Ad Report Card: Target

Reader Response from The Fray:


You forgot the biggest seller. Sex. Hello? This commentary was nicely put together in regards to pop-art etc, but I think you've missed the point--as many do. The infusion of attractive, barely- or tightly-dressed women and young girls in advertisements has gotten to be so completely "normal" that it is often completely overlooked, such as in your commentary. This scares me. Why not question why products require attractive women as selling fodder? Why not question why women's appearance continues to be sold, or used to sell? The ad works, as many do, because it features "eye catching objects" bouncing on trampolines (etc etc)--women. Wake up. Not only does this catch men's attention, but it also catches that of young girls. Where and what do young girls find as depictions of proper and accepted and desired and celebrated womanhood? In the largely blatant, and sometimes subconscious, media representations of either Miss Perfect or by showing a consistent image of what women are worth = body and beauty. Sheesh.

--Stephanie

(To reply, click here.)

[Note from the Fray Editor: Several men answered Stephanie to say they'd never thought of it like that but now that she pointed it out... no, just kidding, they actually came to argue with her: "guys hate angry chicks who deny their hardwiring". Whoa, Stephanie must be reeling at that one. She felt that the post below proved her point--you be the judge:]


Sex sells, and I'm buying. Bring it on--I can hardly wait for the day that they're allowed to show nude women in these ads. Boy, that will really sell some products!--and it would eliminate my need to subscribe to Skinemax and the Playboy channel!

--Buying

(To reply, click here.)


[More Notes: There was further discussion of images, and a long thread about the ad models, and the general absence of normal-sized people in ads--click here to begin, but be warned that it gets very personal and very size-ist very quickly. And a completely bizarre question about store mannequins, which you will have to read for yourself.

Perhaps surprisingly, this is the first time the "Ad Reports" have generated discussions on these topics (images of women/sex/feminism), so for old time's sake we're throwing in a more traditional Ad Report deconstruction. Bonus: it contains the words hipness, quotidian and exclusivity in one sentence.--Fray Editor]


Combined with the "upscale-for-the-down-to-earth" angle that was mentioned, there's another engine at work in these ads: the synthesis of verbal and visual brand analogies. It reinforces the idea of one-stop shopping, and thus is essentially democratic. Meaning: you might be really hip wearing those flood pants, but yah still gotta wash'em, right? You're sexy and thin enough for that bikini, but don't forget to Tum...Tum-Tum-Tum your way out of that bloating, so you can fit into it. The aspects of exclusivity, of "hip-ness" are merged with the quotidian. Then meaning does a cross-over: if everyone is together in eating Tums and washing with Tide, then we can all look good enough and be sensible enough to buy inexpensive bikinis and flood pants in one place, and not have to spend more money driving across town to hide out in an anonymous place to buy your Tums in privacy.

--Dedalus

(To reply, click here.)

(8/8)