Proposed "Museum of Women’s History" ends up cashing in on Jack The Ripper

Via Wikimedia Commons

Imagine if Montreal promised to open a museum of women's history, and instead dedicated it to Marc Lépine.

Something similar has happened in London. A museum that was promised to be “the only dedicated resource in the East End to women’s history” opened last week, opened to reveal this:

Via Alamy Live News

A document  sent by the museum's architects to Tower Hamlets council last summer,  to get permission to convert an empty Victorian shop into a museum,  "included pictures of suffragettes and equal pay campaigners and designs for a museum called the Museum of Women’s History," reports the Guardian.

Instead, they got a place dedicated to an anonymous serial killer who targeted women sex workers and mutilated their reproductive organs.

The businessman behind the tourist trap, Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe, told the Standard:

“We did plan to do a museum about social history of women but as the project developed we decided a more interesting angle was from the perspective of the victims of Jack the Ripper. It is absolutely not celebrating the crime of Jack the Ripper but looking at why and how the women got in that situation in the first place.”

And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean? More shockingly, the Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe quoted is a diversity and corporate social responsibility expert who has worked with Google, Barclays, and the Global Diversity List, (associated with The Economist).

His LinkedIn profile reads, "I am passionate about all aspects of diversity and corporate social responsibility and believe that all individuals should have the opportunity to fulfil their potential. For me diversity and CSR are key business issues that I am adept in utilising to add financial, commercial and reputational benefits to organisations - as well as creating a great company for employees and customers."

He also mentions that he was voted to  the top 25 most influential LGBT people Globally by the World Pride / Guardian Powerlist in 2012, and that he is the Chairman of Board of Trustees at The Inclusive Foundation "a UK based Charitable Foundation aimed at helping young people to realise their full potential."

Is this really the same person? What the hell is going on over there?

(Thanks to Patrick for the tip)

Theatrical ad banned from London Underground over bare man bum

My Night With Reg is a 1994 play about gay men in London during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. This poster, for the current revival revived at the Donmar Warehouse (and now the Apollo Theatre) was rejected by Transport for London for "male nudity," according to Pink News.

The poster, with a nude man holding the best rock album ever recorded, is a direct adaptation of the first edition cover of its book version.

In the past, Transport for London has been the subject of ridicule for its prudish advertising standards, once banning a poster for an exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts for showing a 16th century female nude by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Ziggy Street

It's certainly one of my favourite album covers.  Shot by photographer Brian Ward in January 1972 photographer Brian Ward outside a fur distribution company called "K. West" at 23 Heddon Street, London. According to The Ziggy Stardust Companion, the entire shoot was done in black and white, then colourized in those saturated tones. (You can see some outtakes here.)

"To be played at maximum volume."

The side street has apparently changed quite a bit in 40 years. But just this week, the Crown Estate mounted a "Blue Plaque" at the site to commemorate its historical significance.

Unveiled by the dude from Spandau Ballet. Remember them?

Now that David Bowie is seemingly retired, I hope this kind of thing doesn't make him feel too old.

But then again, he's the one who said we only had five years...

Thanks to Mark B for the tip.

F'd Ad Fridays: There's no serial killing in baseball!

The Globe and Mail reports that this just-launched logo, for a minor league baseball team in London, Ontario, is not everyone's style of brand humour. London Mayor Joe Fontana says he has "serious concerns" about having his city's pro sports team named after a misogynistic serial killer, while Megan Walker, executive director of the London Abused Women's Centre, objected to the “very creepy-looking man” in the logo and the team's tagline, “Lurking in Labatt Park this spring.”

Me, I think this outrage is a bit of a stretch. The brand is tasteless, sure. But it's not like they named themselves after Robert Pickton. There's something to be said for the healing passage of time.

F'd Ad Fridays: Even ugly politicians get laid at Ashley Madison!

Copyranter posted this pic of an online extramarital dating ad. It was erected in London, and features the very Pythonesque mug of scruffy Mayor Boris Johnson.

Johnson is also known to scandal sheet readers as a womanizer, you see, through headlines like this:

Maybe he could benefit from meeting some more discreet homewreckers...

F'd Ad Fridays: DiscoWHAT?!?

This modest Indian take away menu from the UK has been making the rounds online this week as "the greatest typo ever". I found one reference to it that was over 2 years old (with tasteless ads). I'll have to assume they've fixed it by now. Unless, of course, it resulted in a huge increase in soon-to-be-disappointed customers.

Lou Reed/Metallica poster banned from London Underground

It must feel like the good old days for Lou, being banned for being too "street".

Animal's Marina Galperina reports that posters depicting the cover of the new Lou/Metallica album, Lulu, have been banished from the Tube. Not for the armless and nippless bust, mind you, but for featuring lettering that looks too much like graffiti.

This can be nothing but good publicity for the album, to be released this Halloween.

So far, I'm not sure it's sounding like a great combination of talents: