Skip to content

Sexy Billboards In Los Angeles and Kids

Last week Kelly Cole, a Mom in my neighborhood, had a fit both online and off about a billboard for Manhunt. Manhunt is an app where men go to find male friends. Apparently they are really good looking friends and they are very happy to find each other.

 

In the Studio City Patch a self described pro sex feminist (I’m calling that into question) says that this billboard made her have an uncomfortable conversation with her nine year old son who still believes in Santa. She then contacted Lamar Outdoor advertising to have the billboard removed. As my friend Jenny said on Facebook:

If her kid is 9 and astute enough to notice, pick up on, and start a conversation about that particular billboard, but still believes in Santa I think he’s the one lying to protect mommy’s feelings.

Of course Gawker chimed in and made this an issue of Mommy Bloggers being stupid, which is ridiculous. Brian Moylan go to your room! But Brian (who is grounded until I let him out of the house) does have some good points.

  • We are the only people who love our kids and are invested in their future
  • Every bump in the road doesn’t mean that society should change for our kids
  • You don’t have to get into the mechanics of gay sex. Tell him that some men fall in love with other men and like to kiss those men.
  • This is “mommy blogging” at its worst. It is someone who is trying to deny the rights and free speech of others because she thinks her kid is in danger. The only thing he is in danger of is learning about the world, and it is your job to guide him through it.

He’s absolutely right, it is mommy blogging at it’s worst, and I’d like to say that this Gawker article is Blogging at it’s worst because he begins with:

Is there anything worse than mommy bloggers? That is a rhetorical question because if you have two firing synapses, you know the answer to that question

But there’s much worse stuff out there. I’ll let Brian slide a bit.

In what might be the best response of 2011 Manhunt Daily has posted the Michael Kors billboard that is right across the street from their own.

michaelkors-underwear-model-billboard-across the street from the Manhunt billboard with lamar

With a close up of the (hetero) couple on the left (as opposed to the naked grinding girl on the right).

Michael Kors Underwear Ad across the street from Manhunt ad

My kids can totally see either billboard. The takeaway for them (I hope) will be “don’t eat fast food and you can look really awesome naked”.

27 thoughts on “Sexy Billboards In Los Angeles and Kids”

  1. I don’t care about either billboard. I live in a tiny midwest town where you’d NEVER see a billboard like either of those. Even if there was one I wouldn’t care. I talk to my children, even my 4 year old gets the concept of gay in the sense that boys like boys, girls like girls, etc. They probably wouldn’t even notice the signs.

  2. Remember when people freaked out about Brooke Shields and nothing coming between her and her Calvins? I was about 13 and had to have someone explain to me it was insinuating that she wasn’t wearing any underwear.  We’ve come along way… 

    1. Confession: I’m 14 and your comment just made me figure that out.

      I thought it was because she wasn’t wearing a shirt… proof that we don’t have to protect the children, they won’t get it.

      1. I didn’t get the Brook Shields commercial. I remember more that a year or two before that (or after that) the news programs were showing part of a portfolio of Brook Shields at age 12 in a nude photo shoot. They showed a photo her baby Brook in a bubble bath with her hair up.

        The broadcasters were outraged that Mama Shields had not only allowed her daughter to be photographed nude by a grown man, but commissioned it. Of course, their outrage didn’t stop them from playing the images over and over again on TV that they so disapproved of.

        And of course, all of that made me lose my innocence because after that, and 30+ years of such things, I’ve lost that sense of cluelessness I had at age 9.

    2. If I remember correctly, at the time, Brooke Shields made it publicly known that she was a virgin and planned on keeping it that way till marriage; hence, “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins.”  :) Perhaps the underwear explanation was easier to give when confronted by a curious 13-year-old.

  3. The only billboard that has upset my kids is the anti-smoking one with a number that keeps increasing for every death from cigarettes. My son says it makes him so sad. 

  4. If we download manhunt do we get two guys? LOLOL You bring up some good points Jessica. Bring back the Marlboro Man – he was way hotter! And no it didn’t get me to try smoking at 8. 

  5. Yeeeehaw!  I was going to write this exact post.  Now I don’t have to.  Thanks.  As a mom living in Studio City, I’ll admit I was uncomfortable with the now ubiquitous Manhunt billboards and my daughters did a little ‘eeeew’, but I think that just speaks to my suppressed Catholic upbringing (sex is only to procreate) which I clearly, sadly, and unintentionally have passed on to my children.  The third bullet point “You don’t have to get into the mechanics of gay sex…” is exactly how I handled it.  My girls know more than several homosexual couples, so that part was easy.  AND the Michael Kors billboard was exactly why I didn’t call Lamar Outdoor or anyone else.  I tend to look at these things and carry it through to its worst possible outcome, and for these billboards, there wasn’t any.  We’re a prudish society.  Drive on.

    And oh yeah, Mommy Bloggers rock (some of the time). 

    1. We’re a prudish society?  Are you sure?  Because last time I looked there were billboards glorifying “hook ups”, strip clubs, and jeans that will get you laid.  If everyone just say’s “Meh” like Brittany.. we are well on our way to billboards with threesome’s, anal sex, and prostitution.  If everyone just drives on we’ll have pornography available to 12 year olds.  Oh wait.. we already have that.  My daughters also know gay couples.. men and women. Do we need to see them naked and ready to savage each other? Not really. Do we need to see Michael Kors ads with women reaching into mens pants? No thanks.  All of it is offensive.  I know I can’t protect my children from everything… but can we at least give them a drive to school free of sexual images?   Or is that something that’s just “part of life” and I need to accept it?  There is a time for sexuality and it is when my children are older.  I was hoping to retain some innocence until at least age 10.  Is that wrong?

      1. Move to the country, live on a farm, home school your kids,  and make sure they don’t see the animals getting randy or see anything die before they’re 10 because they might lose their innocence.

  6. Meh. My personal thought when it comes to the entire situation for one side or the other. Close your eyes, move on, mind your business. This should be the absolute least of your worries. And everyone should eventually begin to have discussions with their children regarding sex (educational wise) at some point. You know because racy images are minor to STD’s and the such.

  7. My kids have noticed and commented on the billboards – which are all over town, by the way, not just in West Hollywood or Studio City. I do think they’re pretty racy, and I think the hetero Michael Kors ones are, too, quite frankly. I wish we could shield our kids, but I know that we can’t. And I agree that it’s out job to be the ones they come to to help understand it all.

  8. ffs parents need to reduce their hover factor and use truth as a tool for growth or continue to fudge the facts when the young and curious seek answers.

  9. Thanks for posting this! I went over to read the article and the commentary. I didn’t comment there because so many of the comments were great and insightful and articulate.

    I loved your list over there, BTW!

  10. I definitely did not appreciate the Gawker comment about mommy bloggers and yes I agree we can’t shield our kids from the billboards but it does bother me to see them. Its more of a gut reaction. My 8 year old daughter has not commented on them but I do wonder what she is internalizing when she sees any of the sexier ads, good or bad.

  11. This is my opinion on the matter: Gawker was ridiculous to call Mommy Bloggers stupid. BUT the woman who created the stir about the Manhunt billboard – she makes it completely obvious that she is homophobic, and her concentration on this billboard is pathetic when there are similar billboards across the street that show hetero couples doing the same exact thing. 

    SHAME ON HER. 

Leave a Reply to Marian Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *