2012.11.02 - Las Vegas Review-Journal - Criticism Of Guns N' Roses Promotion Image Escalates

Criticism of Guns N’ Roses promotion image escalates

By Kristi Jourdan

There’s trouble in Paradise City.

Clark County commissioners and advocates for rape victims on Friday denounced a Guns N’ Roses concert image promoting the ’80s rockers that depicts a woman who critics say appears to have been sexually assaulted under the world famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign.

The image, which was a dominant photo on the band’s website Friday but was later reduced, appears on Las Vegas taxis, buses and billboards for the band’s Hard Rock residency “Appetite for Democracy” show, which runs through Nov. 24.

“This type of advertising is simply unacceptable,” said Hannah Brook, executive director for The Rape Crisis Center. “Not only for just the victims and the message of violence it brings, but also for the community in general. This is not the type of message we want to portray to tourists that are coming to our city. We want them to know it’s a safe place to come, and by putting a message out there with Las Vegas above it is concerning.”

Calls to the band’s publicist were not returned Friday.

The Hard Rock Hotel said in a statement released Friday, “Hard Rock Hotel & Casino regrets that the Guns N’ Roses advertising for their current shows has offended any member of the community. The resort has decided to further modify the art and began the process of changing the materials (Friday).” The Hard Rock removed the woman from the artwork from a version posted online.

Hard Rock International released a statement that the company shared its concerns regarding the advertisement with the unaffiliated third-party company Brookfield Real Estate Financial Partners, LLC, which owns and controls the property.

“Hard Rock International does not condone the advertisement or any depictions of sexual violence,” the statement read.

The Las Vegas poster is a watered-down version of what appeared on the band’s first album 25 years ago, “Appetite for Destruction,” which did not include the Las Vegas sign. In that version, the woman’s breast is exposed, and her underwear hangs at her knees. Once music retailers refused to stock the item because of the controversial depiction, producers put the cover art inside and opted for a skull and cross for the album cover.

In the Las Vegas version, the woman’s breast is covered, and there is no underwear.

Earlier this week, a county ceremony to promote tourism temporarily renamed Paradise Road to Paradise City Road, after the band’s famous 1987 song. County officials created five street signs – at $300 each – for a total of $1,500. In return, the county was to be paid for the signs. The money has not been repaid.

Commissioner Mary Beth Scow said she was not aware of the image’s use until she received complaints from upset constituents.

“This kind of advertising is not consistent with the values of this community,” Scow said.

Las Vegas police responded to 59,000 domestic violence-related calls last year, she added. Of those, 23,000 were referred to the department’s domestic violence detail.

“Clearly we have a problem,” Scow said.

“Too often, I think we see women as second-class citizens. Too many people think it’s OK to mistreat women, to abuse them, and this is an attitude we need to change.”

County officials acknowledge that images of scantily clad women pepper the Strip, but they’re constitutionally restricted about what they can change.

Commissioner Lawrence Weekly shared his childhood stories of domestic violence in the household and said he was disturbed by the promotion.

“I’ve seen it. It’s not a pretty picture,” Weekly said. “This is something that we as a community have to stand up and say we won’t tolerate images or promote these types of activities here within our community.”

https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/music/criticism-of-guns-n-roses-promotion-image-escalates/

Spin, Nov. 5, 2012:
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Guns N’ Roses’ Robot Rape Artwork Belatedly Scrubbed by Venue

Written By Marc Hogan

Roughly three months ago, Guns N’ Roses started promoting their current 12-night Las Vegas residency using the original cover art for their landmark 1987 debut Appetite for Destruction. As SPIN’s Kory Grow pointed out at the time, the artwork shows, in part, a robot who appears to have sexually assaulted a woman. Even in the waning years of the Reagan administration, retailers tended to agree rape was not something they wanted their business to be associated with, and the band ultimately compromised by putting the artwork on the inner sleeve. (The image was drawn from underground cartoonist Robert Williams’ 1978 work titled, yup, “Appetite for Destruction,” so there’s some avant-garde credibility here.)

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, where Axl Rose and the band are playing their Vegas shows, responded to weeks of criticism of the artwork with a statement on Friday. “Hard Rock Hotel & Casino regrets that the Guns N’ Roses advertising for their current shows has offended any member of the community,” it said, as quoted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “The resort has decided to further modify the art and began the process of changing the materials.”

Parent company Hard Rock International issued a separate statement noting that it and property owner Brookfield Real Estate Financial Partners are both on the same page about the offending advertisement, which was used on billboards, taxis, and buses. “Hard Rock International does not condone the advertisement or any depictions of sexual violence,” the company said.

The band’s publicist didn’t return the newspaper’s calls, and Axl Rose’s Twitter feed has stayed mum on the subject. The Hard Rock has covered up the woman in an ad on its website, but at press time she’s still very much present in the main image on Guns N’ Roses website.

Like the images of nearly naked women that abound in Sin City, violence toward women is not uncommon there, either. Las Vegas police answered 59,000 domestic violence-related calls in 2011 alone, a county commissioner told the city’s newspaper. Hannah Brook, executive director for the Rape Crisis Center, called the ads “simply unacceptable.”

Rape is a rare area where boundary-pushing artists and patriarchal Bible thumpers sometimes share depressing common ground. As much scorn as is deservedly heaped on lawmakers for their comments appearing to tolerate rape, the music world continues to work out its own issues, as seen in the debate a couple of years ago over what Tegan and Sara’s Sara Quinn dubbed Tyler, the Creator’s “sickening rhetoric.” There must be plenty of us who sympathize with one while still enjoying the music of the other — who supported Al Gore yet still proudly listen to 2 Live Crew — but this controversy suggests the conflict between artistic freedom and social responsiblity is far from settled.

https://www.spin.com/2012/11/guns-n-roses-robot-rape-artwork-las-vegas/

Blabbermouth, Nov. 4, 2012:
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Hard Rock Hotel Alters Controversial Guns N' Roses Artwork Following Criticism

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has responded to the controversy over a image promoting Guns N' Roses' concerts in Las Vegas that appears to depict a woman who has been sexually assaulted under the world-famous "Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas" sign by removing the woman from the artwork (see below).

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https://archive.blabbermouth.net/news/hard-rock-hotel-alters-controversial-guns-n-roses-artwork-following-criticism/

Associated Press/Billboard, Nov. 6, 2012:
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Explicit Guns N’ Roses Ad Modified Following Uproar

A Las Vegas resort criticized for a suggestive ad campaign promoting Guns N' Roses shows is apologizing for the flap and changing the artwork.

A Las Vegas resort criticized for a suggestive ad campaign promoting Guns N’ Roses shows is apologizing for the flap and changing the artwork.

Ads for the band’s four-week run at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino depicted a disheveled woman who appeared to be sexually assaulted beneath the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign.

The artwork came to the attention of county commissioners after they temporarily renamed a street Paradise City Road in honor of the band’s famous song.

Rape crisis groups decried the campaign, saying it glorified domestic violence and could re-traumatize victims.

The Hard Rock issued a statement saying it regrets that the campaign offended members of the community, and it started modifying the ads Friday.

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/explicit-guns-n-roses-ad-modified-following-uproar-474300/