In this ad by Duncan Quinn, we see a woman in her underw
ear being strangled with a tie by a man in a nice suit. The violent sexism could not be more apparent. It could not be determined whether this girl is supposed to be dead, sedated, or in the midst of some sort of s&m sex game. The ad is trying to sell suits to men by showing a man who has so clearly and utterly dominated a women, reducing her to nothing but a sort of sexy corpse-like figure. Using this sort of sexual violence to try and sell something to men is a little disconcerting (as well as sick and terribly offensive).Upon first seeing this advertisement, i was shocked it ever made it into any type of media. I immediately thought that it must not have been reviewed by a very diverse audience before being released to the public. The guy pictured looks like quite an asshole albeit a well dressed one, and the woman's face cannot be seen; she appears lifeless. It was a little bit funny, at first though. I just thought it so ridiculous (and terrifying) that this could be an appealing fantasy to men. And even more ridiculous that it is to sell fashion. Strangling a half naked woman on a nice car has nothing to do with a nice suit!
This ad, of course, was made to attract men of a certain type, and the suits look expensive. It is using the power of money and sex to appeal to the docile body of a wealthy male type, and say that buying one of these suits will get them women at their disposal. The politics of this ad are pretty obvious: when you can afford things like this, you're on top of everything. Others don't matter as much and women are merely playthings to do with what you like. Great job Mr.Quinn and advertisement creators!
I actually was originally going to make a post based on another famous designer who does this same kind of advertising,.
ReplyDeleteI found it just as interesting as you pointed out, when you are this rich you can be above anything. Whats even more intriguing is all these types of ads are of men over women. I also do believe a lot of these advertisements are for women attire as well. I think that it is detrimental to society to view the only powerful figure as a male. Its never the male dead, its always a women.