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The modern market of commercial advertising is an industry that has grown exponentially. Competition amongst brands of various products forces companies to pour money and creative power into advertising. The human psyche is studied, and a social image is created so that the ads have a powerful, memorable impact upon the consumers, driving them to choose certain brands over others. Social impact is particularly noticeable in the fashion industry, where ads create an image that consumers attempt to mimic. In the Alexander Wang fashion advertisement analyzed in this essay, the female image is exploited to create a provocative symbol which lacks the sexual self-empowerment of feminist ideology.
Alexander Wang is a contemporary fashion label named after its creator and designer. It features unique urban designs of clothing primarily for young adults. The advertisement analyzed was printed in magazines and on billboards as part of the 2014 Spring campaign. General subtext meant to be evoked by these ads is the failure of the dominant, white class to relax and take pleasure in success (Bordo 100). The campaign of the luxurious brand is aimed towards young white women in urban areas. In the advertisement, the woman is wearing designer shorts that are exposing the womans leg. They are also seemingly tight, highlighting the curves of the womans thighs and glutes. The womans shirt is white, with the area in the abdomen and above the chest area seemingly see-through. The area across the womans chest is covered by a label Parental Advisory: Explicit Content. While, undoubtedly, the clothing is stylish, it is meant to be sexually provocative. Tight clothing, especially highlighting the glutes and exposing the thighs is popular in contemporary styles. The shirt is also designed as a tease, exposing parts of the torso but hiding the womans breasts under a label usually shown before sexual content in the media. While each woman desires to look attractive in the clothing she buys, this design is directed at defining the image of a woman as a sexual entity.
In the photo, the white young woman is what would be considered sexually attractive by most people. By her exposed body, it can be seen she is very thin and fit, but not to the point of being unattractive. Her skin is tan and has a somewhat unnatural glow. The woman is sitting provocatively in a bathroom sink with her legs spread apart. Her head is leaning back, pushing forward her hips and torso, and she has a facial expression that can be read as that of sexual desire. As with any advertisement, there is obvious tampering of the image digitally. Everything in this advertisement, from clothing to the womans body, is meant to induce sexual excitement. The woman radiates sexual desire and to achieve such perfection the advertised product must be purchased. Women are dehumanized, an ideal form only as a sexual entity with no regard for mind or emotion. Sexuality as a term of power belongs to the empowered (Freedman 266). The way that sexuality is portrayed in this advertisement is common in the Western media, where it is a male domain with females having no say. Recently with the rise of feminism and technology such as dependable birth control, females can show self-assertion in sexual matters (Hooks 85). However, there is still a lingering factor in society, of setting an unachievable bar regarding digitally altered beauty. It achieves the purpose of the advertisers as their products are purchased in attempts to imitate this look.
The Alexander Wang advertisement campaign uses the female image to create a sexual symbol for its fashion brand. By doing so, it creates an unrealistic depiction of the female desiring sex and takes away the self-empowerment of choice voiced by the feminist movement. It is a commercial phenomenon that is sexist in nature and needs change.
Works Cited
Bordo, Susan. Hunger as Ideology. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1993
Freedman, Estelle B. No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women. New York, Ballantine Books, 2003.
Hooks, Bell. Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Cambridge, MA, South End Press, 2000.
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