Abercrombie and Fitch, call your office: American Apparel has been running a number of advertisements, in their on- and offline catalog, featuring comely young ladies who some believe straddle the line between pure pulchritude and pure porn.
"A couple of years into their full marketing monty, some are freaking, saying the ads have escalated from mildly boundary-pushing crotch shots of models with bikini rashes to gritty amateur porn," said Adria Vasil of the American Apparel campaign in her NowToronto.com article.
"Something about the low-grade girly shots, they say, degrades women and undermine the company's whole labour rights message," she continued. "Others, however, defend the campaign as reflective of a growing demographic that's grown up with the porn aesthetic on their computer screens. And in stitching multiple identities into one shirt – naughty, political and brand-free – American Apparel could be positioning itself to be the iconic outfitter of the decade."
At least one feminist observer appeared ambivalent about the campaign. "I cannot agree with (American Apparel owner Dov Charney's) choice in imagery, I cannot agree with (Charney's) claim that he's slept with (some) employees, and the fact that he's masturbated in front of a Jane reporter," Bitch editorial director Andi Zeisler told NowToronto.com. "But at the same time, he's being very honest, and I appreciate that more than I appreciate a lot of the designers out there who say their clothes can be worn by any woman and make them cost thousands of dollars and cut them up to a size 4."
On the other hand, adult entertainment legend turned sexologist Annie Sprinkle called the ad campaign refreshing and even exciting. "I like the sweat, the grit, the reality," she told NowToronto.com. "(They) obviously appreciate female sexuality in all its glorious sleaziness. And I think you can worship female sexuality and also worship women in the workplace. If you see sex as bad, dirty and ugly, then you're going to see these ads as bad, dirty and ugly. These ads are kind of a mirror. In a way, they're almost neutral."
Charney isn't worried about his detractors—yet. "They're old-thinking conservatives who are repeating false arguments or arguments that may have been true 30 years ago based on a context of social, cultural and political dynamics of another era," he told NowToronto.com. "But right now, the women in the photographs, and young adult women today, I think celebrate the aesthetic of our advertising."
