We’ve posted about Tom Ford‘s most recent provocative campaign (see here), but Urban Artiste drew our attention to an interesting development. The Italian Advertising Institute has banned one of his ads for being too “vulgar,” “sexually implicit,” “beyond bad taste,” and an “offensive gesture which insults women and the dignity of all” (quotes found at The Daily Telegraph). Which ad?
WARNING: The images in post are not safe for work.
Fetish #16: Apply generously to your neck so he can smell the scent as you
shake your head ‘no.’
NEW: Here’s a Noxzema ad that plays on the same idea–that women actually like being harassed:
Sent to us by Laura L., who found it at the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center website.
Miguel in Barcelona sent us this government-sponsored poster aimed at promoting egalitarian relationships. He translates the text as:
The love has to be free
Free of machismo
Free of fights
Free of jealousy
This image, as a representation of idealized egalitarian love, is a nice contrast to the representations of love common in the U.S. (and in Spain?) that make power asymmetry sexy, desirable, and constitutive of love. Consider the love affair between this apple and pear and these two images (which look more like the fruit than Miguel’s image above):
Thanks to Miguel for sending us our first image from Spain!>
I posted this first image back in October. This ad is disturbing because you can’t really tell if it’s consensual or an attack. And the perfume is called “Unforgivable.”
One of my students recently pointed out the ad for Unforgivable for Men:
Could provide a really interesting discussion of differing images of masculine and feminine sexuality and power. Thanks, Laisa P.!
NEW: Here’s an ad for Isaia Napoli clothing that is very similar:
Thanks, Laura L.!
Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.
The first two are from the Gaultier Classique line. The third image is called Le Male. The final image is Fleur Du Male. You can see other examples of the women’s line here.
This is an ad for Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B. line’s cologne. The text next to her face says, “I want you all over me.” I’ll leave it to you to decide if the look of ecstasy on her face and the droplets showering her body imply she’s being sprayed with anything other than water.
I found this ad in Entertainment Weekly.
This is one of the ads for “Tom Ford for Men”, a new cologne for men by Tom Ford.
Check out the extent to which the female model is objectified:
