To find these New Look school uniform adverts unacceptable?

[TheWildZebra]

Just that really - screen shot below.

mini skirts , cherries, twirling hair ?

am I a prude or are these just evidence of sexualisation of young women?

I think you can look at it and chose to see "girls being sexualised and being told their looks are most important"

Or you can look at this and chose to see "an advert appealing to exactly what the target marker want"

The target market is teenage girls. These look like teenage girls

Sure it could feature girls studying and playing sport and all that but it's likely that most teenage girls who would normally shop at New Look wouldn't find that appealing (even if they are sporty and clever, it's not the look they want)

And really... can we move on from the idea that how you dress defines your intelligence?

That was meant to say we weren't turned on by it.

🤐

Ok, well if that’s what it’s supposed to mean then that is grim.

I would disagree that the target market is the teenage girls, because they're not actually buying the uniform. A parent is.

But by 13, they are going to be influencing their parents on where to buy

Can parents ever say no?

My mum sure as hell did.

The thing that makes me laugh is I looked at their website for a skirt for DD and not a single one would be allowed and she goes to a fairly relaxed school!

Who are they selling this stuff to?

In state schools, it's not possible to make uniform mandatory - many schools try to bluff the parents, however. (I was a PTC in a Scottish secondary until a few years ago.)

With regard to the advert, I agree with other posters: the problem lies in the posing (and the connotation of cherries) rather than the actual clothing.

Being a teenager in the late 80s - mid 1990s I find this sort of image pretty mild compared to the sort of sexualisation we were routinely subjected to in mainstream media and advertising then. Just looks like normal teenagers to me, though I find some posters responses far more troubling than the advertising. It's in the eye of the beholder.

I was thinking the same thing.

Really? Then some parents need to assert themselves more.

Bloody hell! Cherries!! Why not have them popping and be done with it. Absolutely disgusting

Cherries on t shirts are really common in preteen and teen clothing. Why?? Like, I don't think the girls themselves associate cherries with sex or virginity. So is it for the men who are looking at these girls? How on earth does this stuff get past designers and managers of these major firms?

I think you're massively reading into this

Cherries are really in at the moment in general, I see them all over adult clothing too.

I’m amazed that’s allowed.

I won’t be buying anything from New Look until they stop this.

Given the emphasis on safeguarding nowadays, this looks like something from the Jimmy SaVILE era!

You can totally tell who the dudes from Reddit are on this site when it comes to posts like this. This ad is grim. And stop watching porn you sick fucks.

Well, @ILoveWhales my daughter is now 27 and the most confirmed feminist you could wish to find. She'd totally get that this ad is wrong. And fortunately when a teenager got it too. Which probably contributed to her being bullied by her contemporaries. But maybe they'd have found it harder to dress inappropriately without it being deemed acceptable in advertising and media.

I really don't understand why this sort of advertising is deemed acceptable.

It's hard being a girl.

Edited - wrong thread!

Hmm, yes, the concerned mums who don’t think children should be depicted in short skirts and make up for school are the ones who need their hard drives checking 🤨

Like you I am aghast at the increasing sexualisation in advertising imagery, especially when it relates to young girls.

I have just posted elsewhere in AIBU that L'Oreal is now partnering with an Only Fans star to advertise their makeup range that is targeted at the teen market.

WTAF?

Report to the Advertising Standards Authority, if enough people complain, they'll pull it. I agree it has a nasty paedo vibe to it.

In my day (80s) school uniform was advertised with an emphasis on looking smart.

That didn't stop the fashionable girls wearing pencil skirts with splits up to their thighs, white stilettos, electric blue eyeshadow and half a can of Silvikrin on their big hair 😄

I have 2 teen girls and I've bought them NL skirts and jumpers for going back, NL is mild compared to Shein where a lot of their friends have bought uniforms - that is shocking!

I agree @330ml @spoonbillstretford I think a lot of perverts are posting on this thread. If you see that ad and immediately focus on teenage sexuality and losing virginity that's a reflection on you.

Cherries? Omg. Yuk. Totally unacceptable for school uniforms for CHILDREN.