Visual Headlines: Plucking the Chrysanthemum and the Black Tulip

There are many headline writing techniques to get attention. The visual headline uses either a graphic or  visual element to be both words and visual. For example, in this ad for Ikea below:

We see a floor plan that spells out the word "play," which is hopefully the attitude customers will bring to shopping at Ikea to decorate their flat. The Black Tulip Hotel in Amsterdam, which advertises specifically to the gay community used a similar technique -- the visual headline -- and in fact, a floor plan, to suggest another kind of play available for guests at the hotel:

An odd tangent is my question about the name The Black Tulip. In classical Japanese literature, the phrase, "plucking the chrysanthemum" was used to denote the taking of a young man's anal virginity. Apart from a reference to the tulipmania of the Netherlands' economic history, I wonder if the phrase "black tulip," has a similar connotation as the Japanese phrase mentioned above. Any Dutch speakers out there have any info?

Comments

[Joe]

Hey... found your blog through JoeMyGod and I look forward to checking out your entries. Queer Catholic-Born Sorta-Buddhist here.

I'm wondering if the hotel is just playing off the very large chain of Dutch "Golden Tulip" hotels.

Through your Japanese reference, one is also reminded of Annie Proulx's line about "stemming the rose" in Brokeback Mountain.

[CreatureSH]

Isn't that latter floorplan a bit insulting, given stereotypes ?