In 2012 American Apparel continued it's slippery descent down the slope of offensive adverts, inciting the rage of the public once again. While usually I roll my eyes and continue on with my day when a new American Apparel advert upsets Twitter, even I had to grab my pitchfork and join in with this one. 

At this point, the blatant use of sex to sell women's clothing (to women?) was getting boring. They weren't doing anything new or experimenting with their creative direction, instead trying harder and harder to shock the public and get the much needed publicity for their overpriced clothing. What disturbs me about this image is the expression of the model - she looks worried, concerned, almost like she's being pressured into posing like this? Although it may be intentional and all for the context of the photograph, it doesn't make my skin crawl any less. 

Despite the firing of court regular and practicer of sexual assault Dov Charney in 2014 (McSherry, online article, 2014), the brand doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon with it's provocative advertisements. Thankfully, they are preparing for bankruptcy (again!) as of last week (Porter, Coleman-Lochner, Townsend, online article, 2016). I guess sex doesn't sell as well as they thought.

2. "Tom Ford For Men" Tom Ford (2007)





If you take a closer look at some of the most controversial fashion adverts this century, you'll find they were all shot by one man - Terry Richardson. We are on our second so far and have already featured two examples of his work. How many more adverts from the portfolio of Richardson do you think we'll have by the end?

Another similarity is that ever since his run as creative director for Gucci, Tom Ford has used sex to sell just like American Apparel. Yet one brand is poised to be worth over a billion dollars by 2020 (Caldwell, online article, 2016) while another just filed for bankruptcy (Porter, Coleman-Lochner, Townsend, online article, 2016) as mentioned. Clearly Tom Ford is doing something right and I think I may know what it is.

You'll notice that in the majority of American Apparel's adverts featuring women posed provocatively, the product being sold is clothing for women. However, you'll also notice that most of the people who complain about the adverts are indeed women. Why would a woman buy from a brand that uses porn stars as models and features girls with their legs spread open for the camera? The method American Apparel is using to sell to it's target audience is simply incorrect for that demographic.

Instead, Tom Ford is selling sex to men. For his products aimed at women, they are naughty but not too naughty - she may be topless but she's radiant with beauty. She's showing you that if you buy this lipstick, you'll look as good as her. But with his products aimed at men, he's promoting a look that many heterosexual men aspire to be. They want to wear a sharp Tom Ford suit, they want to weather a musky leather Tom Ford cologne and they want to be with the women in a Tom Ford advert. It's such a simple concept executed so well that I'm genuinely shocked and confused that American Apparel have missed this fundamental marketing rule - don't sell sex to women, sell beauty.

3. "United Colors of Domestic Violence" United Colors of Benetton (2007)





2007 was quite the year for controversy, wasn't it?

Despite being a global fashion brand, United Colors of Benetton's advertising and marketing teams seem to believe they are working for a completely different company. They aren't known for featuring promiscuous women in compromising positions, instead acting as some sort of fashionable branch of Amnesty international raising awareness of important social issues in the world.

Instead of trying to sell you that new handbag or this season's must have sweater, Benetton are promoting their ethics and concern for the world, particularly women. People will choose to shop at Benetton simply because of how much they support and care for vulnerable women. While they may not be the biggest or most successful of high street fashion brands, they aren't going bankrupt and people only have positive things to say about them so clearly something is going right.

4. "Fashioin Junkie" Sisley (2007)




Once again, we're going back to 2007 to have a sit down with Benetton's naughty sister brand Sisley. Taking inspirations from Kate Moss, the models don't actually promote much clothing (like Benetton) and instead the photograph focuses on the suspicious white substances they lethargically snort.

Wouldn't you agree that the advert isn't very effective and is almost laughable at how desperate it is? I don't think this approach is working for Sisley as the first I heard of the brand was from the controversy surrounding this advertisement. I'm not even sure of what they sell.

5. "Be Caught Dead In It" Superette (2009)





The only advert to make me crack a smirk from this list. No, it's not because it depicts a dead woman but rather the nerve Superette has to insist their clothing is worth dying in. There are a few brands I'd happily get murdered in (Chanel, anyone?) but Superette isn't one of them.

Upon second glance, you may notice the bottle of champagne rolling in the grass. Is this a subliminal message highlighting the dangers of excessive drinking? The messages here are conflicted. On the one hand, Superette is trivialising death and implying what you're wearing is the most important part of dying. On the other hand, they seem to be passively implying that we should curb our drinking before we end up like this lady skewered on a fence.

I feel sorry for her but it's not because she's dead.


Bibliography:

Figure 1. American Apparel Inc. (2012) Americal Apparel, Now Open. [Advertisement] At: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/controversial-american-apparel-ads-gallery-1.2386169?pmSlide=1.2386158

Figure 2. Tom Ford (2007) Tom Ford, Tom Ford For Men. [Advertisement] At: http://gimlet.pl/tag/marketing/

Figure 3. United Colors of Benetton (2007) United Colors of Benetton, United Colors of Domestic Violence. [Advertisement] At: https://thisisnotadvertising.wordpress.com/tag/united-colors-of-benetton/

Figure 4. Sisley (2007) Sisley, Fashioin Junkie. [Advertisement] At: http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/gallery/19779/10/controversial-fashion-ads

Figure 5. Superette (2009) Superette, Be Caught Dead In It [Advertisement] At: http://www.thetoc.gr/trends/article/otan-oi-diafimiseis-skotwnoun-tis-gunaikes

Porter, Kiel / Coleman-Lochner, Lauren / Townsend, Matthew (2016) 'American Apparel prepares to file for bankruptcy, again', Bloomberg, 26th of October [Online] Available: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-26/american-apparel-said-to-be-preparing-second-bankruptcy-filing

McSherry, Mark (2014) 'American Apparel CEO Dov Charney fired: the fall of a merchant sleze', The Guardian, 17th of December [Online] Available: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/17/american-apparel-ceo-dov-charney-fired-fall-icon-sleaze

Caldwell, Georgina (2016) 'Tom Ford poised to become billion dollar brand by 2020', Global Cosmetics News, 20th of June [Online] Available: https://globalcosmeticsnews.com/north-america/2921/tom-ford-beauty-poised-to-become-billion-dollar-brand-by-2020