Advertising from The Dark Side

Laurie and Debbie say:

We were completely horrified by this unbelievably blog post from Copyranter about a nonprofit campaign against statutory rape.

young teenager with her hands just above her deep cleavage

All three pictures all over-emphasize sexual availability (while warning against it) to a terrifying degree, but the text in the background of this one is particularly telling:

young black girl with caption

We have to wonder what the ad campaign conversation was like; almost certainly, one of the clinching arguments was, “This way people will actually look at the ads.”

The net result, of course, since a picture is and always has been worth a thousand words, is to sexualize these teenagers, and underscore their attractiveness and availability while claiming otherwise.

This, we believe, is a nonprofit organization and an ad agency that have been so seduced by the dark side of sexualization of young girls that they may not even realize they are sending a message opposite to the one they intend.

Bittersweet thanks to Steven S. for the pointer.

advertising, statutory rape, sexuality, Body Impolitic