As you all can tell, I am terribly fond of the show Smallville. However, in considering the show recently, I noticed a facet of the premiere advertising that, shall we say, struck a bad note.
Before the show premiered, my city, my magazines, my TV was pasted with one indeliable image of the show (see photo to the left). My reaction, when I first saw it as a rather massive billboard, was, “Wow, that’s a pretty man!” and second, “Ah, an ‘s’, how clever.” I never really took in the bindings nor the backdrop.
After the premiere, however, it became obvious what I had actually been looking at: a teenager tied to a post in the middle of a corn field as part of a rather severe hazing incident. Now, I generally give Smallville kudos for acknowledging that hazing and bullying are a part of many teens’ lives, and even focusing on the fact that it isn’t all in fun nor should it be forgiven very easily. Given that sentiment, was this image really the best way to push the show?
note: in my apparently overzealous updating of the news page, I managed to entirely delete my original random thoughts. Go me. So, let’s see if I can recreate some semblence of my original thoughts by memory, shall we?
