Wtf is this advert? I find it disturbing.

[MagnoliaPrimrose]

This just came up in my FB feed. Wtaf?

I mean I guess the point is that the knickers are so comfy that you want to wear them instead of skinny dipping?!? And they couldn't show boobs - but this image is not right at all.

I think that calling for advertising to be able to show womens boobs is the same deluded call for female empowerment as the sex work is work line.

women would not be empowered by advertising being able to show their boobs in order to sell products.

Agree.

I see it the opposite way. We can’t show pictures of women in pants to advertise pants (as it’s too sexual), so we will show a picture of a women in pants, but put a picture of men’s nipples in it (because we can’t show women’s as they’re obscene and only for sexual purposes according to the media). I think it’s a great advert!!

They can show women in pants? They just can't show tits, and women don't need to see tits to be sold on the pants 🤷🏻‍♀️

They would assuredly not be for the women's benefit.

I don’t think that’s what it’s saying though? It’s saying it’s hard to to advertise women’s pants by showing women wearing pants as it’s seen as too ‘sexual’. Men’s pants advertising shows men naked apart from pants (nipples and all!), and although still can be construed as sexual, it doesn’t have the same sexual implications as it does for women. How do you advertise pants for women and men without advertising another garment (vest or bra that you don’t sell), without just showing a close up of the crotch? I think it really makes people look at how women’s and men’s bodies are disproportionately sexualised.

I agree! They don’t need to show a man’s tits either, but they do. That’s why I think it’s a great advert, nobody has made such a stink about showing men’s waxed nipples before whilst promoting pants.

But the reality is that womens boobs are much more likely to be a source of sexual attraction than mens chests

I think denying this is just defaulting as always to the malw
body as the norm and the woman’s body as the other/different.

I also take it as a statement about male nipples being ok but not female nipples. Isn't there some kind of #freethenipple campaign around? I seem to remember talk about it when I was breastfeeding and reading around that topic.

If this genuinely was a call for women to be free to go topless - it would not be a skimpy attractive young woman photoshopped and jumping around for joy about being topless.

if it was a woman in her 50s who’s breastfeed two children i would be more inclined and indeed open minded to seeing it as a call for female empowerment to be free from body objectication. This is not that.

Ok, I just didn’t see it about nipples really at all, the nipples just being the vehicle to show the difference in advertising. Images, and all art is so subjective, and it’s a great way to discuss how we see things. Men have often looked at women’s underwear catalogues as a stimulant, this advert would probably have a very different effect on them - depending on what they were looking for!

not that’s what I think this advert is doing, but why can’t attractive young women feel happy to be topless?

Some womens boobs are literally that flat so would that be disturbing? I wonder how you function in life and manage to leave your house if something like this creeps you out

@Qwill they can - but it’s disingenuous to pretend that young topless women are not used as objective sexual used objects in advertising. My point was that if this ad is meant to be a statement about women not being able to go topless it is not really doing much to challenge the tradition of objectifying young women in advertising.

but you make an interesting point about how it could be otherwise interpreted.

I agree that we live in a world where breasts are seen as sexual. I don't think showing more bare breasts in advertising will desexualise them. I think men would like us to think that it will, so that they can look at more breasts while getting a nice warm feeling that they are being 'feminist' in doing so.

Also, perhaps I'm in the minority, but I don't feel comfortable without a bra, being on the well endowed side of things, so cavorting around in only pants is not a scenario that would happen outside of a sexual context for me. Topless woman on beach is not something that speaks to me.

And many items are sold by models also wearing items that the retailer doesn't sell. Snag tights was mentioned - pretty much all of their advertising pictures show models in their tights, and also in clothes that snag don't sell. It's fine.

It doesn't feel like an ad aimed at women. Even the point about being able to show male nipples/breasts but not female nipples/breasts does not feel like it has any relevance to women in this context.

Are men expected to buy these for women? If it was Christmas or Valentines season, maybe.

I think it's basically a marketing gaff designed by people accustomed to catering to the male view.

(I also find the hairless male chest unattractive.)

I think it’s hard to aim things at ‘all women’, you can see from here people have different opinions. I’d buy those pants as they look comfortable, but to some they wouldn’t. I’ve worn a lot of different pants over the years, and not sure I want something that caters for everywoman as bums come in all different shapes and sizes.

im not sure how this is aimed at men though (I’m not sure this image appeals to the majority of men or women). Do men still buy underwear for the occasions you’ve mentioned? Seems pretty outdated, and they’re hardly the 90s tacky Anne Summers type things?

I just really don’t think it’s about showing nipples or not, just a social commentary on how the same item of clothing is marketed for men and women.

Would you be more inclined to buy them if the woman advertising them was topless, though? That's the point, it would make zero difference to the vast majority of women.
Men, certainly, but they're not trying to sell them to men.

Sorry, I’m not sure I was clear enough. For me it was nothing about the nipples, as I said, I felt it was just a a way of communicating how women’s bodies are objectified in the media, when men’s aren’t in the same context.

Eww this is so ugly and so confused.
it’s drawing attention to the chest, not the product. What have bosoms got to do with knickers? If you want to make a point about what bits of ladies you can show, there must be a simpler way. And this photo is still objectifying her, even if the choice of blonde at beach is supposedly ironic.
what has any of it got to do with them being comfy?
I read it as some awful self righteous’we sell to men who want to wear Women’s knickers as well’ which made me feel a bit ugh tbh. Not even knickers are our own any more.
it also looks as if she’s had a double masectomy, which is also not a way to install the best of feel good feelings.
just yuk. I reckon a junior creative team who wanted to suprise. Be fun to know what sex they are. I reckon women who want to be right on and a bit shocking.
Too wierd if blokes.

And isn’t this the best thing that has come out of this new way of advertising? You can have your opinion on it and won’t buy from them. I have a completely different opinion on it and it would encourage me to buy from them.

That’s interesting q will! What about the ad would encourage you to buy from them?

I’m always looking out for some comfy pants, they look comfy, the model looks comfy in them, and the advert made me laugh! I just thought the advert really spoke to me, as I’ve explained from my previous posts. If I’m going to buy pants, which I will, I might as well check this company out!

I've just bought some!

I've just done a bit of online research on knickers.
Many of the well known high street stores don't even model the knickers, the underwear is simply shown on its own or, if they're a pack of, say 6, are shown one on top of the other.
A few online sites show the knickers on models, but the picture is cut off at just above waist level.
Others have used a mannequin to advertise knickers. Again, it is only the waist to lower hip region shown in the photo.
I don't see the need to show any further up the body when you're trying to sell knickers.