Some pictures speaks for themselves, and that is the case of the one presented in this entry. As the FIU group was touring around the city of Prague, we also came across with this very interesting ad. In the middle of the street we saw a big poster of a naked woman with a vibrator on her side. We were amazed by the poster because is really rare to see such an explicit ad in the US. Most of the people from the group agreed that they’ve never seen an ad of a vibrator in the middle of the street in the US. And even if it wasn’t advertising the vibrator but the erotic store it was quite surprising. What makes it more controversial maybe for Americans is the fact that the poster was placed in a street were not only adults but children walked by everyday because this is a very popular street in the city.
The ad is very simple; it does not contain any text and barely any color. The images are so strong that it could literally speak for themselves living little to the imagination. The only two things highlighted with color were the naked woman and the vibrator. Not only the woman in the picture is naked but is also beautiful which makes this ad more appealing. With this example we can clearly see how sex and beauty combines to make advertising capable enough to capture consumers’ attention. Also allows a strong association between the image and the brand.
I agree that this advertisement of a woman with a vibrator is quite provocative. I was surprised to see such a daring ad place in the middle of the street. It was obviously placed there to get the attention of viewers passing by. I agree with your observation that the United States would never allow such an ad to be placed in an open street where young children could see it. The US is infamous for its puritan moral values and conservative viewpoints. However, I feel sex is liberating and thus, the media should not be shy of showing some skin.
ReplyDeleteJoseph you are daring and scandalous, however, this store in Prague also caught my eye. It was so forwardly posted in a tourist area. I would think Czeck Republic would have censoring laws for advertising, kind of what we have in the United States equivalent to the FCC. Guess not. Note the use of background a beach setting with shoes on and is in the nude. This seems awkward and unnatural. Furthermore, an ad should sell the product and promote the brand in this case it becomes more about the model rather than the product. The subject focus of the layout is centered ,so she appears static; whereas, even the color of the product (yellow-orange saturation= high intensity = more visibility) is outwon by the model. This says a lot.
ReplyDeleteI'd invite everyone to also consider what it means to a community in displaying such obscenity and the messages instilled in those who come to visit and witness this. Tourist must think, "Hey, we better turn around we're reaching a shady area."
We probably feel shock by this ad because in our culture sex as many other concepts are taken more seriously and privately by society.
ReplyDeleteThe sex culture in European countries are very open and I believe that makes society more open to this type of ads, which are definitely straight forward and clean.