Exposed breastvertising – taboo or woo-hoo

Posted on 31. Mar, 2009 by Jonathan Cherry in Advertising

Growing up in a country and a time where, thanks to Scope magazine, up until the age of 12 we still thought that real girls were born with bright red stars on their breasts – these two ads, for a neck and bust enhancement cream produced by a Joburg agency, seem rather out of sorts.

They apparently appear in the March issue of Fair Lady and Cosmo and are receiving mixed reviews where posted online.

Question is – even if your company sells a product meant to enhance or protect a part of the human anatomy that you would otherwise expose at a dinner party (before the cheap wine gets poured) is it acceptable to show it in your advertising?

For the record, we have absolutely nothing against these ads. In fact, if we had a pair of breasts – we'd already have bought a tube of this stuff to test their ambitious claim. Some, however, seem to have a real problem with exposed breasts in advertising.

See the two NSFW [if you're working at the Vatican] Innoxa print ads after the jump below.

Copy: You'll want to show it off.

On the down side for us – clearly the ad is exaggerating the positive benefits of this stuff just a bit and the copy line seems a bit strange – …"show IT off" – shouldn't that be "show THEM off"?

'Shocking' or 'sure thing' for you?

[via Copyranter and Ads of the World]

6 Responses to “Exposed breastvertising – taboo or woo-hoo”

brent

31. Mar, 2009

I don’t know.
But I’m willing to try some for my wife and see if she lets me try it out on her…..
Darren

31. Mar, 2009

I love dem titties!
Yawn..

31. Mar, 2009

Clearly the advertisers were way off with the publication demographics based on those two who commented above. Unless of course two of them are turning twelve this year, or havent seen a womans breasts since their last Scope viewing. Not a word would have been said if it were published in GQ or Men’s Health – except from the twelve year olds comments from the Corner Cafe’s magazine stand.
Cherryflava

01. Apr, 2009

The twelve year olds are lining up to offer their opinion over at Ads of the World.
They must have a Pacman machine and cheap cigarettes in a dark corner.
Out of the context of a woman’s magazine we can see how these ads may cause surprise, but in amongst articles on ‘How to blow a guys mind using nothing more than your mouth’ – it’s standard fare.
pita

02. Apr, 2009

These ads are fantastic.
It amazes me that the human female form, which has been the subject matter of artists for centuries, could still cause such a buzz.
It’s not only eye-catching and a break-through in the very cluttered beauty category – it celebrates women. The campaign celebrates women for being the beautiful creatures that they are. When you feel good, you’re proud.
Bryony

06. Apr, 2009

I don’t know….I always thought being too literal was a bad thing. These ads leave nothing to the imagination and they don’t appear to be addressing the female psyche. Not that I have anything against breasts, but what is this achieving and who is it really speaking to? The answer? Men.