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Shock jocks, billboards, porn stars, and nurses
October 26, 2004 -- Popular syndicated radio shock jock Mancow Muller is currently appearing on Chicago area billboards in satirical photos mimicking rock album covers, including that of blink-182's "Enema of the State," in which porn star Janine appears as a somewhat threatening "naughty nurse." Following multiple discussions with the Center, the Chicago radio station at which Mancow is based, Q101, agreed to phase out the Mancow/Janine billboards over the next two-three weeks and run others from the existing series for the remaining six months
of its ad campaign.
(Mancow, above; Janine on blink 182's album cover, below, entire Mancow billboard, bottom).
As the Center explained in its review of the 1999 "Enema of the State," the original cover photo and others in the album package employed enduring stereotypes of the nurse as both a sex object and an agent of oppressive state control (e.g., Nurse Ratched). Mancow's goofy macho transvestite version is no more helpful than the original photo, whose tongue-in-cheek elements did not redeem its reinforcement of damaging nursing stereotypes. Of course, for anyone who does not get the blink-182 reference, the billboards will simply revive the stereotypes.
The Center applauds Q101's decision to discontinue the Mancow/Janine "nurse" billboards, and looks forward to a day when there will be no reason to place the items in the above headline in the same sentence.
Special thanks to Mary Dominiak, RN, MSN, MBA, for alerting us to the Mancow billboards, initiating outreach to Q101 and for taking the billboard photos.
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