Thursday, July 5, 2007

Response to Tommy Girl ad

The Tommy Girl ad as a statement of vulgarity and as a rape scenario is quite extreme in my mind, but I thought that Professor Maxwell made some critical observations and drew some compelling arguments. I was definitely impressed. Upon first seeing the ad, I noticed that it did exacty what any successful ad was out to do: appeal to the masses with a pretty smiling face, comfortable lighting, and a little bit of sex appeal. I would never have taken the placement of the Tommy logo or placement or shape of the perfume bottle as allusions to sex or rape.

I think this ad is successful if viewed from the average consumer's perspective, but after hearing the professor's observations and interpretations of the ad, I am convinced that the company did everything very purposefully in this ad and perhaps was making a conscious statement about the owner's views on race relations, or even to assert his own dominant position in a social heirarchy. I think they did it in a very clever and artful way so that the subtle attack would only be picked up by people with educated backgrounds. I am glad I am now a more aware consumer and can look out for these things in the future.

1 comment:

Randy said...

You seem very well-spoken. I'm jealous. A little.