In The News

Group rails against MBTA for movie poster
By Jessica Heslam
Boston Herald Media Reporter
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - Updated: 01:04 AM EST

As the bloodshed escalates across the city, advocates against domestic violence are blasting the MBTA for putting up monster-size ads for the upcoming Anthony Hopkins flick that boast: “I Shot My Wife.”

One of the giant posters for the crime film “Fracture” hangs in Dorchester a mere 100 yards from where an 18-year-old man was shot and killed while riding an MBTA bus 11 days ago.

“They should never have gone up. It’s troubling,” said Mary R. Lauby, executive director of Jane Doe Inc., whose group called on the MBTA to take down the ads.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said yesterday the ads don’t violate the agency’s court-approved advertising guidelines.

Pesaturo said a dozen ads for the movie were posted at a dozen subway stations about a month ago. Half of the ads have been taken down and the other half were expected to be taken down last night because the ad campaign had run its course, Pesaturo said.

The film company paid $20,000 for the ads, Pesaturo said. While the ads are coming down, Lauby said Jane Doe Inc. wants to dicuss the ad guidelines with T officials.

Dolce & Gabbana last month came under fire for running a print ad depicting a scene suggestive of gang rape. The reality TV show “America’s Next Top Model” recently had their models pose as murdered women. Court TV’s new series, “Til Death Do Us Part,” satires spousal murders.

“It is very disturbing to us, as a health department, to see how readily and commonly these images and messages are appearing in the mainstream, popular culture,” said Joanne Brewer, interim director of the Boston Public Health Commmission’s domestic violence program.