Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

That these pics on the Zara kids clothes website are inappropriate

228 replies

PenguinBarnotBird · 13/04/2021 09:33

Looking for summer shoes for DD online this morning and came across these pics which made me feel uncomfortable. Like an attempt at doing high fashion photography for kids clothes. The poses feel inappropriate for kids this young. Also the sandals are fugly but that’s an aside.

OP posts:
CodMouth · 13/04/2021 11:17

@Alsohuman

it’s a photographer unrelated to the child taking photos in those poses

We don’t know that. Companies have been using employees to take photos with their children as models during the last year.

Either way would you post photos of your children like that onto an international clothing website?

I know I wouldn’t.

Shedbuilder · 13/04/2021 11:18

@BabycakesMatlala

Erm - that's a real child in the photos. You've posted them on an international forum and now everyone is discussing whether or not photos of that real child are too "crotch-focused" or "pornified". If you were concerned about whether photos of a real child in any other context were suggestive, surely you wouldn't expose them to a broader audience for detailed discussion as part of that concerned process?!

If you're concerned, speak direct to Zara, and maybe think through the impact of discussing these photos in this context and ask for this thread to be deleted.

No, someone in the Zara marketing department will be reading this thread and resorting that the marketing strategy is working. This hasn't happened by mistake. Professional photographers don't take crotch-level shots of girls by mistake.
Alsohuman · 13/04/2021 11:19

They’re not your children @CodMouth. Different people have different views. My children? No problem. Yours? Big problem. Neither of us is right, just different.

Blondiney · 13/04/2021 11:20

@Mrstwiddle

Agree OP, seems fairly obvious to me, surprised some people are ok with it.
Some people are just keen to be seen as fabulously permissive and 'cool'.
Ohnomoreno · 13/04/2021 11:21

Meh. Spanish aesthetics are a bit different I guess.

Seeline · 13/04/2021 11:21

I hadn't realised it was a swimming costume!

First shot she is wearing sock with sandals, and the last shot she has a coat on over the top. It has long sleeves! It's not really shouting summer at me. The photos look even more weird now.

Suzi888 · 13/04/2021 11:21

@DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult

They are just normal photos. Odd that some people are sexualising them. I really don't think paedophiles on the dark web will really want mainstream shots of fully clothed kids tbh Hmm
I can see what you mean op, but also this ^.
EarringsandLipstick · 13/04/2021 11:22

This thread! 🤦🏻‍♀️

No, the photos are fine.

Seeing everything as potentially sexualised is getting ridiculously tiresome.

JustLyra · 13/04/2021 11:22

@CodMouth

If we took those photos I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t pose the child models like that.

It’s all well and good saying oh innocent family photos etc but it’s not is it....it’s a photographer unrelated to the child taking photos in those poses. She could have been photographed with her legs to the side or closed and it wouldn’t show the clothes and shoes any less.

I don’t think it is a photographer. I think Zara, like a lot of brands, have had mum or dad take the snaps.

There’s no way they paid a professional for shots of that quality

choli · 13/04/2021 11:22

Zara is high fashion
Grin

EarringsandLipstick · 13/04/2021 11:22

It's not really shouting summer at me. The photos look even more weird now.

That's the Zara aesthetic tho. Their photos often are styled in a 'weird' way.

BiggerBoat1 · 13/04/2021 11:22

I like them. As others have said they look a bit like family snaps from the 80s.

IsThePopeCatholic · 13/04/2021 11:23

Inappropriate.

MrsMaizel · 13/04/2021 11:24

@CodMouth

If we took those photos I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t pose the child models like that.

It’s all well and good saying oh innocent family photos etc but it’s not is it....it’s a photographer unrelated to the child taking photos in those poses. She could have been photographed with her legs to the side or closed and it wouldn’t show the clothes and shoes any less.

I agree . Sadly the power of the Internet today means that the "when I was a child I was taken like this " photos don't stay where they should and yes these will be viewed by many eyes in a perverse way .
ittakes2 · 13/04/2021 11:24

Yes - since when is it common for a child to wear what looks like a coat or a rain jacket with a long sleeve leotard and totally bare legs on a motorcycle.

EarringsandLipstick · 13/04/2021 11:25

Some people are just keen to be seen as fabulously permissive and 'cool'.

And 'some people' think viewing every normal manifestation of a child in summer clothes is paedophile fodder is nonsense & offensive.

Pleasure · 13/04/2021 11:25

Made me feel a bit ick seeing those photos. DM has photos of me when I was a tot running round in just knickers in the garden but obvs there's nothing sexual in them iykwim.
Different to these as these are posed and a professional photographer has taken them. Seem creepy to me tbh.

dotdashdashdash · 13/04/2021 11:26

Personally I think it's weird to look at those poses and think "pornification".

I agree.

I don't see an issue - photo 1, she's in a swimsuit and spiders, the image is to sell the sliders, which are the focus of the picture. Third photo is to sell tevas style sandals, which are clearly shown in the image. They also sell the swimsuit that's in both images.

EarringsandLipstick · 13/04/2021 11:26

@ittakes2

Yes - since when is it common for a child to wear what looks like a coat or a rain jacket with a long sleeve leotard and totally bare legs on a motorcycle.
Well, I, and my kids, have often thrown on a raincoat (long sleeved) over a swim suit as we deal with the 'Irish summer'

No motorbike I grant you!

I don't see what's strange / problematic / comment-worthy about that

EarringsandLipstick · 13/04/2021 11:27

@Pleasure

Made me feel a bit ick seeing those photos. DM has photos of me when I was a tot running round in just knickers in the garden but obvs there's nothing sexual in them iykwim. Different to these as these are posed and a professional photographer has taken them. Seem creepy to me tbh.
There's no child in knickers only in these photos 🙄
dotdashdashdash · 13/04/2021 11:27

Yes - since when is it common for a child to wear what looks like a coat or a rain jacket with a long sleeve leotard and totally bare legs on a motorcycle.

Lots of European countries in Summer.

EarringsandLipstick · 13/04/2021 11:29

There's no child in knickers only in these photos

In case of confusion, this should be read as 'knickers-only'.

Brownteddybear · 13/04/2021 11:29

I think this has come up before on here OP though I can't recall if it was Zara or not. The images were different.

Using much younger models for clothes to be worn by older children and with the increasing sexualisation of children in society this is very off-putting as it's "normalising" it. I'd complain and not buy from companies that do this.

Theorangeorange · 13/04/2021 11:31

They are absolutely fine, my 7 year old sits like this completely innocently and why shouldn't she!

QuentininQuarantino · 13/04/2021 11:32

@CodMouth

If we took those photos I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t pose the child models like that.

It’s all well and good saying oh innocent family photos etc but it’s not is it....it’s a photographer unrelated to the child taking photos in those poses. She could have been photographed with her legs to the side or closed and it wouldn’t show the clothes and shoes any less.

But that’s really sad. Would you ask the boys to close their legs for their pictures?