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Can Pubes Save American Apparel From Bankruptcy? The Hipster Retailer Backs Away From More Conservative Advertising
By Leah Chernikoff
Remember when it seemed like American Apparel was toning down their notoriously porn-y ads?
There was that ad that featured Dov Charney working on his laptop in bed flanked by his creative directors. Then there were those illustrated ads, that showed frontal nudity and pubes galore, but the girls were, you know, CARTOONS. We figured that was as far as American Apparel would go when it came to showing pubic hair. We were wrong!
Here, in an ad in Purple Magazine (go figure), unearthed by Copyranter, American Apparel advertises their sheer undies on a young model with her pubic hair prominently showing. Not that there’s anything wrong with not waxing it all off like it’s become de rigeur to do, of course, and really why is it that pubic hair makes everything so much more taboo? We checked in with Jessica Grose, managing editor of Slate’s women’s blog, Double X for her quick take on this.
“Pubic hair is thought of as gross and undesirable now,” says Grose, “It used to just be titillating but now it is thought of as icky, or at least untamed, so it signifies something unruly, slightly gross and out of control…it’s a provocative ad.”
Copyranter questions whether it’s American Apparel’s sleaziest ad ever.
What do you think?
This seems to be part of a trend for American Apparel in returning to it’s more provocative roots. Other recent ads to have surfaced show a model climbing a tree with just a shirt on (no pants, no panties, natch), and another shows a topless model casually painting her nails in a room full of naked mannequins.
Tags: American Apparel, Dov Charney
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Pretty happy they’ve returned to these. They made it work before and the newer “classy” ads jut ended up looking frumpy.
I know its going to provoke a lot of disgusted comments but I’m into it.
I’m with you. I am not with ‘pubes are gross’ lady.
Neither am I….pubes are natural and a beautiful thing, unless they start to creep upward toward the belly button (but then again, gay male standards are totally different from other standards, I guess).
But this….? Is this not borderline pornographic to anyone else? It reminds me of the images seen on the back of porn magazines that give a tease of the content, but don’t really show everything in those little sex shops where they have the mags wrapped in plastic film so you can’t thumb through it before purchasing.
Totally irrelevant, but…that girl really looks like Katie Holmes during the Dawson Creek era.
ew
I think the racy stuff is good, but it would be much more affective…and less porn feeling if they were at least professionally photographed. The fact that the lighting is bad, the models face looks shiny, and they posed her on a brown carpet all points to one thing: It’s so bad, it must be intentionally bad. I’m not sure that was a wise decision. Fashion ads sell the promise that you will be like the people wearing the brand. Do many people really want to BE that girl?
Ben, this is why it works. It looks like a photo that someone submitted so now, every Bedford Betty with daddy issues thinks she can be the next AA model.
And there’s a possibility that she can because they like to use real people in their ads.
If AA starts to have the professional aesthetic that you want and that means, professional models too, then it would not be as appealing for their customer base.
Steven Meisel Calvin Klein Jeans 1995…
http://homepage.newschool.edu/~quigleyt/vcs/spring04/midterm/calvinklein.jpg
Safe to say, facing bankruptcy, they could afford to re-think their customer base.
That is a good point. It’s as if it has been photographed to look like cheap porn.
No
it’s just WRONG. they could actually hire someone with knowledge and make amazing ads. as Ben Cornelius said, it’s seems purposedly bad – she looks like she just rolled in dust. who wants to be the girl who opens her vajayjay to anyone whilst rolling in dusty carpets?
great headline!
haha – thanks! i can be provocative too ;)
i did think that sassy pants lauren wrote it at first! my bad!
I think it’s so low budget that no one noticed the pubic shadow. I have no personal knowledge of Dov who simply seems beleaguered and rather good at setting up businesses, less so at their maintenance.
His ads pale against the pages (that I love wildly) in French and American Vogue where nudity is likely thought of as the next new fashion.
His company is in good hands with Ron Burkel taking a large piece of it.
Very classic pieces with college girl provocative ads. Not really gross. But the company must go professional in its shoots.
I think it’s so low budget that no one noticed the pubic shadow. I have no personal knowledge of Dov who simply seems beleaguered and rather good at setting up businesses, less so at their maintenance.
His ads pale against the pages (that I love wildly) in French and American Vogue where nudity is likely thought of as the next new fashion.
His company is in good hands with Ron Burkel taking a large piece of it.
Very classic pieces with college girl provocative ads. Not really gross. But the company must go professional in its shoots.
I can’t see any artistry in these pictures. There is an unpleasant subtext to them – this is a young girl, half unressed, maybe in a cheap motel. Nudity doesn’t bother me at all. These shots demonstrats that it is the setting, context and execution which creates lewdness, not nudity.
You may be entirely right … the shots were at the beach, on sand. It looks accidental to me but that’s simply a guess based on my belief that Dov really, really wants to behave to keep his financial backers calm.
Really, I could be wrong but to me it looks like a young girl lounging on the beach and not aware of the light making her underwear that transparent. Thinking of white bathing suits that when wet you can see right through them.
There’s just been so much about Dov … maybe he doesn’t care, maybe he is sociopathic.
I really think it was a mistake and rushed through.
Thanks for all the info. I thought she was on a dirty berber type carpet! Now that I look at the pic again I can see a bit of sand on her leg. I think the fact she is looking at the camera with her legs awkwardly splayed made it seem exploitive to me. Then again you may be right.
Pubes or no pubes, seeing the va jay jay so clearly is what’s so provocative in my opinion.
The use of that disgusting expression which means vulva and/or vagina should be banned.
The use of that disgusting expression which means vulva and/or vagina should be banned.
The use of that disgusting expression which means vulva and/or vagina should be banned.
Pubes or no pubes, seeing the va jay jay so clearly is what’s so provocative in my opinion.
uuuggghh You Have Got To Be Kidding Me!!! I just threw up in my mouth!
To me, an ad like this says “pay attention to the controversy, not to the clothes!” I always seem to unconsciously get a little suspect when labels do that; for me, it implies their clothes aren’t that great and they need to rely on flashy advertising.
I had already anticipated this when I was flaunting my “treasure trail” sans shirt at outdoor concerts last summer and received overwhelming responses from both sexes.
As long as it’s trimmed, neat and tidy, I’m all for it. Not a fan of the full Brazilian. Also, the carpet should match the blinds.
been there, done that…
http://img279.imageshack.us/f/gucci0016sc.jpg/
social responsibility 1993
http://www.investis.com/il/images/benetton/2671.jpg
same year NSFW
http://droog.maxbruinsma.nl/eye/benetton.jpg
I had already anticipated this when I was flaunting my “treasure trail” sans shirt at outdoor concerts last summer and received overwhelming responses from both sexes.
As long as it’s trimmed, neat and tidy, I’m all for it. Not a fan of the full Brazilian. Also, the carpet should match the blinds.
been there, done that…
http://img279.imageshack.us/f/gucci0016sc.jpg/
social responsibility 1993
http://www.investis.com/il/images/benetton/2671.jpg
same year NSFW
http://droog.maxbruinsma.nl/eye/benetton.jpg
Interesting that you connected the two Rashy- I came across an article about United Colors of Benetton’s advertising while I was doing research for a paper that I wrote in college about American Apparel’s advertising. It’s sort of long and wordy but it’s interesting
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/berg/jdbc/2002/00000006/00000001/art00006
This is just the abstract- I can email you the article if you’re interested
yes, send it over…
I had already anticipated this when I was flaunting my “treasure trail” sans shirt at outdoor concerts last summer and received overwhelming responses from both sexes.
As long as it’s trimmed, neat and tidy, I’m all for it. Not a fan of the full Brazilian. Also, the carpet should match the blinds.
been there, done that…
http://img279.imageshack.us/f/gucci0016sc.jpg/
social responsibility 1993
http://www.investis.com/il/images/benetton/2671.jpg
same year NSFW
http://droog.maxbruinsma.nl/eye/benetton.jpg
holy moly batman that benetton ad is amazing…
agreed.
holy moly batman that benetton ad is amazing…
holy moly batman that benetton ad is amazing…
(the men and women one-i have seen the other before)
Oliviero Toscani
but of course
well, regardless, now i really want that cable knit sweater — soo it works on some level.
Go pubes!
Make it scratch n sniff and u got something.
It’s low rent and sleazy and doesn’t reflect the main stream nature of the merchandise.
I see way more comments for posts on the new racy AA ads then any other posts…I think that would signify mission accomplished by AA.
IB Clothing,
Not really, since I’ve never bought anything from AA.
I mean, how can you NOT engage with a title called “Can Pubes Save American Apparel From Bankruptcy?”
it is all about the headline.
To elaborate on my previous comment…
Everyone being up in arms about Am App’s advertising really gets me, because they are acting as if we are a society that celebrates and respects women and Dov Charney is flying in the face of all that we stand for. People get upset because Am App’s ads are more explicit about it (pun intended), but I think the constant barrage of, say, cleaning advertisements featuring khaki-clad moms are much more damaging to the female psyche specifically because of their comparative subtlety.
And in regards to the argument made above that these ads wouldn’t be so bad if they had more polish and professionalism, I have to disagree. One of the two reasons that I have not completely disregarded/boycotted American Apparel is BECAUSE their ads, while racy and potentially degrading, feature real looking girls in real looking environments. The ads that you want them to resemble are more damaging to the female psyche because they pack the double punch of objectifying women AND presenting a photoshopped, primped, coiffed, rich lady (who certainly doesn’t have pubic hair) as an unattainable ideal.
So, to sum up my argument…
go pubes.
LOL
nothing against pubes but that looks kinda gross.
Actually, pubes are coming back into fashion. As for American Apparel, clearly these cheap and nondescript clothes can’t stand on their own, in order to sell the ad campaigns need to be scandalous. American Apparel is like the Britney Spears of the clothing world … if they didn’t continually provoke, nobody would pay any attention to them.
Whats this,It don’t matter in any thing…………
I think this looks sexy as all hell. I prefer a trimmed bush but sometimes it’s nice to buck the norms.
The problem is not pubes.
The problem is the fact that breast and buttocks are more acceptable in the media but once you start showing that which makes a creature a woman (her v@gin@…pubic hair & all its components)it simple becomes too much for the public eye.
I don’t mind pubes on a guy, I don’t mind pubes on a girl. And if I wanted underwear so sheer my pubes were visible, I might be jumping up and down because this ad shows exactly what I’ve been missing. Unfortunately, I don’t want to see anyone’s pubes in a fashion ad, I don’t care about sheer undies and I don’t get the fuss over AA anymore. We know they do these things so why are people still surprised? I saw it and didn’t even think twice. It’s just a part of who they are and high prices or not…I’m okay with that.
http://calvinshow.blogspot.com
nothing wrong with some bush! yumm!