Some people in Mt. Pleasant are apparently shocked — shocked! — at the advertisement for an adult store that appeared on the side of a bus Sunday evening in the Mt. Pleasant Christmas Light Parade. Are you ready to see it? Brace yourselves, y’all. Here it is:
- Provided by Guilty Pleasures
- Yep, that’s it.
(Full disclosure: Guilty Pleasures advertises with the City Paper.)
Town Administrator Eric DeMoura had this to say about the advertisement in a press release today:
The Town neither sanctioned nor approved the advertising. The party responsible for the float failed to disclose its inclusion on the required entry form and displayed the sign without notice to Town officials. We do not support the adult-themed advertising presented on the float. The language was contrary to the family-friendly nature of the parade and brought controversy to an otherwise exceptional parade.
The banner appeared on the side of the Charleston Cool Bus, a refurbished school bus that is rented out for events including bachelor parties, bachelorette parties, and birthday parties. Guilty Pleasures is an adult store on Ashley Phosphate Road in North Charleston, and manager Laura (she does not want to give out her last name) says her store actually advertises on the outside of the Cool Bus year-round. During the parade, the band Chinese Fire Drill played on the roof of the bus, and a banner hung from the side with a cartoon Santa Claus and the phrase “Gifts for the Naughty and Nice!!!” Laura doesn’t see what all the commotion is about.
“I don’t think that it’s inappropriate in any way,” she says. “I don’t know why people try to keep denying that they’re having sex, but it’s pretty obvious that they are.”
Laura says she first heard a complaint about the banner on an FM radio talk show this morning. DeMoura issued his statement this afternoon.
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