Transit authority refuses bloody ads

MONTREAL • An advertisement for the city’s ballet company that includes a woman with blood running down her legs and a nail jutting out of her foot is not acceptable within the public transportation system, Montreal’s transit authority said Friday.

The promotional image is supposed to be based on the pain of the Virgin Mary at the crucifixion of Jesus, and it was created for the first show of the year, called Stabat Mater, of Montreal-based Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.

The Montreal Transit Corp. nixed the advertisement, saying that in their opinion, it could incite violence.

“In the case of the Grands Ballets Canadiens, it was established that the poster could lead to violence, in particular because of the blood and the needle in the foot,” spokeswoman Amelie Regis said in an email.

“It must be understood that the STM transports a wide, varied audience of all ages and we must be sensitive to this reality.”

But the new artistic director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens said he doesn’t see the image in the same light.

Ivan Cavallari, who came into the job in July and is overseeing his first program beginning with Stabat Mater, said he won’t be submitting a new ad as suggested by the transit authority.

“I have no intention to change the concept, because throughout the program, all the pictures we’ve been making with the team, they go through a real concept — there’s a meaning behind those pictures,” Cavallari said. “I stand behind those pictures, so no way am I going to change them.”

The image depicts a standing dancer, draped in white and covered in blood. A long, black nail protrudes from her foot as she looks down, seemingly in pain, at her wound.

Regis said the advertisement contravenes sections of the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards.

Les Grands Ballets said the show, set to begin on Oct. 11, is about suffering that society is afraid to confront.