Does Pa. Liquor Control Board’s ‘Date Rape’ Ad Blame Victims? [PHOTO]

The Pa. Liquor Control Board pulled a public awareness ad Wednesday following complaints from rape victims that the ad blames women. The ad campaign is meant to warn young adults about the dangers of heavy drinking and the link to date rape. Instead, critics saw the ad as an attack on women and an accusation that rape is the victim's faults.

The ad in question shows the image of a woman's legs sprawled on what appears to be a bathroom floor. Her underwear is pulled down to her ankles. The ad reads, Date Rape: She didn't want to, but she couldn't say no.

A similar companion ad seems to imply that friends who were a part of heavy drinking are also to blame.

Sexual Assault, the ad reads, That's what Anne's attorney will call it a month from now. She said no, but he kept going. And now, your friend is on his bathroom floor, bruised and victimized. See how you could have prevented this.

Although the Liquor Board decided to pull the ads, Stacey Witalec, the spokeswoman for the Liquor Control Board, told the Associated Press that the ad was part of a larger anti-binge drinking campaign running on the website ControlTonight.com.

On an annual basis more than 97,000 people between the ages of 18 and 24 are the victims of alcohol-fueled sexual assaults, Witalec told the AP, and those statistics are staggering.

Witalec ensured the AP that the ad was not meant to imply that rape victims are to blame.

We have gotten lots of feedback, both positive and negative, on the campaign, Witalec told Clutch Magazine Online. First and foremost our intention was never to offend anyone with the images but to bring about a greater conversation about the dangers of binge and problematic drinking. We did a lot of work with focus groups and a lot of research for this campaign, and heard from our target - individuals 21 through 29 - that these are scenarios they have faced and their friends have faced.

The campaign has inspired both frustrated criticism and empowered praise.

Jennifer Storm, the Executive Director of the Victim/Witness Assistance Program in Harrisburg, told the AP that citizens need to be more frank about prevention.

Alcohol is the number one drug used to facilitate rape. You lose your capacity to make sound decisions, Storm added. We need to empower people with every tool and piece of knowledge we have.

Others do not agree with Storm.

Rape is not just a bad thing that happens to someone after drinking too much, a wave of nausea that ends in vomit that smells like Red Bull, Erin Gloria Ryan, a blogger for Jezebel, wrote. It's not something the victim conjures up with a mixture of alcohol and phermones. It's a deliberate act on the part of the rapist, a violation of another person committed solely because the rapist wanted to rape. The sooner we acknowledge this, the sooner we'll be rid of stupid, finger wagging ads like these.