AP reports:
A Las Vegas strip club has agreed to stop an advertising promotion that involved hauling bikini-clad exotic dancers around in a truck with clear plastic sides….Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak said … “It’s clearly a distraction …. Somebody’s going to turn their head to look at some girl flipping upside-down and spinning on a pole, and take their eyes off the road and could swerve and pop up the sidewalk and plow into a bunch of tourists that are walking along.” …
Regulations prohibit advertising vehicles that use animation or flashing lights, and Sisolak said he would try to prevent live entertainers from being used, too.
Meanwhile, he’s happy the club owners decided to park the truck….
Thanks to my student Molly Odell for the pointer.
Splunge says:
Goodness, this doesn’t go nearly far enough.
I would be just as distracted by an exotic dancer strolling down the sidewalk. Or really, any beautiful woman dressed appropriately for a warm Las Vegas desert day. Clark County should require all women to wear burquas in public, so as not to distract male drivers.
While we’re at it, it should be illegal to drive cars in possibly distracting bright colors, like red or white. All cars should be a sober, respectable black. Without any chrome. And no radios, either, because listening to asinine nanny-state fools hold forth on public morality on some NPR talk program can drive one to punch in the radio, and therefore not have two hands on the wheel while making lane changes.
November 16, 2009, 7:38 pmKazinski says:
What about the stripper’s first amendment rights of free expression? Does the First Amendment stop at the “clear plastic sides”?
November 16, 2009, 7:47 pmHalbtrauig says:
Here is the original story. A shame that the cute little marketing gimmick had to stop so soon. A little known fact: The truck was originally built to market Dunkin Donuts.
November 16, 2009, 7:49 pmR says:
Just here to point out the ad for the Vegas Gentleman’s Club that is now on this page. If I click on it, will the VC somehow profit?
Just want to do my part.
November 16, 2009, 7:50 pmDavid Welker says:
I am not sure about the public safety argument. It is an interesting one. As mentioned above, it is also possible to be distracted by interesting people walking on the strip. It is also very easy to become distracted by all those bright lights and signs on the strip. On the Las Vegas strip, you are just going to have to deal with distractions. I am not sure that this is any more distracting than all of the other things on the strip, but maybe I am missing something…
November 16, 2009, 8:19 pmJohnG says:
If I remember correctly, no one has a constitutional right to drive an automobile. Therefore, I suspect it’s probably safe to assume that no one has the right to advertise while operating a motor vehicle, especially if an argument can reasonably be made that the advertising may create a public safety issue. So, I don’t think the 1st Amendment article is in play here.
Is law enforcement saying the dancers can’t dance when the truck is parked legally? Maybe you’d need a permit to engage in this demonstration but that’s only a minor incovenience.
November 16, 2009, 8:55 pmMalvolio says:
I’m as fond of strippers as the next guy and, hey maybe a little bit more, but come on. This seems like a huge hazard. Plus, the stripper herself is just a paraplegic waiting to happen back there.
And yes, the ban should apply to women stripping on the sidewalk distracting drivers.
November 16, 2009, 10:20 pmASlyJD says:
Seat belt laws strike again!
November 16, 2009, 10:25 pmCornellian says:
I’ve noticed the occasional billboard around here that portrays a, shall we say, particularly distracting woman, and I’ve wondered about whether it’s caused any traffic accidents in the vicinity.
November 16, 2009, 11:56 pmRandy says:
WTF? You guys have a Strippermobile?!! Sheez. We have scantily clad hot men just ONE day a year at the Gay Pride Parade, and we all we ever hear is the same old “you gays need to stop with the gay pride stuff if you want any respect or rights” schtick. And now I hear that you straights have this thing going on *every day* — AND you can get married!
It’s a straight man’s world afterall……
November 17, 2009, 12:44 amRicardo says:
Don’t forget the classic, “I like the gays and have lots of gay friends. I just don’t want them shoving it down my throat all the time. [But boy do I love those Strippermobiles -- oh, and lesbians are kind of hot also].”
November 17, 2009, 12:52 amBT says:
It seems to be an age old problem. As Del Reeves sang in 1965, Who is the girl wearing nothing but a smile and a towel in the picture on the billboard near the big old highway? …I slow my Jimmy down to twenty that’s how many wrecks I see there everyday..caused by the girl wearing nothing but a towel….
November 17, 2009, 2:39 amEW1(SG) says:
Not exactly sure how you could get much more “animated” than a live performer, so it would seem to be already prohibited, no?
November 17, 2009, 8:23 amWilliam A. Kennedy-Las Vegas Lawyer says:
literally this is a case of trafficking of women because this show will cause a lot of traffic
November 17, 2009, 8:44 amHouston Lawyer says:
Does anyone doubt the ability of a stripper to cause traffic accidents?
Someone must have changed the law here recently. Large trucks now have yellow strobe lights mounted on the back. I find these lights mezmerizing and wonder who decided that they would be a good idea.
November 17, 2009, 9:07 amTom952 says:
Eugene flogging his hit counter again.
November 17, 2009, 10:04 amrb1971 says:
Don’t forget the classic, “I like the gays and have lots of gay friends. I just don’t want them shoving it down my throat all the time.
Then you should really keep your lips sealed…
November 17, 2009, 1:01 pmrb1971 says:
Don’t forget the classic, “I like the gays and have lots of gay friends. I just don’t want them shoving it down my throat all the time.
Then you should really keep your lips sealed…
November 17, 2009, 1:01 pmLarryA says:
Now that’s a moving violation.
November 17, 2009, 2:03 pmProf. S. says:
Well, then I guess we know where they parked the truck.
November 17, 2009, 2:59 pmSteve2 says:
More to the point, nobody has any right of any sort to drive an automobile for any purpose except to bring freight or passengers from Point A to Point B. The roads are not for recreation, they are not for advertising, they are not for drag racing, they are for transportation and transportation only. If you aren’t transporting people or goods from an origin to a destination, you have no business on the public roads.
November 17, 2009, 5:33 pmRandy says:
Steve2: “The roads are not for recreation, they are not for advertising, they are not for drag racing, they are for transportation and transportation only.”
Guess that means that newlyweds can’t have tin cans trailing behind their cars anymore. I dunno, this kinda sounds a little fascist to my ears….
November 17, 2009, 7:51 pm