ROTFLMAO at shock/offense over Montclair ice cream logo

We have North Korea equipped to strike anywhere in the U.S. mainland with a nuclear warhead, an incoming governor who is going to tax us onto fiscal life support, a country divided over everything from kneeling during the national anthem to sexual harassment, and what is Montclair complaining about?

A logo.

A logo for a new ice cream shop that opened named Dairy Air. Two words when written, but phonetically said the same as derrière. The logo represents that play on words, with a cartoon cow looking seductively over its shoulder with blond hair, lipstick, and a very human looking curvaceous butt. Derrière. Dairy Air.

As seen in this Montclair Local article, complaints were swift and furious. Well, of course they were. We can't go a week without being offended by something in this country can we? Another local business owner Amy Tingle sparked a social media outcry with her letter blasting the logo of the cow with the shapely butt.

“It is offensive and sickening. A hyper-sexualized, obviously female cow with her ass upended and poking through a circle, tail raised up, waiting for what? I’m not sure, but I do know that I am repulsed and offended. This kind of marketing scheme is the reason we currently have a sexual predator in the White House.”

I'm no fan of Trump (though he IS my president) and I've heard him accused of a lot of things, but a Trump cartoon cow connection? Hmmm.

Her rant went on, “Because we have let ideas like this one pass with approval again and again and again. Because women (and men) have sat passively in marketing meetings and have not spoken up when ideas like this one are presented. Because no one spoke up in your marketing meeting and said, ‘This is wrong.’ This is offensive, not just to women, but to husbands and fathers and brothers and uncles and grandfathers who are trying to raise strong young women in a culture that continuously sexualizes them rather than treating them equally, with dignity and respect.”

See I thought they were just trying to come up with a play on words and a cute, silly logo that would play off of it to get their new shop some attention in the cutthroat world of business, especially small business in New Jersey. Hey what do I know? Turns out they were trying to keep women barefoot and pregnant and drag them around by the hair like cavemen. Who knew? (Insert sarcastic eye roll here.)

Anthony Tortoriello is one of Dairy Air's owners. He was decent enough to meet with the woman who started this campaign against him. He's planning on speaking with his business partners about it according to Tingle. (By the way, Tingle, I find your name sexualized and offensive; please change it immediately.) She says Tortoriello conveyed to her that he was sorry she was so upset but he didn't see any problem with the logo. In fact he said it went by a marketing panel which included women. The logo was also shown to family and friends, including women. Everyone thought it was just really funny and clever.

Businesses pay a lot of money for market research and development, and this case was no different. I think it's a shame that another small business owner is on the attack over something that left on its own would be taken care of by market forces. If it is so offensive to women and families then that would have shown itself in foot traffic. On the other hand if the business thrived then clearly enough people would have approved without issue. Unfortunately now we'll never know because someone had to go berserk before the business was even given a chance to test its marketing uninterrupted.

There's a lingerie store in the same town called Johari whose website is (understandably) plastered with ads intended to look sexy with brands of lingerie called Calvin Klein Intimates, Hanky Panky, and Fantasie. Their store front window often has mannequins posed wearing skimpy bikinis. Is Ms. Tingle up in arms about this? There's a Victoria's Secret in a mall not far from Montclair. Isn't this objectifying women to show nearly naked models in next to nothing in every window? Or does a cartoon cow do a much better job of that?

Too direct to the product itself? Fair enough. Does Ms. Tingle want every car ad with a well kept attractive female spokesmodel taken off the air since it objectifies? In fact every attractive model or actress or actor that appears in any ad for any product whatsoever should be taken down because it's objectifying women and men alike, right? Does Ms. Tingle go into her business every day devoid of all makeup and without fixing her hair while wearing modest Amish clothing so as not to objectify her gender?

This whole thing is absurd. Sadly you can bet that logo is going to change because we now live in a country that lives in paralyzing fear of looking bad.

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