Calling Muslims “savages” is one thing — but don’t insult the MTA!
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority lost a First Amendment court fight to bar a subway ad citing the “war between the civilized man and the savage,” and declaring: “Support Israel, Defeat Jihad.”
But the beleaguered agency still slams the brakes on benign and humorous ads that mock the MTA.
For instance, Target proposed subway ads in August 2011 to promote the chain’s new sale of fresh food and groceries. Several versions sailed through, including “Catch the Fresh Express” and “In Transit to Fresh.”
But the MTA sidetracked one: “Sandwiched on the Train?”
The wording, it said, violated a rule against ads “directly adverse to the commercial or administrative interests of the MTA or harmful to the morale of MTA employees.”
Target agreed to replace it.
The agency also couldn’t take a joke in 2009, when it derailed an ad to advocate paid sick leave.
The promo showed a person blowing their nose at “Sneezer Station” with subway-line letters spelling out G E R M S.
“You might catch more than the subway this morning,” it read.
A chaste MTA rejected other ads with “sexually suggestive images” that the agency feared might break a state law that forbids “disseminating indecent material to minors.”
The agency in November 2010 vetoed three racy ads from Daffy’s, the discount-fashion chain. They showed nude women, their breasts and other privates partially covered by boxes with the words, “Daffy’s” and “Afford to Clothe Yourself.”
Even though Daffy’s agreed to “slightly enlarge” the strategically placed boxes, the MTA turned down the ads.
Daffy’s, coincidentally, is going out of business.
The MTA also revealed in court papers that in March 2011 it rejected two prior versions of the pro-Israel ad that the American Freedom Defense Initiative recently got a green light to display.
The MTA last week approved new ad guidelines that omit a section banning words or images that “demean” a person or group. Instead, they forbid content that the agency “reasonably foresees would imminently incite or provoke violence or other immediate breach of the peace.”
Insulting the MTA, or showing too much skin, is still banned.