Montclair Shop’s 'Cow Butt' Logo Is Making People Freak Out

MONTCLAIR, NJ — A cow’s butt. A local suburban ice cream shop. Social media flame wars. And allegations of “sexual predators in the White House.”

This is the strange mix of elements that has preoccupied the minds and keyboards of many Montclair residents since earlier this week, when a town-wide furor erupted over a controversial marketing tactic at a local ice cream shop, Dairy Air.

At the heart of the debate is whether the shop’s logo – a cartoon cow gazing over her shoulder with a saucy look and her posterior jutting out – is “offensive” and “hyper-sexualized.”

Amy Tingle, a Nutley resident and Montclair business owner, was one of the first to publicly lambaste Dairy Air’s logo, kicking off the controversy with a Facebook message about the eye-grabbing display.

Here’s why people should be upset, Tingle wrote:

“This kind of marketing scheme is the reason we currently have a sexual predator in the White House. Because we have let ideas like this one pass with approval again and again and again. Because women (and men) have sat passively in marketing meetings and have not spoken up when ideas like this one are presented. Because no one spoke up in your marketing meeting and said, ‘This is wrong.’”

Tingle continued:

“This is offensive, not just to women, but to husbands and fathers and brothers and uncles and grandfathers who are trying to raise strong young women in a culture that continuously sexualizes them rather than treating them equally, with dignity and respect. Instead of making girls and women feel safe and authentic, we are made to feel - by ads and logos like yours - as if we are things for someone else’s sexual use.”

She concluded with a plea for socially responsible marketing:

“Sell your ice cream on its own merit. Sell your ice cream because it is delicious. Sell your ice cream because it is unique and it is made in a way other ice cream isn’t made. Sell your ice cream because it is a good product sold at a good, fair price point. Do not sell your ice cream by selling me out, and by selling out my collective body of women allies. Do not sell your ice cream by sexualizing us.”

One of the shop’s owners has since apologized about the logo choice and is willing to enter a dialogue, Tingle later wrote on Facebook.

"We have heard the complaints," a manager at Dairy Air stated. "We take them very seriously and we are acting to change the cow to be more fun and less sexy. Our goal was always fun and not sexy."

As of Wednesday morning, the store’s Instagram page, which cheekily proclaims that “the fun is in between the buns,” was set to private.

Here’s what some people are saying about the controversy online:

• “Tasteless and completely unacceptable. In our climate of heightened awareness of sexual harassment this is even more shocking to me.”
• “A cartoon butt does not offend me in the least. Must be exhausting being offended all the time.”
• “It's kind of tasteless--therefore I'm sure the kids love it. Maybe it's just me but I've got bigger fish to fry.”
• “This is not only tasteless marketing, it's disgusting, offensive and stupid.”
• “Do people have that much time on their hands to give an uber-PC reading into a business’ graffiti art? But not only that but, then somehow compare it to Trump is hysterical… That’s the kind of obnoxious PC BS that a lot of America was sick of and got Trump elected into office.”
• “I am thankful to the people who have the time and energy to speak up about society's evils. That's how progress is made. Even for the ones that don't see the point.”
• “As a woman raised in a younger generation I am not offended or in any way swayed by a cartoon cow with a large derrière and ice cream cone. I think the visual pun was executed well and as well as being humorous; after all we are just talking about ice cream.”
• “This thread is evidence that there’s a real need for more understanding and education on misogyny and how different people interpret misogyny.”

Despite the many positive comments and notes of encouragement that Tingle’s post has received, she’s also hinted that the online discussion has grown much more divisive and vitriolic than expected.

“I'm weary of all this cross-posting and re-posting and commentary here in this Facebook black hole,” Tingle wrote, encouraging people to have a face-to-face discussion and talk respectfully and honestly to each other about “the sexualization of our society.”

Don’t forget to visit the Patch Montclair Facebook page here.

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