I have been driving past this Fairfield Pool billboard for as long as I can remember. Its sexist, demeaning, and heteronormative message is offensive to me, my friends, my family, and my community. This billboard presents women as mere objects or “ornaments” who promote a consumer product. It focuses on only their physical appearance (their “hotness”), reinforcing the idea that women’s bodies are commodities.

Thousands of cars pass this sign every day (it’s located on I-95, between exits 23 and 24 driving towards New Haven). Every minute of every hour, our children and young women and men look up at this sign, which essentially tells them that it is okay to regard and treat women as “less than” men. Do you ever see a billboard that says, YOUR HUSBAND IS HOT, to advertise a product? I highly doubt it.

As a child, I sat in the back seat of my parent’s car and looked up as we drove past this billboard. I was always a little confused about why the normative “hotness” of a woman was connected to the sale of a pool. Yet, I eventually accepted it blindly and moved on. Now, at 21 years of age, I will NOT passively tolerate this message.

We will no longer tolerate the inappropriate and offensive message on this billboard. There are plenty of other ways in which a pool company can advertise its product without objectifying women.  We ask that Fairfield Pool take this billboard down from our main highway immediately.