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Show Midweek Etc January 30, 1996 Page 3 Snowman Outrages Neighbors GO! DEN 996 ByEllen Gamerman (c) 1996, The Baltimore Sun ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Anoversized snowman in the shape of a Ku Klux Klansman has outraged neighborsof the man whobuilt it on his front lawn “That snowman was repugnant," said Van Nield, 58, who lives a few houses away. Gene Newport, 32. who has acknowledged being a ving e of nity vilihich odiring tific memberof the Ku Klux Klan, said he did not understand whyhis neighbors were upset. “It's very innocent. It’s a snowman. It can’t move or talk or anything,” he said. “I’m creative person I just made a snowman. So what's the big deal?” The snowman stood more than feet tall, had crossed arms, a pointed, hooded robe and a smile, ora- The Golden Globe Gloat — Associated Press Christine Baranski, left, Cybill Shepard, center, and Dedee Peiffer mugfor the photographersafter winning the awardforbest television series ‘ ‘Cybill” at the Golden Globe Awardsthis month. You Toward the Brink of Insanity? his to believe so. As we become privy to their thoughts, we “hear” one man thinking, “Jump! Jump!” while a woman coolly evaluates the jumper’s taste in clothes. “Nice pants,” she thinks. Asit turns out the man on the ledgeis just trying to retrieve his that we are willing to put a fence around what being American Then there was the controversial ad, also part of the Dockers campaign, that left $50 pants in bus shelters around New York and San Francisco, with a sign reading ‘‘Nice pants’ — and the implicit invitation to steal them. Not to mention Calvin Klein’s in- guage to sports? Are we that tired, that disillusioned with playing by the rules that we just want to get away with as much as we can — even stealing a pair of pants that don't fit? Are we that desperate for youth, powerthat we are readyto play vampiresto our young? The “Made in America” line, for example, comesoff as a subtle dig at the international face of American sports — from baseball’s aces Hideo Nomo, Japanese and , who is Nicaraguan, to hockey’s domination by teams of Russians, Swedes, Czechs and Canadians. Someofthesetactics, these casual willingness to appeal to impulses we once would not admit to in public, can beascribed to des- famous campaign featuring semi- clad teen-agers in provocative poses. Both the steal-these-pants and NBC promotes,football & Co, hypes itsjeans by suggestions oflarceny and cheerily turns an apparent suicide attemptinto street entertainment. the Klein ads raised such a furor they were dropped shortly after being launched. (Which is not to say Klein,at least, has been much concerned about the reaction: He has since started yet another con- troversial campaign featuring a male model in an openly sexual pose.) Still, this sampling says as much about us as it does about advertisers willing to take risks for a buck. Are wereally that scared, have we becomeso meanspirited means in everything from lan- perate attempts to be heard over the din, the need for a greater and greater charge to jolt spirits numbedbyoverstimulation. Still, the line has been pushed another inch. There are no such things as fixed standards in pop culture. Yesterday's outrage is today’s yawn. Just ask Madonna. This is how advertisers and their clients think they can reach us, talk to us, move us to buy, keep us watching. This, they say, is what we want, what welike, what we hopefor. That's is why, ultimately, we are boththe target and the product. Maybe we should pause before webuy. Police called to the neighborhood told Newport that thoughthe snowman was legal, it was upsetting others on the block Newportsaid he took the headoff the figure Sundayto quiet complaints. A few days later, the snowman had become a melting jump Enter to Win *100 in the Grocery Giveaway. Find Seymour Savings next to a grocery item in this week’s ads and you could win $100 in groceries! Participating Grocers: You'll find it at FredMeyer D ons LOWEST Foop PRICES | + 3389Norm sam Larrom FOOD BARGAIN WAREHOUSE LEAN Amy PACK GROUND BEPF PORK SHOULDER STEAK. time I'd approach that house. I was just praying I wouldn't get stuck in the snow in front of his house.” *100in EE GROCERIES Is Advertising S 1 0 w1 y Pushing By Fernando Gonzalez Knight-Ridder Newspapers Advertising both draws from and shapes pop culture. It funetions as a two-way mirror, reflecting who weare whileallowing usa peek at who wewishto be. But some recent images have beentroubling. NBCpromotesfootball with the whiff of xenophobia. Levi Strauss & Co. hypes its jeans by suggestions of larceny and cheerily turns an apparentsuicide attempt into street entertainment. Calvin Klein sells his jeans by evoking kiddie porn. Advertising has always been shaped by, and hasplayed to, our fantasies. Most of the themes are timeless — sex, wealth, power, eternal youth. But the current willingness to exploit the darker sides of our fantasiesis not It is hard to remember now Wasthe visual language of MTV videos modeled after TV commercials or was it the other way around? Did tragedy becomea banal spectacle beforeorafterreality cop shows and movie-of-theweek dramatizations became everyday fare? Levi Strauss & Co. promotesits Dockers brand of pants with a TV ad featuring a guystanding precariously on a ledge. Is he about to jump? Onlookers below seem mail carrier whohas workedin the neighborhood for the past four years. “It literally stopped me in my tracks. I just stopped andlookedat it for a while.” Henson, whois black, said he dreaded delivering mail to Newport's house because of the figure and theracist messageit sent. “I got a sick feeling every Open Next Week's Food ection in The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News and Enter to Win and the “It was disgusting and embarrassing, andseriously damaged ourcredibility as a neighborhood.” tua- neighbors said. Behind it was a large Confederate flag, a regular sight on Newport's property It wasso true to life,” said William Henson, 37, a LFFECTIVE TVES.- MON. JAN. 20 — FEB. 5th GF. | US.4¢1 roixtvE IDAHO RUSSET— o. oP RAMEN ao && ID. RAMENSe Richard (Patrick Muldoon, right) and Jo (Daphne Zuniga,left) weave a tangled web on “Melrose Place.” Muldoon: A ‘Melrose’ Sandwich ByChristy Slewinski New York Daily News Heartthrob Patrick Muldoon has made the leap from “Days of Our Lives,” and has found his place at “Melrose.” He plays Richard on “Mel. Tose Pla — a hunk caught between twoof the show’sresident beauties, Josie Bissett’s Jane and Daphne Zuniga’s Jo Recently Muldoonstarred in a TVmovie “Deadly Pursuits’ (opposite Tori Spelling) as a college student who is unknowingly leading killers closer and closer to his missing dad While Muldoon had a small interest in the biz while growing up,the true thespian sparks didn't ignite until he enroliedin his first acting class. That day, he recalls, “I just said ‘Wow — thisis it.”” After three years on daytime, Muldoon made the leap to primetime after signing an exelusive development contract with Mr. TV, Aaron Spelling, which gives Muldoon first crack at any of the producer's future shows. “Melrose” was a result of the Spelling deal. ‘I'm kind of happy the way things worked out,” says Muldoon. DREYERS /2GA- NALEYS iS02Ree, Ll ICE REG, HOT CHILI SWANSON ACOMPLIA DINNERS \.fo ae |
