Pandering to Human Weakness
Originally published in The Northwest Indiana Times
The issue: Thee Body Shoppe
Our opinion: Owner Debbie Diaz deserves a medal for her coy manipulation of the public and media throughout the controversy over the club. Meanwhile, opponents should recognize Diaz’s game for what it is and shun attention-getting histrionics.
Desperate times require desperate measures, or so Thee Body Shoppe owner Debbie Diaz would have you believe.
First, the Illinois Liquor Control Commission pulls the controversial strip club’s liquor license. In response, Diaz announces the club would begin serving juice and soft drinks and welcoming 18-year-olds, thus drawing more outrage — and attention.
Then, noticing a drop in clientele, Diaz springs the news that her near-nude dancers will soon be leaving even less to the imagination.
But not just yet. No, Diaz coyly waits, until the television cameras are poised and the club packed, to announce that the dancers will be removing their tops … sometime later this week.
It was a master stroke in a community that has shown that it is hair-trigger set to jump at the club’s slightest provocation. But what should be equally upsetting to residents is the fact that they are being played and manipulated by someone who knows the game well. By jumping when Diaz speaks, the media, village officials and club opponents have proven themselves to be as mesmerized by Thee Body Shoppe as its slack-jawed patrons are by its strippers.
Diaz’s game with the village began with her decision to locate the club in Lansing, where the mere act of opening for business was likely to generate more indignation and publicity than if she had chosen one of a number of nearby suburbs. Sure enough, within days, a small group of opponents began picketing outside the club. What could be better for business?
And it is continuing with Diaz’s latest ploy. Meanwhile, the cash registers at the club are tallying the final score, and it is heavily in Diaz’s favor.
If Lansing really wants Thee Body Shoppe to go away, it should let it die the peaceful death that the loss of its liquor license most likely portends. Shock and outrage would play right into the hands of Diaz, who is as skillful at manipulating her opponents as she is at choreographing the latest moves of her dancers.
© 1995 Lee Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.
The issue: Thee Body Shoppe
Our opinion: Owner Debbie Diaz deserves a medal for her coy manipulation of the public and media throughout the controversy over the club. Meanwhile, opponents should recognize Diaz’s game for what it is and shun attention-getting histrionics.
Desperate times require desperate measures, or so Thee Body Shoppe owner Debbie Diaz would have you believe.
First, the Illinois Liquor Control Commission pulls the controversial strip club’s liquor license. In response, Diaz announces the club would begin serving juice and soft drinks and welcoming 18-year-olds, thus drawing more outrage — and attention.
Then, noticing a drop in clientele, Diaz springs the news that her near-nude dancers will soon be leaving even less to the imagination.
But not just yet. No, Diaz coyly waits, until the television cameras are poised and the club packed, to announce that the dancers will be removing their tops … sometime later this week.
It was a master stroke in a community that has shown that it is hair-trigger set to jump at the club’s slightest provocation. But what should be equally upsetting to residents is the fact that they are being played and manipulated by someone who knows the game well. By jumping when Diaz speaks, the media, village officials and club opponents have proven themselves to be as mesmerized by Thee Body Shoppe as its slack-jawed patrons are by its strippers.
Diaz’s game with the village began with her decision to locate the club in Lansing, where the mere act of opening for business was likely to generate more indignation and publicity than if she had chosen one of a number of nearby suburbs. Sure enough, within days, a small group of opponents began picketing outside the club. What could be better for business?
And it is continuing with Diaz’s latest ploy. Meanwhile, the cash registers at the club are tallying the final score, and it is heavily in Diaz’s favor.
If Lansing really wants Thee Body Shoppe to go away, it should let it die the peaceful death that the loss of its liquor license most likely portends. Shock and outrage would play right into the hands of Diaz, who is as skillful at manipulating her opponents as she is at choreographing the latest moves of her dancers.
© 1995 Lee Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.