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Home Front: Culture Wars
Martha Burk's New Target - The NHL
2005-09-23
Burk plans to protest new NHL ad campaign
...having had so much success at Augusta National...
The NHL's new advertising campaign is getting attention, but not the kind it was likely hoping for. According to a report from The Canadian Press, Martha Burk, the professional busybody chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations, said she intends to write letters of protest to the NHL and NBC over the NHL's new ad campaign, which is set to begin next week.

The first spot, titled "It's Time," shows a player (an actor, not an NHL player) in a locker room, surrounded by candles and accompanied by a woman who ceremoniously helps him don his hockey garb. The ads feature quotes from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" along with dramatic camera work and music reminiscent of the film "Braveheart."
Sounds like the scene from "The Last Samurai" where Tom Cruise is getting dressed for battle

Burk told The Canadian Press that the ad is "offensive on many levels."

"The woman is dressed provocatively and when she asks the player if he's ready, it's a double-entendre in my view," Burk told The CP. "She's in the ad as a groomer, a sex object.
...and the problem is?
"The commercial is clearly selling sex and violence and the last image in that commercial is a young boy watching this, so he's clearly the customer they're after, or it's a misguided attempt to draw in families."
"It's For The Children!!"
NHL spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur told The Canadian Press that was not the case. "This ad shows no disrespect for women," Mansur told The CP. "On the contrary, the woman is the spiritual and physical trainer for the 'Warrior' and is his mentor."
What he said...
Players, league personnel and media attended the unveiling of the campaign at The Museum of Television and Radio in Manhattan on Wednesday night. The ads were conceived by a company called Conductor, an entertainment marketing company that has contributed to campaigns for "Spider-Man" and Green Day music videos.

For the NHL, the team created a series of commercials and print ads that will be released next week. The commercials will be packaged in a five-part story that will unfold through February.
So we'll get to hear from Martha four more times. Oh, what joy...
Posted by:Raj

#12  sharks rule!
Posted by: muck4doo   2005-09-23 23:54  

#11  I don't like - or follow - pro sports, but even I can figure out a perfect spot for a hockey puck to "accidently" land.

It might even improve her looks.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2005-09-23 19:53  

#10  I'd be there but I'm dead.
Posted by: Molly Yard   2005-09-23 19:04  

#9  Cue dramatic music, showing a woman complaining about 'sexism', etc, then suddenly out of nowhere, comes two hockey players, one takes the puck while the other 'body checks' the other while crashing into character representing this Ms. Manners here.

The woman disappears on a heap on the floor, and hockey players skate swiftly off camera, presumaly to play more hockey.

The TV goes dark and a line appears:

The Game must go on..."

Cue the NHL logo...
Posted by: badanov   2005-09-23 18:13  

#8  No outcry from femi-nazi Burk over the Terrell Ownens MNF ad. Even I thought that was a bit much and I think Collette is great.
Posted by: Rightwing   2005-09-23 16:27  

#7  the 'nym below says it all AFAIAC.
Posted by: Femalian who dislikes this sort of humerless nonesense   2005-09-23 16:15  

#6  Hell she has never seen him smile Penguin.
I suggest they use her as a goal tender during practice.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom   2005-09-23 15:44  

#5  Oh, please!

Hell, the NHL needs all the publicity it can after the lost season. They should pay her to go on a hunger strike or take hostages or something so they get into the news.

What with the last year, all those hockey fans are now playing poker all the time.

It's funny that someone think about donning hockey equipment is a prelude to sex. She's obviously never seen Mike Ricci.
Posted by: Penguin   2005-09-23 15:35  

#4  Let's redo the commercial with 8-year old boys then.
Posted by: Seafarious   2005-09-23 15:30  

#3  Whatever he's ready for after putting ON hockey equipment, it's not sex.

This is person (woman seems a stretch) who is still proud of getting her elementary school to force a classmate in invite people she didn't want to her birthday party so everyone would be "included". Some nitwits are born, not made.
Posted by: VAMark   2005-09-23 15:27  

#2  National Council Of Women's organizations

So shes the biggest National COW?

Posted by: Oldspook   2005-09-23 15:20  

#1  Tell her to go shit in her hat like they did at Augusta. If you don't cave into these clowns, they just end up looking like...clowns.
Posted by: tu3031   2005-09-23 14:55  

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