ASS. Got your attention, didn’t I? I’m guessing Levi’s was pretty proud of the final tagline for their new Curve ID jeans: “All asses were not created equal.” Nothing makes you do a double-take like the blatant use of “ass” in advertising, right? But I digress. The real story behind the company’s latest ad campaign… Continue Reading →
The skinny on “skinny” products
The following post was written by 16-year-old About-Face supporter Haley: I think I can speak for most girls my age when I say that my generation is an impressionable one. Knowing this, companies constantly bombard us with manipulative ads and products that make us feel worse about ourselves than we already do. Take skinny jeans,… Continue Reading →
Gallery of Winners: A New Line of Proactiv Women.
Questions to Consider: * What is this ad selling? * What does it mean to not be a pushover? * What does “proactive” mean? * How does this ad make you feel? What We Think: Proactiv’s new campaign has a series of ads with different female celebrities and captions like “I’m no pushover. I’m… Continue Reading →
Gallery of Winners: Kotex Tells It Like It Is.
“U by Kotex: So Obnoxious” TV commercial “U by Kotex: Reality Check” TV commercial Questions to Consider: * Is Kotex’s commentary about other tampon commercials accurate? * In what ways does this commercial raise awareness about how manipulative commercials can be? (And is this commercial an exception?) * How does Kotex want you to feel… Continue Reading →
Gallery of Winners: Title Nine asks, “Where are you your own best self?”
Questions to Consider: * What are these images selling? * Who is the target audience? * How does Title Nine want us to feel about these women? About ourselves? What We Think: There really aren’t enough catalogs that feature strong, active, happy women. Not only does Title Nine feature positive images of active women, the… Continue Reading →
Gallery of Winners: Fruit of the Loom Reminds Us that We’re Flawless.
Questions to Consider: * Who are the women in this ad? * What is the message the commercial conveys? * How would you feel if this commercial came on after a Victoria’s Secret commercial? (How about before?) * What emotion does the advertiser want you to feel? What We Think: This ad is really… Continue Reading →
Gallery of Offenders: Forget the woman, get yourself a Bot!
Questions to Consider: * Are women on their way to becoming perfectly constructed robots? * Why does Svedka use a female bot and not a male bot? * How does this ad represent women? * What would it mean to be bought (purchased)? * Who is the target audience of this ad? What We… Continue Reading →
Gallery of Offenders: Marc Jacobs crosses the (age) line.
Questions to Consider: * How old does this girl look? * Why is she only wearing underwear and a bra? * Is this ad sexual? In what way is it sexual? * How does the advertiser (Marc Jacobs) want you to feel? * What is this ad selling? What We Think: This ad for Marc… Continue Reading →
Gallery of Offenders: Not a person, just a butt.
Questions to Consider: * Who is the target audience for this product? * What does this product do? Is it clear or unclear? * What role does the woman’s body have in this ad? * How many recent ads have you seen which display only pieces of a model? * Why is it so… Continue Reading →