Thespians puzzled by Facebook rebuff
Local theatre company can’t understand why social-media giant rejected poster advertising musical
There’s no accounting for taste, but a local theatre troupe says Facebook spat the group out. The Fred Skeleton Theatre Company spent $400 to have its latest show advertised on the website. The ad ran in the Okanagan for two weeks until someone complained about it. Facebook sent the company a message Monday saying it pulled the ad because it’s sexually suggestive.
“The messaging was like, ‘we suggest you show less skin in your ad.’ It’s a dude’s face with makeup and a wig,” said artistic director Rob Mason-Brown.
The company is rehearsing Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a musical about a rock band led by a transgendered woman who survives a botched sex-change operation. The promotional poster used for the ad features a headshot of grinning actor Thomas Fournier in drag.
At least one critic objected to the image appearing on his or her Facebook feed and alerted the social-media giant. Mason-Brown can’t understand why.
“It seems like a very black-andwhite view of the world if you’re getting super upset about a guy in a wig and makeup,” he said. “(It) is not sexually suggestive or particularly obscene. I’m just kind of frustrated.”
The website directed Mason-Brown to an online form to appeal the decision. He filled it out and sent it but has not heard back from anyone. He tried to republish the ad, but Facebook apparently flagged it, because it hasn’t appeared.
Meanwhile, three days without publicity have passed and the play opens at Lake Country’s Creekside Theatre in two weeks.
“We’re running out of time before the show,” he said. “I’m not going to sell tickets while it’s not running.”
Facebook’s advertising policies define sexually suggestive content as nudity, implied nudity, excessive visible skin or cleavage, and images focused on body parts like abs, buttocks or chest.
Fournier’s tongue sticking out might be considered suggestive, Mason-Brown says, but he wonders why it would be an issue after the ad ran uninterrupted for two weeks.
The controversy is reminiscent of downtown Kelowna’s rainbow crosswalk approved by the city in 2015. Opponents derisively dubbed Mayor Colin Basran the sugarplum mayor, a moniker he embraced. The fuss inspired the Okanagan Pride Society to help organize the Sugarplum Ball for two years.
“It’s important we’re putting (the show) out there and supporting all those (LGBTQ) people . . . . It’s just a shame that they still have to deal with stuff like this. As a straight dude, this is my first experience with it,” Mason-Brown said.
The company is considering other marketing options. For now, it’s relying on word of mouth to promote a “universal story” its director feels anyone can relate to.
“You don’t have to be gay or straight or bi or anything. It’s a story that should ring true for all of us, because all of us are searching for who we are.”