"Adland Gal" : Kerry Low Low

This ad is supposed to be a spoof of generic ads that play on female fears with regard to body image, dieting, food, etc. It's supposed to be smarter than all that and to appeal to women who are smarter than all that and are hip to the clichés. One my students just wrote a paper, arguing that the ad in fact just reproduces conventional ideas about female body image. All the while selling the low-fat cheese product, Kerry Low Low. I think my student is correct, and she got an "A" on the paper. Whaddya think? 

Calvin Klein's Male Underwear Models

Nice vid from the New York Times.

See: Amy Gluckman and Betsy Reed, "The Gay Marketing Moment: Leaving Diversity in the Dust," Dollars and Sense, November—December 1993.

One of the most famous of the models: Marky Mark (later better known as Mark Wahlberg). This is from the early 90s:

Vintage Sexist Ads

Great site, archiving 'vintage' sexism in advertising. Some of them, like the one below, seem, well, unbelievable.

sexual assault fashion ads

This discussion relating the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case to broader issues of sexual assault, from Feminist Wire, is remarkable in particular for the fashion adverts that it reproduces. Please read the entire piece. But look at these ads! Some pertinent quotes from the article are below each one.

in the United States alone, every two minutes somebody is sexually assaulted. Over 90 percent of the victims are girls and women.

One in six women in the United States has been sexually assaulted; 60 percent of rapes are not reported. Almost all perpetrators, about 99 percent, are men.

sexual assault is neither an aberration nor an abrupt tear in the social fabric. It is, rather, a routine fact of social life.

Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, and Relish look pretty hip now, don't they?