UTA covers up vampire cleavage on lingerie bus ads

SALT LAKE CITY — With a little help from black vinyl patches, the Utah Transit Authority has covered up the cleavage on some Halloween-themed bus ads.

The action was prompted after UTA began receiving complaints from drivers.

"They were definitely some individuals out there who thought it was too revealing or offensive to them," said UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter.

One Holladay man complained after noticing the ads for the Blue Boutique on the back of one bus while driving with his daughter.

"I was taking her to school," said the man, who asked not to be identified. "Then she just said, 'Dad, look at that!' and it was right at me."

What followed was a very awkward conversation about why this vampire looked a bit different than the vampires she had seen before.

"It was just very provocative," he said. "You can probably say it was soft porn."

The ads for the lingerie store run on 16 UTA buses that run routes mostly through the Salt Lake Valley, with a few through Ogden. The ad features a woman dressed as a vampire. But her plunging neckline and expression proved to be a little too much va-va-voom for some of the general public.

Shortly after the ads were posted, the complaints started coming in.

Carpenter said the ads do comply with UTA's advertising policy, which he said is mandated by Utah state code. It states the "general manager shall not allow advertising on Authority vehicles, electronic media, or transit facilities, or any other form of advertising which … is explicit sexual material, obscene material, or material harmful to minors as these terms are referenced in Utah Code Annotated, Section 76-5a-3."

But even though the ads are within the code guidelines, Carpenter said UTA doesn't want to give anyone too much of a fright with the risqué Halloween advertisements, so, they worked with Blue Boutique and the advertising company to give the costume a little more coverage.

In the before ad, the woman's chest was mostly exposed. But as of Tuesday night, all of the ads have a black vinyl patch on the bottom left corner, covering the woman's cleavage.

Carpenter said Blue Boutique was very cooperative in adjusting the ads.

And while you may not be able to see much of her costume anymore, at least you can still tell she's a vampire — thanks to those fangs.

e-mail: jstagg@desnews.com