The French Connection UK, a French fashion retail chain, is accountable for releasing the advertisement that consists of an image of two women, one wearing a dress and the other wearing a bathing suit. It may sound like a very common fashion advertisement, but what strikes this one as unique is the action and message implied by their stance. The woman in the bathing suit has the other woman in a neck hold while her other hand is held high in a tense, fist-like position ready to strike the other woman’s face. Her demeanor is full of resentment and anger. The woman in the dress is bent backwards with an indifferent yet fearful look on her face. One of her arms is holding the arm that is gripped on her neck while her other arm is on her opposer’s waist. Their struggle is made very clear both by their pose and facial expressions. The image is accompanied by text that says, “fashion v Style.” While the word fashion is displayed in a common font, the word Style is both capitalized accentuated with a cursive-like font. The background is solid black which allows both the text and the women to be outstanding focal points for the ad.
One might assume that the woman wearing the dress, on the left, represents fashion while the other woman, on the right, in the bathing suit, represents style because they are positioned in the same order as the text and because the woman on the left is dressed formally and in a more fashionable manner. Their posture very obviously entails both violence and opposition and the fact that they are both beautiful women is provocative and adds a sensuality that attracts the male audience. Their gender, along with their position, adds a shock effect that grabs the viewer’s eye no matter what sex they are.
In a symbolic sense, the advertisement sends the message that the fashion industry may not always coincide with one’s personal preferences of style which is a legitimate message. This message, however, could easily be interpreted as a promotion and underestimation of violence in order to move people to endorse the company or its product. This ad could be found highly offensive to a wide range of onlookers such as an older or parental audience and could essentially be more harmful to the company than effective.
This advertisement all together could have been constructed in a more moderate fashion but may not have made much impact to the consumer’s eye against the other millions of ads. Although it is loud and borders offensiveness, the company wanted to make their statement and make it boldly.
One might assume that the woman wearing the dress, on the left, represents fashion while the other woman, on the right, in the bathing suit, represents style because they are positioned in the same order as the text and because the woman on the left is dressed formally and in a more fashionable manner. Their posture very obviously entails both violence and opposition and the fact that they are both beautiful women is provocative and adds a sensuality that attracts the male audience. Their gender, along with their position, adds a shock effect that grabs the viewer’s eye no matter what sex they are.
In a symbolic sense, the advertisement sends the message that the fashion industry may not always coincide with one’s personal preferences of style which is a legitimate message. This message, however, could easily be interpreted as a promotion and underestimation of violence in order to move people to endorse the company or its product. This ad could be found highly offensive to a wide range of onlookers such as an older or parental audience and could essentially be more harmful to the company than effective.
This advertisement all together could have been constructed in a more moderate fashion but may not have made much impact to the consumer’s eye against the other millions of ads. Although it is loud and borders offensiveness, the company wanted to make their statement and make it boldly.
