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Commentary: Sex Sells; Even to Kids
By Ali Asadullah 17/08/2001
On Tuesday, popular retailer J.C. Penny announced that it would discontinue the running of a television commercial that had come under fire for the provocative nature of its marketing message. The ad in question featured a teenage girl shopping for school clothes with her mother. While trying on a pair of jeans, the girl's mother says, "You're not going to school dressed like that, are you?" playing on the
clichéd parental criticism of the clothes children often choose to wear to school. However here the commercial takes a twist. Just as viewers expect mom to hand the daughter a frumpy old dress or more conservative pair of slacks, she instead tugs at the girl's jeans, thus forcing them to ride lower, accentuating the girl's hips and bare belly-button.
That designers market clothing and fashions wherever they can find traction is no surprise. But, that someone at J.C. Penny so blatantly crossed that invisible line that demarcates the sanctity of the classroom is quite surprising and cause for concern.
However, the state of affairs in the entertainment industry sheds a lot of light on why such a marketing campaign would be considered in the first place. Over the past few years, a new crop of over-sexualized teen strumpets has gone mainstream.
It all started with Britney Spears and her video for "Baby One More Time," in which she donned an ultra-mini school uniform skirt with a shirt tied just below her chest, thus focusing attention squarely on her bust, belly-button and bare legs. Immediately, news commentators began sounding the alarm concerning this 16-year-old dressing herself up in a manner that would fulfill many a man's fantasy. But in interviews, Britney focused on the fact that she was a devout Christian and that despite the clothes she wore she intended to remain a virgin until marriage.
With that kind of PR spin, lots of people started rationalizing Spears' provocative displays. Disney even made her concert events a recurring feature on its kid-friendly Disney Channel. With that kind of exposure, low-cut, hip-hugging pants and bare bellies became part and parcel of the Britney experience. And as was the case with Madonna before her, Britney became the touchstone of fashion for girls 10 years and up everywhere.
But it didn't stop there. Next out of the gate was Christina Aguillera, whose "Jeanie in a Bottle" video featured her hips bumping and grinding every which way in a pair of ultra-low cut pants with her all the while asking to be "rubbed the right way". But as was the case with Britney, her PR handlers got her in prominent news interviews where she explained that all that provocative clothing and movement was just simple dancing and that "rub me the right way" was synonymous with "treat me the right way". Yeah right.
But once again, typically right-minded people began making excuses for her and before long her behavior and appearance was easily explained away. And with other acts such as Dream, Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson and 3LW all capitalizing on the new chic of being "super sexy but sweet and innocent", it's no wonder that the fashion statements of these stars began trickling into the drawers and closets of girls everywhere.
What once was a trickle has now become a torrent. By 2001 it was commonplace to spot girls of all ages donning every bit of provocative attire they could find. So maybe it should be no wonder that some executive at JC Penny thought it was a good idea to make hip-huggers a part of his back-to-school marketing campaign.
But what designers don't tell people - and what they might not realize themselves - is that such racy, entertainment inspired attire, has every bit as much the intended effect of attraction as the objective individual would expect. In fact, recent research on the biology of attraction has shown that males almost immediately recognize as attractive certain waist to hip diameter ratios. More specifically, when males see a narrow waist accompanied by broader hips, it is biological cue to them, that a female is sexually mature. The aforementioned attire has a way of enhancing this effect.
So despite all the rationalizing, a sexual message is no doubt making its way through the to masses. People can ignore it, but that doesn't mean it won't have an effect. And the classroom is one place where that effect need not manifest itself.
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