UPDATE: 4:20 p.m. The California Lottery Commission is taking down the ad. Read more at this link.
Leaders of the Legislative Women's Caucus are demanding that the California Lottery Commission take a new television ad off the air, saying a scene in which a woman slaps a man who scores a win on a scratch ticket "glamorizes violence."
"We certainly believe this commercial not only portrays women in a poor light -- by perpetrating violence -- but also endorses the act of violence itself," Sen. Noreen Evans and Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, who co-chair the caucus, wrote in a letter Wednesday to Lottery Director Robert O'Neil.
The letter, posted after the jump, asks the Lottery Commission to pull the ad and "scrutinize the content of future ads which may contain harmful messages that are paid for with public dollars."
"It is inappropriate for any entity, especially a state-funded Commission, to promote its products through the use of violence," the letter reads.
The "Luck has a new look" spot, posted below, shows a woman in black, assumed to be "Lady Luck," walking up to a man playing a California Lottery Black Scratchers ticket at a bowling alley. After she slaps him across the face, he looks at his scratch card and says, "I won!"
A spokesperson for the Lottery Commission was not immediately available for comment. The commission website lists several Lady Luck-themed promoted for the Black Scratchers game running through the month of April.
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