This is a billboard that shows a beautiful young mother shielding the eyes of her child from something awful, maybe a traffic accident, or a bloody crime scene. The image feels taut and in motion. It is clearly playing to the culture of fear in Mexico City -- fear of kidnappings, fear of freak calamities, fear of death. At the same time it is nodding at the mystique of motherhood that still dominates concepts of Mexican femininity.
So what's it selling? Why, it's Nido, the decidedly non-threatening milk powder. It's a whole campaign, by the way, saying essentially, If you're a good Mexican mother, you'll cover your kid's eyes from a horrible sight, and you'll buy him Nido. This particular billboard was spotted on the speedy north-south artery Calzada de Tlalpan, near the surface station of metro Portales.
