Press=Porn
Why buy porn, when American Apparel gives it away for free!
Yes, every Thursday, in the back of the L.A. Weekly, mixed in right in the middle of the classifieds, you can be sure to find an ad for American Apparel featuring a half-naked woman.
I'll admit, that from looking at their web-site, you can see that most of their clothing looks pretty cool and hip. But why does their advertising have to constantly feature a barely-clothed young woman in some provocative pose? These are more than just "eye-catching ads." They say something about the way woman are viewed in this society.
Most people who buy American Apparel clothing are aware of the kind of advertising they use. A lot of people also don't criticize them for it, or brush off others who do, because they believe their advertising is just hip and sexy--and besides--they are "socially conscious."
The young company has received lots of press for making themselves known as a company that makes clothes that are "sweatshop free," and it is well-known that they pay their workers well and offer incentives no other garment factory ever would. "The challenge for companies like American Apparel is to establish new ways of doing business that are efficient and profitable without exploiting workers," says their mission statement.
Exploiting women is okay, I guess, as long as you don't exploit workers. Yeah, it all balances out.
Speaking of the Weekly, the entire last thirty or so pages are always full of porn, literally. Every strip club and phone sex establishment has an ad, and most of these feature naked women with black squares that barely cover parts of their body.
But, hey, it's L.A.'s only "alternative" newspaper! Where else are we going to read well-written articles that go up against the system, especially in times like these when right-wingers seem to have so much control. Yeah, they may print ads that are a bit demeaning towards women, but how else are they supposed to pay their bills? And, you know, we need a radical and progressive alternative to the L.A. Times. Their cool political cartoons and left-leaning politics balance things out in the end, right?
Well, to all of you who have not heard of the Revolutionary Worker newspaper, let me introduce you to it. The R-W, as I like to call it, has been around for a bit over 25 years! They have been exposing the system and providing revolutionary theory on how to change the world every week, (in English and Espanol), without the help of any dumb advertising, (and especially not porn). The funding is provided by people who know how important it is for the paper to exist and give money to its production frequently, with many donating every week. (What a cool concept, this "relying on the masses" thing).
If you have not yet discovered the RW, go ahead and click on that link over there on your right. Who knows, you might feel like subscribing.
posted by Nikolai Garcia @ 4:04 PM
11 Comments:
Am glad you talked about this, it always bother me how much porn was in the LA weekly. It was so fast too. One week it is only 2 pages, then it more. First it just simple adverstiment then it's plain and simple porn. I stop reading it because I hated see in all the porn. It is just so offensive.
I think it's a little overbroad to categorize an advertisement with a scantily clad woman as porn. I agree that the images of women used in advertising are representative of an entire patriarchal society.
But what makes it porn? Porn is a commodification of sex. An advertisement of the type you describe is not selling sex it is selling clothing. A simple image of a scantily clad woman is not necessarilly porn. It is not even necessarilly porn if it is being used to sale something else. If this was the case then much art would be considered porn. Gustav Klimt comes to mind, even Picasso.
As an aside what is your opinion of the use of the male body in advertising? Does it represent patriarchy as well or is it something else? Is it porn?
a little info on charney, the founder of american apparel:
aa does pay its workers more than other garment industy companies do. they have time off, benefits, etc. however, they are not allowed to unionize, charney has threatened to close aa factories where aa employees have begun to organize.
charney insists that aa is the future of capitalism. he formed aa because he saw an opening to sell to the youth anti-globalization population, and he was certain it would be profitable. charney loves capitalism and how rich it has made him - i'm practically quoting him when i say this.
and finally, on those advertisements: charney takes a lot of those photos himself and/or has sex with many of the models who he meets mostly in aa offices, stores, probably factories too. he considers sexual harrassment a figment of the imagination of bitter women, that women have constructed themselves as victims. claudine ko wrote a feature on charney for jane magazine and while she followed/interviewed charney over the course of a few days he constantly regailed tails of conquests he had with female aa employees, hit on ko (the journalist), and proceeded to masturbate in front of her.
charney's biggest sleazy act is convincing a large part of our youthful generation that a garment company with a heart exists.
ps - what's up with the aa hasidic store?
There are different things to comment here--
No, not all photographs, paintings, or images of women wearing little or no clothing is equivalent to pornography. But when these images are used in advertising and are used to sell you something then it is the comodification of women and of sex.
And what about the effect that these advertisements have on women's psyche and how they are viewed in society? That's what's more disturbing to me-- it's like you're being visually assaulted everywhere you look!
It's a constant struggle-- even for revolutionary minded women--to struggle against the "ideal body image" of being "thin" and "sexy." Women have to struggle against this on the daily just by virtue of living in this society.
**
I didn't know all that about Charney the founder of American Apparel. Very interesting, since there are a lot of people who want to uphold American Apparel as a model of working within the framework of the capitalist system and still supporting workers rights.
**
I think using men in ads wearing next to nothing is also the commodification of people and sex to sell things-- I do think that it has a different effect on men in this society because patriarchy exists. Undoubtedly there are a lot of men with issues concerning their body image-- but on society as a whole the pressures of living up to an "ideal standard of beauty" is not as deeply embedded to their existance and functioning in this society as it is for women.
There have been interesting studies done on the similarities between posture, facial expressions, and overall imagery used in pornography and that used in advertizements and women's fashion magazines.
One thing which was found is that while many women go through life modelling themselves after the "ideal" image put forward in women's magazines or ads, many men who are influenced more by pornography than by the women's fashion magazines interpret the same body language and "look" in a more openly sexual way.
This is not so much conspiracy theory as it is a reflection of how common views towards women get filtered into different arenas.
On the distinction between art & porn? I guess I don't think they are mutually exclusive. By that I don't mean that pornography should therefore be unrestricted in a revolutionary society - but I do think that how that line gets drawn needs to get put in the hands of increasing numbers of people and will be something of a "moving target."
Standards in society will change and some things which people once tolerated will be seen increasingly as intolerable...but also I imagine that as things advance there would be more of a dynamic of people discarding pornography in general and that some of the things which become intolerable would be more "cast off" than suppressed.
Still, there will be new things artistically that come forward through the depiction of backwards views on women or others and this will have to be recognized and not simply collapsed in a narrow way into the bottom-line "political" value of any piece of work.
It seems to me to get this right, in a way that neither gives free reign to male supremacy nor stifled and sucks all the air out of society, one really needs to take up Avakian's approach of having a solid core with a lot of elasticty. Establishing those things and standards which must be firmly upheld and those around which a lot of elasticity can be unleashed.
Thanks for all the good info yall. I had no idea what an asshole this fucker is. capitalist PIG.
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