November 5, 2004
Street Slang Update: "Brain" Doesn't Mean Smart...
As if they didn't have enough problems: Yet again the MTA get punk'd by its advertising. The MTA is banning ads that promote oral sex via street slang. Clothier Akademiks had ads running on MTA buses that said, "Read Books, Get Brain." Yet it turns out that "Get brain" means "Get oral sex." Kids today! The Daily News spoke with the ad designer, Anthony Harrison, who said, "We knew this. It's coded language, city slang. Teens know what it means but the general public doesn't." Gothamist is definitely not down with the street slang, but we did think something was fishy with this poster. If reading books really meant sexy, our high school experience would have been considerably less harrowing.
The best part? The MTA found out about it from The Daily News; MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said, "It's sad that a company and its advertising agency would appear to be promoting a good cause while instead using vulgar street phrases to demean women." Yeah, high school students figured it out: Brooklyn senior told the Daily News, "That's not kosher." Another said, "That's too sexy to be talking about some book." The ads are up in other urban centers, but New York City is the first to figure it out, thanks to the Daily News!
The MTA is also dealing with their own advertising issues, like the centennial poster that subvertly promotes Scientology.
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Has Bill Cosby seen this ad?
If promises of sex will get kids to read more why complain. No one minded when they were promised death as an alternative to voting.
Personally I thought the ad was great. But I already knew what "brain" meant.
I agree with konfusion. Ostensibly, the MTA accepts ads for Absolut, Calvin Klein and other products which implicitly promise sex for use of their product. I don't get the big deal.
Oral sex is demeaning to women?
Uhm, my gf gets it more than I do.
The Neptunes made a song in like 2000 called "Brain", and I know it was in use way before then.
Do your really even love me
If you do there is no pain
Do I really even love you
Or do I really love your brain
I just love your brains
its just "the man" tryin to keep us down
Anyone who couldn't tell what the ad was about just by looking at it is either not paying attention or really, really dumb. First time I looked at it I thought, "Read books, get laid." And frankly, if they had had a program like that in my high school, I would have gotten through Tale of Two Cities and Red Badge of Courage.
My favorite is the subway ad for The Polar Express that shows the kid riding on top of the train. How is that OK?
Greetings from a Gothmist reader now in Delhi, India!
Grant Barrett discussed "brain" on the American Dialect Society list and added the word to his "Double Tongued Word Wrester" site. Now that Paul McFedries' "Word Spy" appears to be down, Barrett's site is the one to go to.
I'd suggested a "word-a-day" Gothamist feature to Jen...
sigma