New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (M.T.A.) announced Thursday that it would allow advertisements for a sex toy company to appear in the city’s subways one day after the images were deemed too racy for straphangers.
Edgy advertising can be seen all over the city, but this month, a company that sells sexual aids targeted at women found its campaign initially rejected by the M.T.A. on grounds that the colorful, stylized paintings of dildos and vibrators in its ads violated subway advertising rules against indecency and obscenity.
But after an outcry from the company, Unbound, which accused the M.T.A. of a gendered double standard, was quickly seized on by several publications and on social media, the M.T.A. found itself once again mired in an issue that has plagued the agency — determining what is appropriate to promote on its buses, stations and trains.
The reversal came after accusations of unequal treatment when the company that handles M.T.A. ads said the colorful images from luxury sex toy company Unbound violated policies about “indecent material.”
The New York Post reported
“The MTA has always and will continue to ensure that our policies are applied evenly and fairly,” MTA spokesman Jon Weinstein said Thursday.
“We’re going to direct our advertising partner to work with the company toward a resolution that is agreeable to all parties and allows their ads on the system.”
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The CEO of Unbound, Polly Rodriguez, sounded cautiously optimistic about the MTA’s change of heart concerning their ads.
“We’re looking forward to learning what this means for this campaign, and we haven’t yet heard what the terms of this will be,” she said.
“We want to make certain we’re not just putting a Band-Aid on this issue, but really making an effort to change the policies that resulted in this dispute in the first place.”
Advertisements for male enhancement pills and breast enhancement are already permitted in subways.
