Texas sign company destroys tailgate decal of bound woman

Michael Winter | USA TODAY

Bowing to a ferocious backlash to its "experiment in marketing," a Texas sign company Monday destroyed a tailgate decal that showed a woman tied up in the back of a pickup truck.

Brad Kolb, the owner of Hornet Signs, in Waco, removed the one-off vinyl wrap from an employee's pickup and burned it, KWTX-TV reported.

Kolb said the company has also donated $2,500 to the Advocacy Center for Crime Victims and Children in Waco.

Looking for some notoriety, Kolb was unprepared for the negative reaction, which started locally and spread like wildfire across the Web.

"I wasn't expecting the reactions we got," company owner Brad Kolb told KWTX-TV last week. "It was more or less something we put out there to see who noticed it."

Kolb addressed the controversy in a video posted Sunday titled "How Far Is Too Far?"

"What began as an experiment in getting reaction from our local community quickly changed to a nationwide response to a disturbing social issue that too many are faced with today," Kolb said.

He added that the company and its employees -- one of whom posed for the vinyl wrap -- "do not condone abusive behavior in any form to any individual," and called on people to "let's us know what motivates you to act."

Saying his company has "embraced the situation as an opportunity to help victims of abuse all over the country," Kolb said he had partnered with the Waco-based Advocacy Center for Crime Victims and Children to raise money and awareness. The firm has also posted names and phones numbers of local and national groups that help abuse victims.

Kolb also conducted a poll that asks whether the decal should be left on the truck, removed or auctioned on eBay, with the proceeds going to the charity.

Hornet said it has "not profited by one penny on this," noting that it made only one decal and did not plan to manufacture more for sale.

Regardless, most reactions have been fiercely negative.

"I am not sure who is worse, the disgusting people who created that sign, or the apologists who are trying to justify that behavior. You all make decent people sick," Meredith Prechter Young commented on the company's Facebook page.

The liberal group MoveOn.org has posted a petition calling on Hornet to remove the decal, saying "Using imagery of a hog-tied women on the back of a pick up truck is unacceptable in today's climate of violence against women."

Hornet acknowledged the "negative publicity" Monday evening, calling it "not unwarranted." But it added, "we would like to respectfully remind the public that, threats and personal attacks on our employees are also a form of abuse that many of our critics have voiced such outrage and concern over."