Barbecue Restaurant Mannequin May Need A New Career
Modeling is a tough business, but the career of Barbe Q, restaurant spokesmodel, may end prematurely. She's up against not Tyra Banks, but the Reading, Ohio city review board.
The controversy involves not only the mannequin's attire, but whether she can be considered a "sign," which would require a special permit in the zone where the restaurant is located.
Review board to decide on "Bar-Be-Q" mannequin [Fox 19]
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Comments:
Leave it to small town politicians to mess with a good thing. My town refused to permit cell phone companies to build a tower for the past decade, citing concerns that we're all going to die from brain cancer as result. Another town convinced a friend that he will get a permit to operate a hookah bar as long as he changes the new facility up to spec, only to reneg after the friend invested almost $100,000 into the building.
Small town politicians really are the worst. They power trip just to feel like they actually matter.
While BarbeQ may be tacky, the prudes have gone a little overboard -- plastic breasts should be the least of Reading, Ohio's concerns -- what, with Ohio in economic freefall.
Update! BarBe can stay, with conditions.
[news.cincinnati.com]
We wouldn't want our precious snowflakes to see a mannequin in a bra...
The attire? So if it were a real woman standing out there in those clothes, she would be arrested?
It's very creepy how the owner talks about her like she's real: "Tessel insisted that BarBe 'should be allowed to wear what she wants.'"; "The decision left Kenny Tessel, owner of BarBe and the barbecue joint, fuming about 'being told what she can and can't wear.'"
Another quote that's super creepy: "'Yeah, she's got big boobs,' he told the board. 'That's why I bought her.'"
@squinko: "'Yeah, she's got big boobs,' he told the board. 'That's why I bought her.'"
That is his same policy for prostitutes duh!
According to
@squinko: I'm glad I wasn't the only one to be really creeped out by the owner talking about the mannequin as if it was a real woman. It's disturbing if for some reason, views women as objects, and it's disturbing even if he doesn't.
with so much crazy stuff going on in the world there are people worried about a busty mannequin?!?! come on ppl, spend your town money on helping the unemployed, not getting together to discuss the future of barbe-q
According to City Data, Reading, OH has a population a little over 10,000 people. So yeah, it's a pretty small town. It's mostly white (don't read any racial connotation, I'm just listing facts), and mostly blue-collar (the majority have high school diplomas, but only 16% have bachelors degrees).
HOWEVER, it is extremely important to note that Reading is about 7 miles from Cincinnati, a town of more than 330,000 people. Maybe there's a great cultural divide there, but I can't see how Reading, Ohio is that much of a small town (like the city review board people think) if it's 7 miles from a much larger city.
I think if the restaurant owner can't attract traffic through newspapers, magazines and the internet in a twn of 10,000 with 330,000 people 7 miles away...he has more problems than the review board telling him to take down his new form of advertisement. Perhaps he needs to examine why he isn't getting any more business.
@squinko: It reminds me of this documentary about Real Dolls and the men who love them. A lot of the guys just treated them like objects, but this one totally wined and dined his and bought her jewelry and clothes.
She's in Reading, OH?
Just throw a wedding dress on her.
All will be forgiven.
@ceez: But where do you draw the line between "there's crazier things to worry about" and upholding the statutes that officials think should be upheld? You can't ignore all of the things you should review just because there's economic ruin and such in the world. You have to do your job. If it means the review board is going to examine the decency of the mannequin's attire, so be it. I agree they should be spending their money wisely, but towns can't just ignore certain controversies for the sake of having bigger fish to fry. If that were the case, if I were a government official, I'd just go watch movies all day, because making decisions on little things like skanky mannequins used as advertising just isn't as important, not with all the economic collapse going on out there.
Nice Rack! And definitely not tacky.
I can see why some people might be concerned if she is standing on a busy street. Not knowing what it is, plastic cleavage would probably take my eyes off the road for a moment or two.
@pecan 3.14159265: Please. Cincinnati is the prude capital of the midwest. Home to sheriff Simon Leis of the Maplethorpe fame.
But department stores CAN display manequins wearing bikinis in their store fronts. WTH!!??!
Looks like John Ashcroft has found more work.
@sharkd:Lay off the prudes. What if the road to economic recovery really is a world free from abortion, non-opposite marriage, sex in primetime, violence in videogames and godlessness? Won't your face be red!
@pecan 3.14159265: If someone reads those quotes and isn't creeped out by them, then there's something wrong.
@Robobot: Something Awful had a really great thread about a guy who has a handicapped fiance that has some sort of terminal illness, who used her money to buy him a RealDoll so he could have a "companion" for when she wasn't feeling well or when she passes away. He named it and dresses it and blogs about it like it's real. *heebie jeebies*
She makes my mannequin go crazy, if you know what I mean.
And, in case you don't, I'm specifically referring to the mannequin strapped in the passenger seat of my car which is there so I can drive in the car pool lane with impunity.
I know - somebody sue him for discriminating and not having an anatomically correct male mannequin too for the ladies :)
1. Is it a physical hazard? - Probably not
2. Is it pornographic? - As long as it's dressed such that a real woman wouldn't be arrested for exposing herself, I'm going to say no.
3. 'Local Flavor' - places are becoming far too 'cookie cutter' for my tastes, everything's the same. Encouraging diversity, even if a bit of it ends up being a bit risque, is for the good.
Is it a sign? I'd tend to say yes - She's just a fancy holder for that whiteboard.
As a government official, I'd be too busy looking for ways to increase business and employment than to worry about a mannequin that's increased the business of the restaurant double digit percentages.
Maybe he can rent her out to different businesses in town - a different outfit for every one, lol.
@takes_so_little: Let the boooobies soooaar...?
... meh, it worked yesterday.
He's too busy with US Fidelis anyhow.
@HiPwr: Hell, I'll stand outside w/words written on me if the money is good enough. I'll even do it in a bikini. My pride is not that expensive.
What a crappy news station. :P Have any body walked down Broadway near Canal St a month or two back? They had these mannequins with ginormous "busts" all over their store fronts.
From a local perspective, Reading might be a separate legal entity, but really is just a neighborhood of Cincinnati. Virtually indistinguishable from the rest of the city.
If the little people running the city kept getting upset about what the mannequin was wearing I would dress it up in a Nazi uniform and give the city council a little salute to their over reaching governmental control.
@pecan 3.14159265: Small town politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so low. And THAT part doesn't matter if it's a rural town or a suburb ... small-town politics give people something to do with their free time. And that something is "be really, really, really concerned about things that don't affect them in the slightest."
:)
The owner could just take all of the clothes off. Then there would be no problem and show how stupid the city board is acting.
Last I heard, she was allowed to stay but she had to be covered up a bit.
I think he should pay an attractive, real woman to stand there all day in a bikini for a day or two.
When the g-men come to take her away and find out she's real...hilarity will ensue.
@squinko: Maybe he's just joking around, having fun with the media attention? If he is "really" talking to it, that is scary. Hopefully he's just hamming it up for the cameras.
At a gas station near me, the old man has had a big plastic model horse outside the gas station since I was a kid. It was meant to show saddles, bridles and such at horse equipment stores, and there aren't many such places here so it looks odd outside the gas station. However, kids LOVE it and I loved it as a kid. 30 years later it's still out there, and my own kid loves that plastic horse.
They wheel it out every morning. Families fill up their cars at this gas station so the kids can see the horse. The owner dresses it up. In winter he puts a scarf on it and earmuffs. In the rain he puts a rainslicker on it with holes cut out for the ears. In summer a straw hat and beach umbrella, etc. He "talks to it" and it has a name. But he's just joking around and hamming it up for fun.
Of course families taking their kids to see a pony is a little different than the chesty display at the restaurant in question. And the fact that it's a busty woman makes his comments creepy. But I suspect he's just joking around for publicity. And publicity he has certainly found. It's probably just tasteless fun to him. Hopefully that is all there is to it.
@Julia789: There was a high-end westernwear store when I was growing up in Houston that had a life size plastic horse as well.. I have memories of sitting on it and looking at it and petting it..
I was horribly sad when the city stole their store/land and made them shut down.. They reopened in the Houston Intercontental Airport but I don't think they have room for the horse there.
@Kimaroo: My mom has pictures of me as a kid, sitting on the plastic horse. I took pictures of my own child on the horse too. Happy memories!
Hopefully, people won't take their kids to sit on and pet the Barbeque bikini model - LOL. ;-)
Oh dear god.. Seriously we have people spending time on arguing if this thing would need a permit... No wonder our states are BROKE.
And if they are trying to make a quick buck from a permit they will have outspent discussing this then making profit. The damn guy is just trying to make some $$ in the bad economy let him go at it. This is like the govt trying to make sure SBU don't make money....
@VeeKaChu: Umm, I am pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro-videogames, etc. But I still find this BBQ rest. offensive.
Then again, I would just choose not to eat there.
"Tessel (owner) insisted that BarBe 'should be allowed to wear what she (BarBe the mannequin) wants.'"
"The decision left Kenny Tessel, owner of BarBe and the barbecue joint, fuming about 'being told what she (BarBe) can and can't wear.'"
The owner is talking about the mannequin - unless you think the mannequin is a real person.
By the way, Kenney Tessel is a he, not a they.
@Eyebrows McGee (popping ~May 29): You made me laugh!
Also, I read "rural town or sub-blurb" as if it were just a footnote in the annals of history.
@Firethorn: One problem with your point number 2. SCOTUS opinions in obscenity cases state that definition of pornography/obscenity are community standards. It could be that community standards would deem the statue obscene, hence the hearings.
@ceez: For counterpoint (and to add to Pecan's point) I don't care about what you care about.
@sir_pantsalot: A naked Nazi? I'm just combining both of your ideas to see if we can come up with something hilarious-er.
@icantreplyright: Your username is perfect for your reply. The owner is Kenny Tessel, the mannequin is BareBe. You need to work on your reading comprehension skills.
yeah, THIS is what we need to be spending all our time/money fixing RIGHT NOW
FAIL!!
I understand about the permit which is totally fine. But there should be no issue that she is a mannequin (did you ever go into a clothing store?). The owner is a complete tool for introducing the mannequin as he did.
He pretty much lit the fire.
Never underestimate the power of a bureaucrat.