Is this an advertisement for a strip club or a pair of shoes? The advertising agency that created this ad clearly has lost touch with the world of shoes, either that or they spend too much time partying at strip clubs. These two advertisements do nothing but offend and degrade the woman who happens to be wearing a nice pair of shoes. A woman lays splayed out on the floor draped over a sofa, seemingly unconscious. Perhaps after a long night of drinking she staggered home and passed out, on her feet are an attractive pair of shoes. Lucky for the advertising company they placed the shoes near the brand name or nobody would have known what the ad was for. In addition to this ineffective advertising comes the insinuation. This advertisement implies that the woman has passed out, for whatever reason. This may not be so bad in some ways, despite its lack of effectiveness, but it certainly puts her in a compromising position. Does it imply that women all women who wear these shoes will go out and party? If so great for them, but why then show them passed out on the floor as opposed to out at the clubs? Will this really sell shoes? Next we see a stripper pole, this is the one that offends more than the passed out woman. A woman lays on the floor legs stretched up and around a stripper pole while wearing red shoes and a dress that doesn’t even manage to cover all of her undergarments. To me this says nothing for the shoes but simply that all women are strippers or perhaps all women who wear these shoes are strippers. I find it highly offensive that advertisers believe portraying women as strippers is an okay form of advertising, let alone a successful form. Many women that sees this ad will be highly offended and this will severely hurt sales. I firmly believe that this ad is aimed towards men because few self respecting women would appreciate it; it is clear that society is still very patriarchal and this is just proof.
1 comment:
Mm. I really appreciate this blog and cmpletely agree - much advertising is so incredibly sexist and demeaning, it's terrible. But I would like to point out one thing. In your post you say that the ad is inefficient and will make sales drop. These ads do quite the opposite. They setthe standard for beauty (sadly enough) and the standard for the attitudes of women. It's one thing to consciously be offended by an image and quite another to be bombarded over and over by images of "perfection" - perfection that can only be gotten in Photoshop. These ads are far from inefficient. They are cold and calculating and quite efficient indeed.
Post a Comment