"It seems that the Wonderbra will not only allow you to crack through glass walls......"

That's what that was?!? When I first saw the ad I was like: why are sparks coming from her bra?

What this Ad doesn't point out is that the model is actually lying on her back, using her WonderBra® to break through the glass ceiling.

All "this is a bad ad because___" reasons aside, that thing just looks damned uncomfortable.

From the look of this ad, are they trying to sell Wonderbras to men or women?

Wow, that coffin one is REALLY horrific.

My jaw dropped when I watched the coffin one.

Have you seen this one? It's another Wonderbra ad that I despise - honestly, I don't know what woman would want everyone staring at her like she's a piece of meat. All of these advertisements look as if they were created by men, for men. Were any women consulted before they made these ads public?!

The coffin one is disturbing. Sorry, but if my mom died, my first thought would not be "How can I make her boobs look glorious?"

And I don't even get the glass-breaking one. Wonderbra is supposed to make your breasts perk up and look big...not rock-solid.

Ha! I thought the ad in the post itself was vandalized somehow; it took several readings for me to get that, and then understand why, it was part of the ad.

Amy: that ad is awful! I can't think of an ad that would make me want to buy a product less.

Huh. With the exception of the glass-breaking, I think these ads (esp. umbrella and funeral) are cute, funny, and completely original. They appeal to the intelligence and humor of men AND women, as opposed to just appealing to the lust of men (and lesbians) and/or the assumed desire of women to look like the models. And I certainly don't think that jacking up my cleavage a bit, whether it's with a Wonderbra, kleenex, or duct tape, makes me less of a feminist or reduces me to a body part.

Seems strange to me that someone writing for a website that uses mudflap girls as the inspiration for the logo would be so offended by these ads, actually.

...they also don't reduce me to a body part.

I actually can't find anything wrong with ads for a brand of bras focusing a lot on how they affect you vis-a-vis your breasts. Advertisers can save their pitches that focus on my intellect for when they try to sell me cognition-enhancing drugs, thank you very much.

miss buffalo,

look around... i'm sure it's been gone over a hundred million times, but the mud flap girls are giving the finger... it's a CRITIQUE of mud flap girls, not a celebration of them.

Okay, that just looks like someone threw her body into a window. How sexy is that.

I'm ok with implying a bra can make your breasts strong enough to break through glass. Woman parts + strong = good.

I think most of the ads are funny and subtle (uh, not the pancake one). I'm also usually ok with bra ads focusing on the bras--just as I would shoe ads featuring only feet.

There are some iffy issues: the scantily clad model above and the overall undertone as to how important your boobs are (like the restaurant one, boobs are the only way to garner attention and be special) move away from clever advertising and into the tired realm of women as objects. Really now, who is the above ad targeting?

If I were a woman and wanted to make my breasts look un-natural I would go for the 1940's "Torpedo Boobs" look before I would got for the weird round boob look.

Bah, Wonderbra. If they're so all about the huge boobs, they could make a bra above a C cup. My D's could use some lift, too! At least I always have Lane Bryant.

Okay, that just looks like someone threw her body into a window. How sexy is that.

Ok, I actually do think the umbrella one is kind of clever. At least it makes you "work for it" to get the joke and does a little more than just shove cleavage in my face. I still don't like it, but at least it goes several steps beyond "Heh heh, titties..."

The coffin one is EXTREMELY unsettling. And this one (above) is just kind of gross. That tit trap looks horribly uncomfortable and makes her boobs look...angry.

And I'm always really surprised when people don't "get" the Feministing logo. I mean, I don't get what's not to get...

Alice and Danyell - I actually see the mudflap girl as a reclamation of sexist imagery as well as a critique. I also think it's damn funny. To me, it indicates that the people who write for and read this site might be likely to have a sense of humour about something as silly as a woman holding an umbrella with her boobs, even if it is a bra advertisement.

I think you're misreading which name goes with which post, Miss Buffalo; I didn't mention the mudflap girl.

Miss Buffalo, the reason I call it a sense of humor is that I distinguish between what is funny and what isn't (just as my sense of smell determines what is pleasantly fragrant and what stinks). So I say, mudflap girls saying "Fuck you!" to ooglers=funny. Sexualizing dead women = not funny (and down-right creepy). I get really irked when people claim that finding a series of ads offensive means "not having a sense of humor about anything ever". Or if I find the logo for this site clever, I must be a hypocrite for not thinking every other girl-y semi-naked image is equally clever just because they used some of the same body parts.

Not only are these ads offensive to women, but they insinuate that every man turns into a drooling, dazed idiots whenever a woman within 500 feet dares to show her cleavage. Check out this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg-USis76cA&feature=related

i used to work in advertising and graphics for years, and the "big idea" in that field, supported by lots of research, is that postmodern consumers are effectively no longer swayed by ads that extol the virtues of a product. this is why you rarely see ads anymore talking about how much better product A is in relation to product B. we've all been advertised to for so long and we all have so much (well-placed!) skepticism that companies now aim most often to create ads that are exceptionally memorable for one reason or another, not to actually straight-up convince you that their product is actually worth buying. (one study i read said it took the average consumer 17 viewings of an ad before they even remembered what it was for, so companies are trying more and more outrageous stunts to shorten that window and to create very specific brand identities.) there's even books out now about "the end of advertising", because almost no one is swayed by that stuff anymore, and there's enough products on the market now that they're essentially the same; the difference comes in the brand identity and image.

so, i think these ads are effective in that sense....wonderbra isn't expecting anyone to actually think, "oh, my friend died. let me make sure her breasts look good in the afterlife! and for that task, only a wonderbra will do!", they're hoping we all remember that a lingerie company made some outrageous imagery, and the next time we go shopping, maybe that will stick in our brains long enough that we now associate wonderbra with something out of the ordinary, i.e., "not your mother's bra", and try one on. i certainly will remember these ads, and i'm not confusing wonderbra with another brand, like maidenform, so i think they've achieved what they wanted. the coffin one skeeves me out a bit, but i think the glass-breaking one is pretty tongue-in-cheek.

Hey, Alice, if you don't think it's funny, you don't. I'm sure your sense of humor is just fine. I hate the humorless feminist nonsense as much as anyone and I am sorry if I seemed to be accusing you (or anyone else) of such. I just don't get how these ads (with the exception of the one about pancake day, and perhaps the smashing-glass one, depending on how you take it) are so damn offensive - they are bra ads. Bras hold boobs. These bras are supposed to squish boobs together and make them look bigger and stick out more. I think the ads express that in a really clever way.

You know, I buried my grandmother recently - she was a loud, brassy, take-no-shit feminist, and she was buried in about ten carats of fake diamonds, hot pink lipstick, and - yes - some serious cleavage. She would have found the coffin advertisement hilarious, and so do I.

God, sorry for getting the names wrong. Twice. Embarrassing!

What's wrong with the umbrella one? I think it's cute and funny. Not to mention, it lacks a lot of the objectification you usually see in bra ads.

I blame Wonderbra for the fact that I can walk into a lingerie store, ask "Do you have any bras don't have any padding and are unlined?" and have the sales staff look at me like I'm from Mars. *sigh*

rhowman--

Oh I know, right? I'm got small breasts, and thre are very few bras in my size that aren't padded, or lined so heavily they might as well be padded.

I don't get the ad with the woman waiting for the train. What am I missing?

Freaky!

I actually thought she was spraying milk everywhere for a second there. I was getting all psyched to see what everybody thought about that, too...lol

Speaking of reducing women to body parts, how's that Vagina Monologues thing going.

I'm with Cheezwizard.

And looking at the the ads, I find them clever. My favorite is the seperate yellow line on the train platform. The glass breaking one is a little disturbing though; my first impression was that she was thrown against the glass.

They're completely ridiculous. Tits will never break glass, nor will they stick out several FEET and using them to hold an umbrella? Do these ads really warrant all this critisim?

I also think they are funny. Which is why I like this site [and really feminism in general] because some people will see it as one thing and some people as another.

Though the coffin one is a bit much, but then again, that's probably what they were going for. Death doesn't have to be so damn morbid does it [orrrr waiiiit.... it does]

ha

The ads aren't saying YOU NEED a wonderbra to have any level of self worth, but if you want some cleavage, it's an option. It's a play on the word "wonder"...boobs (the part the item being advertised goes on) doing things that they don't usually do. They're admitting right up front that it's not natural, it's not meant to be!

I don't think the ads reduce women to a part at all. I think *acting* like a bra ad could have that kind of power reduces us to nothing but parts...and whining parts at that.

No one is selling these things to men, we're the ones buying them of our own choice. They're trying to sell them in a 'Hey look at our clever branding!' kind of way. I think it's more respectful of a woman's intellect and sense of humor than saying a push up bra makes her automatically nothing more than a pair of unnaturally enhanced breasts to the general viewing public.

So if a woman is beautiful, powerful, intelligent, and successful, but wearing a push up bra, no one will see anything about her other than her beauty--and find it cheapened because she likes cleavage?

The coffin one might be a little tasteless, or a little tongue in cheek, depending on how you see things, but I agree with the posters who pointed out the lack of objectification present in most underwear ads, like Victoria's Secret.