February 3, 2001

Society for prevention of breast humor

Execs at the über-SUV-maker Land Rover had to pull a print ad in South Africa after the computer-manipulated photo managed to evoke charges of not only racism and sexism, but cultural and environmental insensitivity as well.

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An ELECTRONIC TELEGRAPH (UK) story reports that the ad featured a woman of the Himba tribe, located near the Namibia/Angola border, in traditional dress, which leaves the breasts bare. A Land Rover has just roared past her, causing her breasts to be pulled sideways in its powerful wake — the sideways-breast effect added by computers, of course.

Despite Land Rover’s claim that their focus groups thought it was funny, South Africa’s Advertising Standards Authority sided with women’s and human rights groups that found the ad insulting, along with others who feared the ad would encourage people to go tearing through the remote Himba homeland in their brand-new Land Rovers.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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