Eugene Weekly – November 2007

There’s something very base but awesome about the way that American Apparel appeals to our love of color. Some of them, I could never wear outdoors because people would be wondering why the hell I was in such a bright shade of fuschia. But does it look awesome in advertisements alongside its complementary and outlandish hue counterparts? Definitely.

Houston St. Billboard

This billboard on Houston St. drew a lot of ire from a lot of different people. But my question: who has reflective shelves on a wall like that? Maybe I’m too “sex positive”, but I think it’s sexy. I went looking for this person today in the model galleries. Turns out her name is Kyung and the gallery is labelled “Self Portrait 2“. So, she took these photos herself and I bet she thinks she looks sexy. I wouldn’t disagree.

This kind of stuff is commonplace in other places in the world, primarily Europe. Are we hypersensitive to people looking sexy in advertisement? Real people in intimate situations, people that could be your neighbor or friend or cousin? I really think so.

Is it exploitative for a woman to take a photo of herself showing off her sexuality? Or empowering? I’m going to take a close look at some of the ads showing men in highly sexualized and suggestive advertisements. From what I’ve seen in the past, this isn’t something that’s only coming from one side. I don’t think as many people have seen those.