Apparently, creating a decal of a woman tied up on a truck bed to generate buzz for your business isn't such a great idea after all.
A Texas sign company, Hornet Signs, created the life-like decal and put it on an employee's truck in an attempt to show how realistic its work can be and bring in new business. The tailgate decal shows a blonde woman in jeans curled up on the bed of a pickup truck, her hair obscuring her face and her hands and feet tied with rope.
Much to the surprise of the business' owner, the publicity stunt generated a nationwide backlash.
"We've really messed up here," Hornet Signs owner Brad Kolb told KWTX News 10 in Waco, Texas.
Hornet Signs has now burned the decal and donated $2,500 to the Advocacy Center for Crime Victims and Children. (Watch video of Kolb burning it on KWTX.)
Kolb put up a video on Sunday announcing the donation and challenging other businesses to do the same. He also said no one at his company condoned violence against women.
"We want to be part of the solution, not just a lightning rod for controversy," he said. Watch it:
On the Hornet Signs Facebook page -- which has been filled with comments critical of the business' decision to make the decal -- Kolb said the company and its employees had received threats after all the publicity.
"While the negative publicity we have received is not unwarranted, we would like to respectfully remind the public that, threats and personal attacks on our employees are also a form of abuse that many of our critics have voiced such outrage and concern over," he wrote.
"You're OK with misogyny and violence against women, as the wrap clearly shows, but you expect civility towards you and/or your employees? Really!?!" responded a commenter.
Amy Perkins, executive director of the Advocacy Center for Crime Victims and Children, said she was "appalled" by the decal but is pleased that the publicity will bring "awareness to something that happens in our community."
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