenaged boys perhaps? Are you insulting your current clients by attempting to reach out to some unkown sector? How can alienating your chief dempgraphic be good? However, if most have a sense fo humour about this and it results in a change in perception of the library as a stuffy boring place and increases the demographic, then I’d say it was okay
Jo
At this late date in the discussion, I need to point out that no one above mentioned that the campaign was to advertise the ChiltonLibrary 2.0, an automotive repair product from Gale. It is an online resource purchased by the Wyoming State Library for the whole state. Who would use an automotive repair online book more than people who drive and fix trucks and have mud flaps? And I heard it has been used by this demographic! So much of this criticism is totally out of context.
Hi, rfd10 – not positive, but I’m pretty sure Wyoming has added that little tidbit after the fact. Judging by what I wrote above (ie., quoting from their website), I think I’d have picked up on that.
Just sayin.
WOW!!! I just read all these posts! I am the guy who came up with this whole campaign. I born and raised in Kemmerer Wyo believe me this is a tough crowd to reach. But I was able to do it. The campaign worked enrollment up 35%.
PS. My aunt actually asked me for a sticker she could give to my cousin to try and get him to go get a library card. The sticker is one small part of the campaign.
You guys have been talking about this for a year…damn that is cool.
What a bunch of thin skinned people if you look at the breast line (or lack of) I think it is done in good taste I have been a mechanic all my adult life I remember the calenders in the old days. Now every body is afraid of stepping on the toes of the feminist movement. It looks like a nice shaped woman with the smarts to put her nose in a book and learn more. quit winning and go the gym and work out more if it bothers you so bad.