Original ad:

I found this ad by ALDO shoes while searching online for shoes. At first I did not question how this ad could be problematic, using women’s bodies to sell products is normalized in our society. Half naked women are used to sell everything from shoes to milk to cars. These products have nothing to do with the female body, and yet companies use women with unrealistic body types because sex sells. Aldo is using model Lindsey Wixon’s “perfect” body and in doing so, ALDO is contributing to societies perception of the ideal body image.

The problem with society having an ideal body image, rather than showcasing realistic body types, is that it leads to damaging standards of thinness. These ads are not only harmful in North America, but all over the world. Spread via globalization, western body standards are being imposed on the rest of the world. These ads tend to feature tall, thin, white models with long legs. Because of these ads there are rigid standards of beauty, that are not realistic at all. Ads showing thin models lead to shame, insecurity and body dissatisfaction in men and women alike.

If the ad did not say ALDO, I would have no idea what that ad was for, and what product ALDO is trying to sell. ALDO is using sex appeal to attract people towards their products, which are shoes. This is problematic because rather than trying to sell their actual product, ALDO is playing on consumer’s emotions. People are busy, so when they see an ad they are likely to be attracted to something “cool” like a pretty model, rather than the actual product (Warner 20).

The “Give me ALDO” is a campaign that has a variety of images similar to the one above, meant to focus on the product through “minimalism”. The photographer Terry Richardson wanted to only be focusing on the essentials, so the product would speak for itself. Richardson used the white backgrounds and models positioning to look like they are floating in space. The problem with this is that the focus is on the model Lindsey, not on the product. If ALDO really wanted to focus on the essentials and have the product speak for itself, why not have a picture of the product?

Culture Jammed Ad:

With my culture jam of the ALDO ad, I hope to raise questions about how companies are advertising their products. ALDO is using women’s idealistic body type in order to sell their product, which is wrong. I think it is also wrong that so many people are okay with these kinds of ads. With my culture jam I hope to highlight the problems of portraying women with unrealistic body standards in order to sell a product. Companies need to realize the devastating effects these have on women all over the world, who feel they need to conform in order to have the perfect body. Consumers need to realize there is something wrong with these body shamming ads, and realize that their bodies are perfect the way they are.

My jam of this ad is both different yet similar to the original, so I hope that catches eyes and calls attention to the problem of unrealistic body standards. I know the typical culture jamming is subtler, but with my star like background I hope to demonstrate that this is not a realistic body standard of our world. Every women’s body is different, but Lindsay Wixon’s body does not represent the average body. I changed the “Give me ALDO” phrase to “Give me Realistic Body Standards”. I stuck with the “Give me” portion of the ad in hope that ALDO will actually give consumers what they want in their next ad, a realistic body standard (if they insist on using women to sell their product).  If ALDO really wants an ad campaign that focuses solely on the product, they can give consumes a picture of their product. Before adding on the galaxy like background I changed Lindsey’s hair to red in a technique to draw attention, if the galaxy background did not do that enough. What’s similar to the old ad is everything excluding the background, phrase and hair. I did this so if a consumer saw the two ads side by side, they would initially notice the changes, but then go back to the original and realize what is wrong with it.

What I want from ALDO is not their shoes, but rather that they use ads that will showcase their product, and not societies ideal body.

Works Cited

“ALDO Shoes – South Africa – Photos | Facebook.” Facebook. 2014. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

Richardson, Terry, and Lindsey Wixon. Aldo Shoe Ad. Digital image. Fashion Model Directory. 2014. Web.

Warner, Jaime. “Political Culture Jamming: The Dissident Humor of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.” Popular Communication 5.1 (2007): 17-36. Web.