Offensive: Check!
November 20, 2009
Dear Dolce & Cabana Representative,
My name is Brynn A. Longenecker, a 22 year-old college female who, like any other person, get’s bombarded on a daily basis with thousands of advertisements. Now, I’m not the type of person to take offense to things very easily, and I make it a point to ask myself several questions regarding the material to ensure that I am not jumping to any irrational conclusions.
However, on this occasion, even after trying to understand the rationale behind your advertisement, I have failed to see or understand any good reason behind the purpose of it and have come to the conclusion that it is beyond offensive.
Your ad that I am addressing reveals a scenario evoking a gang rape, not to mention its subliminal message of violence against women. It is bad enough that you’re advertising clothing on models who have unattainable body types, but it is an entirely different thing to take those models and block them in such a way that it depicts what would normally be a horrific and traumatic event and attempt to glamorize it with your product and label.
I also don’t understand how you insisted that “the ad was never meant to be controversial and that it represented an erotic dream; a sexual game.” I am not sure from what “study” you may have conducted that would have brought you the impression that men and women have erotic dreams or play sexual games like the one represented in your advertisement, but I would strongly encourage you to re-conduct that study because you are highly mistaken.
I am dumbfounded as to how this idea even made it to print. Granted I understand that to break through the collage of all the other advertisements you must be original and unique, you should have done so in a much more tasteful way, verses making a mockery of a very tragic and realistic scenario.
Because your company sits on such a high pedestal and are known by much of the world, you must remember to ask yourself: “Is breaking through the clutter by posting such an advertisement really worth offending people who are victims or family members and friends of victims of rape?”
By allowing an advertisement like this to make it to print, you are not only encouraging and condoning such behavior, but also saying to the world that it is normal and okay. This is not the way to draw attention to your product, and certainly does not speak well of your ethics.
I hope you have taken serious considerations to the points I have brought forth to you, and remember to use better judgment for future ads. Remember what you represent and how your advertisements, even if you don’t mean it to send across a certain message, will in fact appear as a “vote” for the action you are portraying. Your advertisements influence the world, whether you intend them to or not.
Help create better consumers and not ones who are increasingly becoming more immune to violence such as gang rape and violence against women.
Sincerely,
Brynn L.
