I wrote to Suitsupply in the end, asking for clarification on the puzzling 'in the lead' question.
I was a bit faux-naive:
'Please can you answer a question.
I have seen some
of the images in your new advertising campaign which show women in
sexually passive poses in which they are naked and accompanied by seedy-
looking men in suits.
My female friends now say they would never
date a man who wears one of these suits because of the association with
abuse of women. We also can no longer shop at the shopping centres in
which these images are displayed in case our young children see the
images and get the idea that the abuse of women is acceptable. Many of
the images suggest prostitution and rape to us. We are not religious or
American, just normal British mothers who do not think women should be
abused.
A representative of your company, quoted in the British
newspaper 'The Daily Mail', claimed that 'the women depicted in the
photographs are obviously in the lead.' This is very strange as it is
not at all obvious to us; the images show the women naked in submissive
poses having something 'done' to them by clothed men. The most obvious
way to read these images is that the women are passive and possibly
victims of abusive men. Therefore I would be grateful if you could
explain how the images represent women 'in the lead'.
I wondered if
perhaps your logic is that through their nakedness the women are
'leading the men on'? Is this the case?
Many thanks for your help,'