Thursday, August 11, 2011
Controversial Mints
There are mints called "Kiss with confidence" at my place of employment. They have various artistic works of kisses and passion on them,appropriate for the name no? Well the people of Utah county seem to find a particular one very Lewd,inappropriate,semi pornographic, and giggle like embarrassed children getting caught when they see it. I am going to show you the mint box now...ready? If you giggle like an idiot then don't finish reading this. Ok, really ready?
GASP! you still with me there? Ok so, I personally roll my eyes when the customers tell me it is lewd. Its a STATUE. yes.the people are naked and of opposite sex. i did a little research. the statue is called "The Kiss" by Auguste Rodin created in 1889. Rodin indicated that "sculpting women was of homage to them and their bodies, not just submitting to men but as full partners in ardor." (by the way ardor is just a fancy way of saying passion). Personally, i think that is very cool. Compared to all the other junk out there that paints women as objects and toys and dirty sex kittens....this is different. Yes, its passion, and probably a bit over the edge. BUT. it is ART not PORN. there is a very fine line, and sometimes that line is defined differently by different people. it can be hard to define i admit. But i don't think a marble statue is porn. And maybe it shouldn't be on a mint tin. and maybe people just need to grow up and realize that while most of the Utah county population is Mormon and that comes with certain beliefs...that does not mean that anything with nakedness is awful and abominable. That's just my opinion though. Maybe I'm Lewd? i want to know what you think. and yes i may judge you a little if this grosses you out :) but really, honestly i would like to know what you all think!
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You make me smile. Only in Utah. Things are so much different everywhere else. At least they didn't use "the eternal idol" by the same artist. Then people would be truly scandalized! I was so hopeing to see while in Utah. Are you not living in Alpine any more?
ReplyDeleteNo I am. Two houses down from my parents in a basement apt. We just don't have much spare time,or a means of travel outside of work. Pj works 530 am-3 most days and I work 5pm-1030pm we have Friday and saturday "free" but only one car and many neglected chores to catch up on on those days.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you! Not all nudity is pornographic, but I think advertisers should be careful using that type of art. It's not for everyone.
ReplyDelete"Kiss With Confidence" may be taking it a bit far because a it seems like they are using the image of "The Kiss" a little less like Rodin intended. The term "sex sells" comes to mind.
But with that said, they aren't real flesh-and-blood naked people. They're carved out of stone. And it's not even the actual sculpture. It's a picture. And the picture is what, maybe 2 inches square?
People can be dumb. I remember once there was a Rodin "exhibit" at BYU. I put exhibit in quotes because there was so much controversy about it that a lot of the sculptures were left out. And this is when Rodin's sculptures were used just as what they were, art!
Rach I think it is hilarious that you blogged about this. I completely agree with you although I sort of liked having them in the store just to see people's reactions. lol. It also reminds me of the day we got the temple art in and Theresa made me move all of the "wine" art so we wouldn't get complaints that the two were merchandised next to each other. Some people just have too much time on their hands. :)
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