N.Y. Times Retooling Of Manson Ad May Only Be Beginning


Other newspapers say potentially offensive art would not make it onto their pages either.

Staff Writer Chris Nelson reports:

First came outright rejections of Marilyn Manson's new album cover art by the Target, Kmart and Wal-Mart retail chains.

Then the prestigious New York Times newspaper, in an apparently rare move, shot down an undoctored ad featuring the controversial cover of a naked, alien-looking Manson on it.

What's more, the album hasn't even hit the stores yet.

While such decisions to censor the shock-rocker's chosen cover for his upcoming Mechanical Animals (Sept. 15) may end up playing no role in the decisions of other record stores, as well as newspapers and magazines, to carry Manson albums or ads, the rejections could well become commonplace in the coming months.

Both the New York Post and the New York edition of USA Today, responding to the Times' recent decision to request alterations in the ad before running it, said they were not surprised by the rebuff. Both papers said they have ad review boards with similar guidelines and demands.

"It's more or less a quality-control issue," said Jill Telesnick, retail advertising manager for the Post. "Every ad that goes into a paper in a sense has to have the publisher's approval. That doesn't mean every ad has to be checked out thoroughly by the publisher, but that it must adhere to the corporate policies and/or philosophy."

The advertising review board at the Times said it had no idea that Target and the other major retailers were refusing to stock Marilyn Manson's new album when they rebuffed the ad, which featured the disc's cover as part of a promotion for the opening of a new Virgin Megastore in Union Square on Friday, which Manson is scheduled to attend.

According to a Times spokeswoman, the department rejected the ad based on its own merits -- or lack thereof. "It was determined that the ad was in questionable taste," spokeswoman Lisa Carparelli said of the Virgin Megastore advertisement, which featured a naked, gray-skinned and sexually ambiguous Manson.

The photo was an immediate red flag for the Times' department of advertising acceptability, which returned the ad to Virgin, she said. The company then resubmitted it with Manson's genital-less pelvic area blocked out. The altered ad ran in last Sunday's edition of the paper.

Neither Manson nor Interscope Records, the label for which he records, would comment on the retooled ad. Interscope has also not responded to reports that they are considering altering the disc's packaging due to the controversy. Calls to Virgin were not returned.

The rejection is just the latest strike against the shock-rocker's album. The 828-store Target chain has already refused to carry the disc based on the cover art -- although they have said they would consider stocking one with a different cover, if an alternative was provided. Meanwhile, Kmart and Wal-Mart stores are also shunning the set, citing the parental-warning sticker it will carry to alert buyers of potentially offensive content.

The Times' advertising acceptability department reviews each ad that's placed in the paper, Carparelli said. No one in that department could recall a prior instance of an album cover prompting an ad rejection.

"I've never had a problem with any albums," echoed USA Today's Nancy Mandel, advertising sales representative for that paper's New York edition. "Most of the record companies I'm dealing with, the stuff that they're advertising is pretty mainstream. There hasn't been anything real outrageous."

The review policy of USA Today's legal department was put in place with children in mind, Mandel said. "Being that we're hitting the general public and this is going home with a lot of families, they want to make sure kids aren't seeing anything real outrageous."

The Post's Telesnick said that, while she could not recall album advertising being rejected at her paper, requests for resubmissions in general are not out of the ordinary. "Most often it has to do with adult content," she said. "It might be anything from a strip club to a plastic surgeon."

Meanwhile, though the cover art for Mechanical Animals may be too controversial for Target and the New York Times, the androgynous, alien-like image of Manson is apparently quite suitable for MTV. The shock-rocker's video for "The Dope Show," the album's first single, debuted on the video channel last Thursday and has been played numerous times since then.

The clip features images of Manson in a gray alien get-up similar to the one he is pictured in on the album cover. The ghoulish-looking rocker is seen being roped-up rodeo style and examined by a team of doctors. The video then cuts back and forth between images of Manson the gloom-rock star and Manson the alien, inferring that they are one in the same.

It ends with the alien Manson destroying a room full of clones of himself.