This original advertisement is for the Los Angeles-based clothing company American Apparel, which was originally founded by businessman Dov Charney in 1989. In the past, the company has had a very unconventional corporate culture and has always been very open about sexuality and expression. This was reflected in the majority of their advertisements, which often featured women wearing very little clothing and posing in sexual ways. Charney himself appeared in some of these advertisements, lying next to these seemingly naked women (The Guardian). Between 2011 and 2014, a total of seven lawsuits were filed by female American Apparel employees against Charney for sexual assault and misconduct (The Guardian). All cases were either dismissed or settled, but Charney was subsequently fired from his position as the company filed for bankruptcy, and he went on to start a new company called Los Angeles Apparel (The Guardian). Although American Apparel makes clothing for both men and women and makes a variety of unisex pieces, their advertisements mainly feature women, and there is less emphasis placed on the male side of the brand. This marketing technique is geared towards women in the sense that it is promoting female clothing to them, but it would be naïve to think that it is not also geared at men who are drawn to women posing in absurdly sexual ways. This specific advertisement features a female with her legs spread open wearing only a bodysuit, with the words ‘Now Open’ beside her, telling the audience that a new American Apparel store is open somewhere. However, the clear sexual implications of this advertisement speak to the company’s former obsession with sexualizing women. There are significantly less American Apparel advertisements featuring men, and the ones that I could find did not show the men posing in sexually suggestive ways. The company has since been taken over by female CEO Paula Schneider, and the company’s advertisements have since changed drastically to reflect how they are no longer interested in sexualizing women.
My jammed version of this advertisement is a direct call out of Dov Charney’s behaviour towards his former employees and the lawsuits that were dismissed, reflecting the more often than not outcome of when a woman comes forward and reports that she has been sexually assaulted. I wanted to highlight the irony between American Apparel’s overtly sexual female advertisements and the sexual allegations against it’s CEO at the time. The original advertisement already did some of the work for itself; the model’s legs are spread open and she looks as if she is waiting for something. She is posed in a submissive state in relation to the person behind the camera or the person looking at the advertisement, which perpetuates traditional societal gender roles and puts the female in a passive, docile position. There is a clear sense of obedience coming from the woman in the advertisement, which is most likely meant to appeal to men. However, to tie this to Charney’s sexual allegations, I added the words ‘For Sexual Assault’ under the text that reads ‘Now Open’, in order to suggest that the woman in the advertisement is ready to be sexually assaulted by Charney given that she is being paid by the company to model their clothing. I also added the words ‘She’s Asking For It, Right?’ along the side of her leg, intentionally in close proximity to her genitalia that is barely covered. I wanted to acknowledge the absurdity of the ‘asking for it’ complex that has plagued women for hundreds of years and the CEO of American Apparel being accused of sexual assault and misconduct seven times. The added text furthers the explicit sexism present in the advertisement and takes it from being suggestive to being aggressive.
References
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/10/american-apparel-dov-charney-sexual-harassment