Hung Up About a Hanger

Aug. 21, 2007 — -- Who knew a hanger could get Americans so hung up?

A recent billboard for Manhattan Mini Storage, a popular New York City storage center, popped up over Manhattan's West Side Highway and reignited the abortion debate in the process.

The ad features a giant wire coat hanger on a stark white background next to the statement, "Your closet space is shrinking as fast as her right to choose."

Manhattan Mini Storage is known for political ads, which often use closet space as a metaphor for partisan politics.

Previous tag lines have targeted the current White House administration, for example, "Your closet's scarier than Bush's agenda" and "Your closet's so narrow it makes Cheney look liberal," next to a gruff-looking Cheney look-alike.

Most New Yorkers don't bat an eye at Manhattan Mini Storage's lefty campaigns, but some critics say this time it's crossed the line by blurring the distinction between advertising and plain old propaganda.

Whether or not the billboard is generating more business for the company is unknown; calls to Manhattan Mini Storage and its parent company, Edison Properties, were unreturned. But the hanger billboard is succeeding in creating buzz and not just among New Yorkers.

Though the billboard is exclusive to Manhattan, millions of people have seen, and commented on, the ad online. The anti-abortion New York Catholic League's Web site urges visitors to contact the general manager of Manhattan Mini Storage to voice their opposition to the ad.

In a memo, New York Catholic League President Bill Donohue called the ad offensive and disrespectful to members of the Catholic community.

"Why a storage company finds the need to advertise its support for abortion is a story all of its own," said Donohue. "But when it seeks to depict the pro-life community — which is primarily Catholic and Protestant — as oppressive, then a line has been crossed."

Kiera McCaffrey, the Catholic League's director of communications, said the league rarely speaks out on such issues, but this ad prompted a particularly rapid response.