New Hard Rock billboard: A cartoon cat, two rabbits, and a wood chewing beaver
September 24, 2004 at 10:22 AM |
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Remember the controversial "buck all night" Hard Rock ads, well that crazy Vegas resort is at it again...
The Hard Rock Hotel has put up a billboard about eight miles from its hotel which could cast a heavy shadow on Friday's Nevada Gaming Commission meeting to discuss its billboards.
State regulators and Hard Rock representatives are scheduled to discuss recent complaints that the edge-pushing gaming company's risqué advertising efforts reflect poorly on the gaming industry and state.
Several weeks ago, Hard Rock erected a billboard that depicts a cartoon cat, two rabbits and a wood-chewing beaver next to its hotel-casino at 4455 Paradise Road.
While the sign touts itself as "Another clean & inoffensive billboard from your friends at the Hard Rock," others claim it's simply a reprise of the suggestive content that led to the company's $300,000 Gaming Control Board settlement that was rejected by the Nevada Gaming Commission.
"It's a pussy, a beaver and some bunnies, and we all know what bunnies do," Scott Robertson, creative director for local ad firm Merica Agency, said Wednesday. "Because it's not so overt, maybe people are OK with that, but given that there's a looming controversy, it shocked me" and was clearing aimed at the Board.
What do bunnies do? Eat carrots?
That opinion was echoed by Patti Gerace, an executive board member of the Las Vegas Advertising Federation. She chuckled at the sign's use of animals and objects whose names are common euphemisms for genitalia or depict sexual activity.
"Because I know who they (Hard Rock) are and what they've portrayed in the past, I know what they're trying to say," Gerace said. "I see a beaver and some rabbits doing it. It's not very nice. ... It's clever, it's cute, but I still think people will find it offensive if they look at it in that way."
Robertson compared the billboard to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's "What happens here, stays here" campaign, which hints at untoward activities but never depicts them.
"It's up to our dirty minds to apply what we know that double meaning is," Robertson said of the Hard Rock billboard. "The fact that it's sort of rebelling by still being sexual, without being overtly sexual, intersects with the core values of the Hard Rock brand, which is sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll."
Let's not over analyze this people. K?
Related Stories:
· First Amendment Issue with Hard Rock Ads [HotelChatter]
· Hard Rock Advertising Draws Censorship From State Board [HotelChatter]
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johnkeats
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