Are online retailers beginning to spread fashion trends that are sending the wrong messages? From the Playboy x MissGuided Collection to slogan t-shirts with questionable or ‘sassy’ messages, brands certainly see to be causing a stir.
Recent news stories have also reported several customer complaints regarding an advertisement that Boohoo had listed with the slogan ‘Send Nudes.’
Through its encouragement of sharing sexual photos the ad was banned and removed from the site; however this occurrence sparked a debate about whether this is intended as female empowerment or is fashion reducing women to sex symbols yet again?
See the ad and The Sun’s report here.
The advertisement was not necessarily referring to naked pictures directly, it was supposed to be “nude,” as in the light beige colour yet viewers saw the advert as inappropriate and sent the wrong message.
Other similar online retailers such as Missguided have shared a collaboration with Playboy, a brand which is recognised as an American men’s lifestyle and entertainment magazine, and is known for frequently sharing nude or highly sexualised photos of women.
Photo From PrettyLittleThing.com
Photo From PrettyLittleThing.com
Is this also sending the wrong message and normalising behaviour that is not typically appropriate in the public eye?
With these retailers having a predominately young customer reach of females aged 16-30, the brands can be seen to be sharing slogans that are not suitable for its young and easily influenced customers.
Some argue that these racy slogans are empowering to women and reject the stereotypes placed on femininity.
Photo From PrettyLittleThing.com
A woman is typically not expected to be sexual in the way a man would be, so wearing the PlayBoy bunny logo can be seen as divergent behaviour acting against this assumption.
Feminists may wear these items of clothing to send a message to the public and encourage others to share this attitude.
Aside from questionable slogans and the PlayBoy logo there are other t-shirts that send less perplexing but still sassy messages like ‘Not Your Baby,’ and ‘I Remember.’ Could this be a nod to women’s past and reminder of the history women have experienced?
Photo From PrettyLittleThing.com
Photo From PrettyLittleThing.com
Tweet us your thoughts @Fashion_North is it empowering or merely presenting females as sex objects?
