Clothing retailers General Pants Co and Ksubi got together and made this:
This image of a woman, her top half naked apart from gaffer tape over her nipples, is having her jeans unzipped from behind. The image, part of the ‘Sex! & Fashion’ advertising campaign, adorns the glass windows of a number of shopping malls, including Westfield. It was launched at the end of last month.
The words ‘tongue-in-cheek’ and ‘satirical’ have been used to describe the campaign. Most children wouldn’t even know what that meanst. They are being socialised to see such sexualised representations as normal. But of course these images don’t affect only children. I’ve made the point before – if these pictures were put up in a workplace, it would be considered unlawful sexual harassment. But it’s OK to plaster the public domain with them when it’s advertising. The images are a form of harassment for women and girls who are confronted by them when going about their daily lives. Women are just for sexual decoration, to be stripped, to bare their flesh for the gratification of others.
Collective Shout has been inundated with complaints. One of our members told us that a Sydney General Pants. Co store went beyond a poster on the store windows to real life models posing with tape across their breasts.
We are pleased that the companies have experienced a consumer backlash. But we’d prefer not to have to run these campaigns in the first place. It seems corporate social responsibility has gone down the drain.
Let’s unpack the words of General Pants Co. CEO Craig King :
“We thought it would generate attention, sure. Much of what the guys [Ksubi] do gets attention, it’s that kind of brand. Any time we do something with the potential to polarise opinion we expect to get a few concerned ‘members of the public’.
“At the end of the day General Pants Co. is a curator of youth apparel brands for young blooded consumers. We encourage creativity and support youth initiatives. We don’t have a political agenda and we don’t want to be pulled into one – we don’t take ourselves that seriously.”
The sub-text is not hard to see. Note ‘members of the public’ in dismissive quotation marks. Note the references to youth and creativity – because anyone objecting must be old and outmoded. And as if stripping down women in advertising is clever and’ creative’ – really, you think were the first to come up with that idea? Anyone who objects has a ‘political agenda’ and the cool guys in their General Pants ‘don’t take themselves that seriously’. It’s all just edgy and chilled and the rest of you can get stuffed.
Here’s the thing Craig: we take what you have done seriously, because the actions of your company reduce women to sexualised adornments. So you might think it is all a big joke, and dismiss the rest of us. But your actions reveal what you really think about women. Like you company’s use of a peephole that invites the viewer/voyeur to have a good perve on gaffer tape woman. You’d never think to do that to a man.
General Pants Co. has decided to respond to complaints. But we can’t help being cynical and
wondering if this was all part of the plan.
General Pants and Ksubi told consumers they were censoring the campaign from May 3 onwards. But ‘censorship’ didn’t mean removing or pulling the campaign, it meant putting a black panel across the woman’s topless body, emblazoned with the text ‘CENSORED’.
Remember Advanced Medical Institute played the same little game? So did Nena and Pasadena. Sorry Craig, it doesn’t ‘diffuse the situation’. You have still exploited a woman’s body in your advertising, even though belatedly covering her. As my colleague Dr Helen Pringle said to me: “You don’t even need nudity to create pornography, you just put a ‘censored’ sticker over something and voila, homemade porn”. These boys invent their own censorship in order to justify their banal ‘self-expression’.
Here’s what I said about the issue on Channel 7’s Morning Show yesterday.
For details on how to make your protest known, see Collective Shout.
11 Responses
Great blog Melinda. I was in a shopping centre today and saw that they haven’t actually put the censored sign on the advert – they have put it on the window in front of the advert – which makes it all the more inticing to look at the advert and to see what’s behind the censored sign (which is the original picture featured above )……that’s a clear choice made by the company. Of course it’s all about spin. They are as irresponsible as all the rest of the retailers who couldn’t care less about the impact on kids.. or on women in general. Pathetic!
and another thing..when we define ‘workplace’ is not the General Pants clothing store a ‘workplace’?? Is not a shopping centre a ‘workplace’?? Perhaps we have some traction on that point?
Ugh. I could never stand shopping at General Pants anyway, the whole ‘too cool for you’ attitude of the store and staff was just boring. This takes their arrogance to a whole new level, though.
I was about to say the same thing as Julie, too. There must be tens of thousands of employees who are being illegally required to put up with ads like this, or porn t-shirts, porn mags, porn video clips etc in their workplaces every day. And surely even public advertising space is a workplace for the people who have to put up the billboards?
Wow. So youthful and edgy. I wonder if they will feel so justified when it is their daughters being raped because of the blase sexual culture they are helping to create?
They just don’t get it, do they!!!
I think what also disturbs me about this ( as if there needs to be more !) is again, the passivity of the woman in the picture. She stands looking immobilized, hands on head while the male behind is actively doing things to her.
And yet again her face is not happy, its not filled with pleasure at this act but blank and frozen. At a time when we are trying to teach boys that blank and frozen faces, passive ‘ going along with ‘ is not consent, adds like this are promoting the opposite, and yet again inciting sexual violence against women.
The ignorance/self interest of General Pants’ denial that they have no political agenda is breath taking.
Surely putting the ‘censored’ sign fits in with the whole ‘peepshow’ aspect of the campaign (ie, with the keyhole)? I can’t believe it’s a response to anything at all; I’m sure it was the plan all along.
Also, General Pants is for “young blooded consumers”? What does that mean? Seems to suggest “hot blooded”… in other words, they are aiming at sexed-up young men. In which case, sexualised, objectified images of half-naked women is EXACTLY what they want.
I’m getting really sick and tired of people telling me not to take this issue so seriously. For me, claiming that people who complain about these images are taking themselves too seriously is akin to the belief that women are ‘hysterical’. I found the CEO’s statement to be so condescending. The tone of his statement suggests he is the calm, sensible person in this situation and anyone who objects is making a mountain out of a molehill. I wonder how he would feel if his daughter or wife posed for this picture? We’d probably be hearing a slightly different statement from him then! Mr King…you don’t speak for me or any other woman who views this type of advertising as sexual harassment. Until men are repeatedly depicted in this manner in advertising, I’d suggest you let women be the judge of that!
Hmm. I agree with your last point. This is exactly the point I made, and my problem with the way you displayed the Henson photos on your blog. What’s different here?
I completely agree with the previous comment – shops ARE workplaces. Those shopping centres employ hundreds of people and, as such, should be treated just like an office; so it SHOULD be seen as unacceptable.
But I think that what you’re getting it in that point in the post above is that there are no children in an office, which makes it even WORSE than if these pictures were put up in an office. Which I also totally agree with
sent a complaint to them through their website, this was their reply:
Hi Amy,
Thank you for taking the time to write to us with your feedback about our recent Ksubi Sex and Fashion campaign.
We would like you to know we have read your thoughts and comments and take it on board as we do with all customer and community responses to our marketing campaigns or activities, stores and service.
Although certain details haven’t been accurately represented in the press we would like to inform you that this current campaign ceases this Thursday 12th May and will be replaced with our “winter jackets” window in stores and also across our online channels.
Thank you again,
The team at General Pants Co.
I believe you should not shoot the messenger. People often espouse opinions and make judgements without knowing the full story. I think it is appropriate to show images for the purpose of critique and assessment.