E-Media Tidbits

Bennett4Senate (via Flickr, CC license) Target didn't want to respond to bloggers' inquiries about this ad (photographed here in Times Square, but running nationally). Oops!

If you've opened a magazine or entered a big-city public space in the U.S. in the past few months, chances are you've seen the winter ad campaign for Target: shiny happy people doing winter-ish activities (skating, hanging wreaths, making snow angels) on top of the Target logo (which is, of course, a target).

About that snow angel. See how the girl's crotch is at the center of the image? The placement was singled out and scolded by the blogs AdRants and Shaping Youth and has sparked a comment-storm over whether the image is overly sexualized.

But just as interesting is how Target responded when Amy Jussel, executive director of Shaping Youth, asked the company for comment. Target replied: "Thank you for contacting Target; unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets. This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guests."

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In Target-speak, apparently, "guest" means "customer." And Target apparently assumes its customers neither blog nor read blogs.

Oops. Via "nontraditional media outlets," customers have replied, and replied, and replied.

By Wednesday night, Paul Schmelzer of the Minnesota Monitor had wrung a rethink out of Target's PR department. The key quote: "[Target spokesperson Amy VonWalter] acknowledges that, with the decline in the newspaper industry and more people getting information from online sources, the policy needs an overhaul, and one has been in the works for some time. 'In today's media world, we recognize it's worth revisiting.'"

Indeed.