Pennsylvania's liquor board has yanked a racy anti-alcohol abuse ad after critics said it suggested a woman who drinks is to blame if she gets raped.The ad, part of the board's "Control Tonight" online campaign, showed a young woman's bare legs lying on a grimy bathroom floor with a pair of underwear pulled down around her ankles.In one version, the copy blares, "DATE RAPE. See what could happen when your friends drink too much."Another version reads, " She didn't want to do it, but she couldn't say no."The board spiked the ad last week after receiving thousands of complaints, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.Liquor board spokeswoman Stacey Witalec said the ad wasn't mean to be offensive or shocking."We did a lot of work with focus groups and a lot of research for this campaign, and heard from our target, individuals 21 through 29, that these are scenarios they have faced and their friends have faced," Witalec told the Philadelphia City Paper.The ad's supporters said the image of the women's legs was just one piece of a longer interactive sequence on the “Control Tonight” campaign's website, which included scenarios warning that sucking back a few too many can lead to fights, arrests or hospital trips.A segment of the date rape scenario made it clear that rape isn't the victim's fault, Jennifer Storm, an author and victim's rights advocate told The Associated Press.
Still, critics slammed the ad as "victim blaming.""It implies that it's ultimately the female's responsibility... instead of interrogating men and male culture around date rape," Siobhan Brooks, assistant professor of women's studies at Temple University, told the City Paper.
PennStateUniversity junior Julie Mastrine, 20, who wrote about the ad on a feminist blog, told the Tribune-Review, "It's the woman getting blamed for the crimes being committed against her."The liquor board spent two years and some $650,000 developing the campaign, which includes Internet radio ads and posters in college taverns.
Who pierced her nipple for a role?
Rooney Mara: Getting my nipple pierced was like wearing a 'costume' Rooney Mara is a dedicated actress.
The dainty star of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," 25, toughened up for her role in the epic thriller - and went to extreme lengths to get into character, including a small, but painful, physical transformation: a nipple piercing."I'm naked quite a lot in the movie, and I thought, she has it in the book, and she should have it (in the movie)," she told the January issue of Allure.Mara plays the
role of computer-hacker Lisbeth Sander, who is oft naked and always edgy. The actress explained that in order to fully embody the character, she knew she had to go beyond just wearing the right clothes."Because of all the tattoos and makeup and the piercings, and the physical transformations my body has to go through, it would always feel sort of like I was in costume, even if I was naked.It just felt like a good one to get
