Sexualizing girls in ads: Sometimes, there are no words
This advertisement for Chaser clothing was featured in a not-so-recent issue of Flaunt Magazine; it's about a year old but I still think it's too egregious not to point out. (It was the open mouthed thing that really put me over the edge.)
Via Ad Feminem, who has the company and magazine contact info for complaints.
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Ew.
I agree with the poster above; I think the grunged out sex-appeal is gross. One of the little girls is wearing high heels that are too large for her, which looks like a sort of dress-up that's more appropriate for children. Maybe-if they used that kind of theme and made the settings less, um, trashy, this would be ok?
Picture is broken for me :/
Caught it on your Ad Feminem link and there are just no words.
Actually, yeah there are. Not only is it sexualizing the girls, but it looks to me like the photo is specifically trying to conjure up the streetwalker image. Which, given this country's penchant for child sexual slavery (oops, sorry I didn't use the watered-down word prostitution), is especially outrageous. This is just sick.
Picture is broken for me :/
Caught it on your Ad Feminem link and there are just no words.
Actually, yeah there are. Not only is it sexualizing the girls, but it looks to me like the photo is specifically trying to conjure up the streetwalker image. Which, given this country's penchant for child sexual slavery (oops, sorry I didn't use the watered-down word prostitution), is especially outrageous. This is just sick.
They look like Bratz dolls. =/
OMG they do! Holy crap! That just adds the ew factor!
You have got to be kidding me.
The text on the ad reads, "Sized for infants and toddlers, the line proves you're never too young to make a statement-- with your clothing, at least."
You're never too young, huh? Not even infants and toddlers are safe according to this.
The mothers that stood there while their five or six year olds posed for this apparently agree.
You have got to be kidding me.
The text on the ad reads, "Sized for infants and toddlers, the line proves you're never too young to make a statement-- with your clothing, at least."
You're never too young, huh? Not even infants and toddlers are safe according to this.
The mothers that stood there while their five or six year olds posed for this apparently agree.
or fathers...
Right! I was thinking about what my reaction would be as a mom. I would hope that any parent, guardian or adult would feel disgusted.
This kind of thing is running rampant, and I'm mad as hell and not gonna take it any more!!
I was thinking about starting a blog to raise awareness about the sexualizing of children, ads directed at children, and gender stereotyping of children, etc... I am an elementary ed student and plan to make lessening the effect of advertising on children a part of my career.
I'd be interested to know your ideas on how you plan to do that. I'm not an educator, though my sister's studying to be. I am, however, the mother of a young girl. What interests me is how people besides my daughter's parents will add to her understanding of her body image.
I am a little "head in the clouds" right now, having not yet started my career, so all I have right now is a head full of ideas that may not actually take root in the real world. I would like to hold meetings with members of the school community, get other teachers and parents on board to really spread the word about how prevalent and dangerous marketing is.
I just finished reading this book, "So Sexy, So Soon" by Diane Levin and Jean Kilbourne (love her) that really made me think. When advertisement became less regulated in the 80s, advertisers were able to make TV shows that were basically, long toy commercials, and they were extremely gender-divided.
I would love to make my own classroom a Bratz, Princess, Transformers free zone. One of my close friends teaches kindergarten and she was showing me the dvd she made for the parents which featured pictures of little girls playing with cars, boys playing dress up, and I was so inspired with what one teacher can do.
For further reading, I also recommend "Packaging Girlhood," it's another fascinating read for anyone interested in this topic.
That's an exquisite idea. I know that my elementary school teachers had a major influence on me, some making me feel good about myself, others…not so much (one teacher told my parents I probably wasn't going to be good at math/science…uh…which didn't turn out to be so true).
I bet your students will be lucky to have you in such an impatient world :)
I think a blog about this is a great idea. You'll unfortunately never run out of images of little girls in bikinis. Maybe a concentrated collection of such images is the way to get people to realize how influential pop culture and advertising is on our psychology and behaviors - all of us; even those of us who want to believe we're impervious to cultural influence. Each individual ad or commercial or other medium will not leave our kids devoid of innocence and full of self-consciousness, but each one does truly represent a culture that will (for a profit).
I'm not sure if I really object to little girls in bikinis. The bikini has become so common it doesn't really seem like a big deal anymore (depending on exactly what the bikini looks like, of course).
Can you please post about it here when you do? I'd love to add it to my feed!
I'm one of those people who's really protective of children (probably because of developmental psychology courses) and this makes me feel physically ill. Just…god…didn't anyone in the advertising department think that maaaybe this might just be evocative of the whole child slavery thing? So indescribably terrible. The rush for children (yes children) to be all grown up (in the worst possible sense) these days is absolutely awful.
These girls remind me of the "rock sluts" you used to see back in 90's music videos, young women dressed trashy like that and usually against a chain link fence. This is disgusting on every level. I never thought I'd find anything more disgusting than child pageants, but I now have.
The one front and center isn't so bad, as someone pointed out, the oversized heels make me think of a kid playing dress-up with Mommy's shoes and the long tutu thing makes me think of 1980's Cyndi Lauper. Still, her pose is a bit provocative-although maybe it's just meant to look defiant? Also, they're all far too heavily made up, which to me is more unsettling than the punkish clothing.
The one front and center isn't so bad, as someone pointed out, the oversized heels make me think of a kid playing dress-up with Mommy's shoes and the long tutu thing makes me think of 1980's Cyndi Lauper. Still, her pose is a bit provocative-although maybe it's just meant to look defiant? Also, they're all far too heavily made up, which to me is more unsettling than the punkish clothing.
If it wasn't for the words "Jr. Tees" I would have thought this was a PSA.
And here comes the nerd in me coming out . . . Did anyone else notice that Flaunt's web design is . . . janky?
And what exactly is that hipster trash rag about anyway? Other than hipster trash.
Sorry . . . I like magazines with a clear focus and target.
And scroll bars in the middle of your homepage are lame.
They look like child versions of The Pussycat Dolls to me.
It's an ad for t-shirts? So...just showing the girls in the tees with, say, jeans wouldn't have worked?
Ugh. Creepy.
If they were wearing jeans the picture would be a-okay? They're hardly showing any leg (except the girl on the far left, who is also wearing leggings).
Or goodness forbid they be somewhere children ought be like...school!
i dreamed about them last night- they broke into my house with needles in their arms and tried to rob me. I guess that 80s New York crime look is back in style?
Hey, isn't this female empowerment and sexual liberation? Make up your minds already- the PC conformists are CONFUSED!