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Women Against Violence vs. The Rolling Stones
A group that called for a boycott of Warner Communications albums on April 21, 1976 because of the cover and promotional campaign for the Black and Blue record. Three years later, the boycott ended when it was agreed that the group could meet with the art and marketing departments of Warner Bros. Records regarding future album and advertising art.
Shock and Strategy: The Rolling Stones’ Provocative 1976 Ad Campaign
In the summer of 1976, controversy hit American streets—not through a tour, but via a bold and unsettling image on a Sunset Boulevard billboard. The Rolling Stones’ Black and Blue album, released in April of that year, didn’t come with a U.S. tour, but its promotional campaign stirred headlines nonetheless.
The centerpiece? A striking visual of model Anita Russell, bound with rope and posed on an opened LP copy, her makeup giving the impression of bruises. Below her, in large provocative lettering, read the slogan: “I’m ‘Black and Blue’ from the Rolling Stones – and I love it!” The imagery wasn’t limited to L.A.’s skyline. A similar ad ran in the July 1 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, igniting heated backlash across the country. Though the band never set foot onstage, they managed to shake up the American cultural landscape with an audacious mix of art, scandal, and rock ‘n’ roll defiance.
Amplified Outrage: The Feminist Uproar Over the Stones’ 1976 Ad Campaign
In the August 1976 issue of a newsletter published by the Houston-based feminist organization Breakthrough, Julie London, the Los Angeles coordinator of the newly formed coalition Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW), delivered a sharply worded condemnation of the Rolling Stones’ Black and Blue ad campaign. “This campaign exploits and sensationalizes violence against a woman for the purpose of increased record sales,” she wrote, capturing the anger and dismay that many feminists felt at the time. “The ad contributes to the myth that women like to be beaten and condones a permissive attitude towards the brutalization of women.”
London’s statement wasn’t just a critique—it was a call to action. WAVAW, still in its infancy, quickly mobilized around the controversy, organizing protests, raising public awareness, and urging record companies to reconsider how they marketed their artists. The Stones’ ad inadvertently became a catalyst for a larger conversation about gender, media, and accountability, helping energize a growing feminist movement that refused to stay silent.
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