Letters

It's Time to Put Breasts Back Where They Belong How much nipple is appropriate? Full nipple? Half a nipple? I actually had this discussion in 1996 with a newspaper publisher in Detroit, where we talked about how much nipple is OK in ads touting breast feeding. Eleftheria Parpis' column [Art & Commerce, March 27] brought back memories for me. Back in 1996, my partner, art director Jack Crifasi, and I took on a small freelance client--a breast- feeding and baby-care boutique called Maternal Expressions--during our off-hours at J. Walter Thompson, Detroit. Our client felt strongly that breasts were being used to sell everything except what they're really for. So we embarked on a small print campaign to, as we said at the time, "put breasts back where they belong, in the mouths of babies." Almost overnight, Maternal Expressions became a cause cƒlbre in the breast-feeding underworld. We actually had women who so believed in what our client was doing that they lined up to appropriately bare their breasts in our ads for free. In retrospect, we faced the same ridiculous reactions that the Medela spot received, as well as the goofy reaction to the recent Nike sports-bra print work. Evidently, Americans only like their breasts one way--depicted as sexual apparatus. I've never encountered anything dumber in my life on a client's behalf than the attitudes people copped about breast feeding. OK, here's one thing dumber: The so-called progressive newspaper in Detroit turned down one of our Maternal Expressions ads because "then the strip guys will want to to run nipples in their ads." Near the end of your article, you quote the fellow at the local ABC affiliate: "We're a family station, and there are time periods when families find themselves having to respond to questions and not liking it " He ought to be reminded that, long before television and radio, families across America gathered around the fire after dinner. Dad sat in his chair, the kids played on the floor with simple wooden toys and Mom reclined in a rocker, nursing the youngest. That was the family hour. Kevin Teevens Creative director Stoner Bunting Advertising Lancaster, Pa. For the Record: BBDO in New York was not a finalist in the review for the $50 million Egghead account [Newswire, April 24], nor did it pitch the business. The shop was contacted by Egghead to participate, but declined due to a client conflict

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