SEXZINE

AMERICAN APPAREL: THE NEIGHBOURHOOD SLUT OF THE FASHION INDUSTRY.

We’ve featured American apparel ads on here before - exactly because of their sexual nature. We’re fascinated by the ways sex is used in all mediums; from art to film to advertising, so we’re particularly interested in this recent story:

It appears that AA may have pushed it’s luck a  little bit too far according to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), who’ve banned their recent campaign which features semi-naked young women, after investigating a complaint that it is “pornographic and exploitative”.

The part that we find particularly interesting is that the ASA said the ads featured a “voyeuristic and amateurish quality which served to heighten the impression that the ads were exploitative of women and inappropriately sexualised young women”.

To their defence, American Apparel rejected the accusations, arguing that the images featured “real, non-airbrushed, everyday people” who were mainly not professional models.

Whichever way you feel about it, you gotta admit that they’re pushing the boundaries of the “sex sells” mantra. It seems to us that AA is at the forefront of companies who are tapping into sexual niches (such as ‘self shots’, amatuer and voyuerism) rather than just relying on the mainsream airbrushed-poppy-perfectly-photographed approach.

How else will companies explore our ever evolving sexual landscape, and what does it say about our sexual attitudes in society? We’ll have to wait and find out…

What do you think about the American Apparel ads? Do you think they exploit or sexualise women any more than other forms of advertising? Send us a your thoughts!