A Texas sign company is under fire for creating a decal featuring a hogtied woman curled up in the bed of a pickup truck.
Hornet Signs came up with the design as a means of demonstrating how realistic its work is, KTWX News 10 reported.
And it was an employee who volunteered to be tied up and photographed for the disturbing image.
The decal features a hogtied woman curled in the back of a pickup truck
The stunt appears to have backfired spectacularly however, with posters on the company’s Facebook page accusing the firm of “promoting rape culture and violence against women."
Some have called for a public apology and a “sizeable” donation to be made to a local women’s shelter.
Others say the “experiment” has done its job, pointing out: “This American business owner has a decal that has made the news. Like it or not, it works.”
Hornet insists the design was a one-off and will not be reproduced or resold, and according to HLNTV it has reported a vast influx of orders.
The design was a one off and featured an employee who volunteered to be photographed for the image
Brad Kolb told KTWX: “I wasn’t expecting the reactions we got, nor do we condone this by any means. It was more or less something we put out there to see who noticed it.”
It’s not the first time a truck decal has featured a hogtied woman, The Frisky points out.
“Plus, this can’t be making local police happy. How many false 911 calls have been made because of these things?,” writes Julie Gerstein.
On 9 September Hornet Signs posted a note on its Facebook page conceding the decal had caused “outrage”, but stopped short of an apology.
It stated: “Let’s embrace the situation and take this opportunity to help victims of abuse all over this great country,” pointing out the site now features telephone numbers for victims seeking safety and support.