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American Apparel topless Ad draws negative reaction

American Apparel Ad Response to the American Apparel ad featuring a topless merchandising employee with the words Made in Bangladesh across her chest has been largely negative.

The idea was to focus attention on the company’s fair labor practices.  The retailer says its pays its employees 50 times the wages of other companies which outsource their work to countries like Bangladesh.

But its hard to see that with the shirtless woman staring you in the face.

In a blog published in Brown Girl Magazine, Bengali activist Jordan Alam wrote:

So this ad for me is not titillating, not liberating, and most certainly not a commentary that makes me want to buy more goods. Instead it reminds me that my body and the bodies of my family members will always be seen as objects for consumption – whether by individual sex tourists, exploitative philanthropy groups, or corporations out for cheap labor. This image, like all those catered to white eyes, speaks volumes about how my peoples’ stories are constructed by the American media. My only hope is that they can direct people to challenge themselves to move past the borders of their limited knowledge, and instead look to other resources where these women are not mannequins, and they speak for themselves.

The ad at first excited me, not for its titillation, but because of its message. But on closer review, I have backed off on my original thoughts.  The message was lost in favor of shock value and could have been delivered in a much more effective way.

Several other people who sent AsAmNews tweets on this subject agreed.

 

 

 

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