Threatening anti-smoking posters removed

By Katy Anderson

Minimalist posters featuring a bulls eye and the outline of a woman were hung around campus Wed., Jan. 17, igniting fears of a creator with ill intentions.

The Smoke-free University of Calgary club put up the ambiguous posters to draw attention to National Non-smoking Week.

The posters were not approved by the Students’ Union and were consequently taken down shortly after being posted.

“The main goal was to get people talking, and I’d say we accomplished that,” said Smoke-free U of C president Emily Joyce.

The posters were intended to create controversy and were intentionally vague. The club planned to post follow up posters Thur., Jan. 18 explaining the first wave, but they will have to clear it with the SU or risk getting their posters promptly taken down.

“We received complaints about [the posters],” said U of C vice-president external relations Roman Cooney. “Using a target on a female image is highly insensitive, and because there was no clear message attached to it I think they’ve really undermined the point they were trying to get across.”

Many students around campus viewed the posters as threatening and complained to Campus Security, who removed most of the posters Wednesday evening.

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