Advertising: Images of lynching used in newspaper ad

Why on earth anyone would want to feature lynching in a print ad is beyond me - but that is what has happened in Detroit.

An ad paid for by Citizens for Honest Government, depicting black corpses hanging from trees, is being used by the group to liken media coverage of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to lynching. It carries the rather tacky and I consider, insulting tagline, "Lynching is Still Legal in America".

The mayor was quick to distance himself from the ad and issued a statement saying, "This advertisement is not affiliated in any way with the Kilpatrick administration or the Kilpatrick for Mayor campaign. Detroiters are very passionate people, and while I appreciate the spirit of some of the content, I do not condone the images in this advertisement".

This is not the first time the mayor has been involved in such controversy. In May, his father apologised for claiming that the media's coverage of his sons affairs, was akin to Nazi propaganda.

Is it just me, or is there something hideously wrong with images of people who suffered horrendously at the hands of bigots and hate-mongers, being used to push a non-related political agenda?

Full details and background: Ad depicting lynching faulted in Detroit race (Boston Globe) By David Runk, Associated Press