In the words of a Ford enthusiast, I am going to...um...shift gears and look at the other side of the Target ad debate.
Not the part about how Target feels about bloggers (or, for that matter, customers) who send inquiries to them.
For a moment I want to jump back to the item that started this discussion in the first place.
This started with a picture that was posted by Flickr user bennett4senate with the caption "suggestivemuch?" The picture shows a young woman dressed in a hat, scarf, boots, and other snow gear. While she is wearing a red vest, the outfit is mostly white. This is a Target ad, after all. In fact, the smiling woman happens to be laying on a target, and in fact the middle of her body is centered on the target. Her arms are outstretched, and her legs are - sorry, I can't think of a neutral way to word this - spread wide open.
If you've followed the commentary on this topic, you know that two views have emerged on the picture itself:
- The picture is an innocent picture of a woman making a snow angel, and anyone who thinks otherwise is either a sexual deviant or is pursuing an agenda.
- The picture is your typical subliminal advertising, using the virgin "spread eagle" shot to encourage you to score - I mean buy - stuff at Target.
Well, a thought occurred to me last night, but I had to go to bed early and couldn't pursue it until today.
Let's take a look at Target's executive officers:
Timothy R. Baer
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Michael R. Francis
Executive Vice President, Marketing
John D. Griffith
Executive Vice President, Property Development
Jodeen A. Kozlak
Executive Vice President, Human Resources
Troy H. Risch
Executive Vice President, Stores
Janet M. Schalk
Executive Vice President, Technology Services and Chief Information Officer
Douglas A. Scovanner
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Terrence J. Scully
President, Target Financial Services
Gregg W. Steinhafel
President
Robert J. Ulrich
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
OTHER OFFICERS
Patricia Adams
Senior Vice President, Merchandising
Stacia J. Andersen
President, Target Sourcing Service
Carmela Batacchi
Senior Vice President, Target Sourcing Services, Regions II and III
Bryan Berg
Senior Vice President, Region I
Bob Chang
Senior Vice President, Target Sourcing Services, Region I
Gregory J. Duppler
Senior Vice President, Merchandising
Nathan K. Garvis
Vice President, Government Affairs
Corey L. Haaland
Vice President and Treasurer
Derek L. Jenkins
Senior Vice President, Region IV
Susan D. Kahn
Vice President, Communications
Sid Keswani
Senior Vice President, Region III
Richard N. Maguire
Senior Vice President, Merchandise Planning
Annette Miller
Senior Vice President, Target Sourcing Services
Dale Nitschke
President, Target.com
Tina M. Schiel
Senior Vice President, Region II
Gina Sprenger
Senior Vice President, Merchandising
Mitchell L. Stover
Senior Vice President, Distribution
Kathryn A. Tesija
Senior Vice President, Merchandising
Laysha Ward
Vice President, Community Relations
Jane P. Windmeier
Senior Vice President, Finance
Jodeen Kozlak is the Executive Vice President of Human Resources. Would Kozlak consent to pose as a snow angel on the front cover of Target's human resources guidelines?
Janet Schalk is another Executive Vice President, in charge of the technologies used at Target. Would Schalk consent to pose as a snow angel while working with various technology vendors?
How about all of the listed merchandising vice presidents? Perhaps Patricia Adams, Gina Sprenger, and Kathryn Tesija could pose for a group shot, all as snow angels, all centered on targets.
And the list goes on. In fact, since Target is based in Minnesota (land of the DFL, Prince, and Dylan), I don't want to be accused of being a sexist pig. Let's have Robert Ulrich spread his legs and do the snow angel also!
The silliness of the picture shouldn't be an issue. Every year, the executive staff at my employer sends out a picture in which they're all dressed in scarves and other winter gear, while posing in front of an obvious fake winter background. So Target shouldn't have any problem having their executive staff pose as snow angels.
Sounds fun, doesn't it?
P.S. Check out the WCCO TV coverage of the issue.
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