femtique

femtique

• 09:38:29 pm on January 7, 2008 | # | 4
  

  

  According to AdRants, Target targeted a woman’s vagina. There is no question that Target provocatively displayed a woman laying down with her vagina at the center of the ad.

  Adrants writer Steve Hall said:

  Yup. we’re ready for it. Ready for everyone to tell us we’re reading way, way too much into this Target billboard that places a certain area of a woman’s body highly targeted by men right in the middle of its signature target logo. But you can’t tell us not a single soul at Target or its agency looked at this and didn’t see a certain interpretation that could be construed as objectifying to women. There’s just no way.

  Would it have been that hard to place the image of the woman so her upper body was in the middle of the target rather than her…um…crotch? Seriously.

  How could this advertisement be feminist friendly and still maintain it’s pop appeal?

  1. Focusing a woman’s vagina in the center of the “target” is physically and sexually objectifying women. As Steve said, “Would it have been that hard to place the image of the woman so her upper body was in the middle of the target rather than her…um…crotch? Seriously.” If the focus would have been different, then it would not have been objectifying. Target does not have to objectify women to sell their products. They choose to.

  2. This ad is discriminatory towards women in general. The targeting of this woman’s vagina is an act of gender discrimination. If there were a man and woman being sexually targeted, the power imbalance would have been rectified. Target does not have to discriminate women to sell their products.

   

Comments

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  fragileheart 10:02 am on January 8, 2008 | # | Reply

  But would placing her upper body not have objectified with her as well since her breasts are located in her upper body? And would the same conclusion not be drawn if her head was in the centre since she is pretty and it could be taken to mean that her beautiful face was the target? I agree to an extent… but I don’t think that placing a woman anywhere on the bullseye would have made any difference.

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  Veroncia 4:21 pm on January 8, 2008 | # | Reply

  I kinda agree with fragileheart. That’s the problem with a target being one’s logo. It always has that underlying message…that whatever is in the middle is a target. That said, I still don’t like the image.

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  Diana Estupinan 10:22 pm on January 9, 2008 | # | Reply

  i agree with you fragile heart
  to me even having a woman on the target suggest objectification. Yet i do believe that having the upper body with all those clothes on will not necessaraly target the breast but more the heart like shooting an arrow through a heart or bullet so it’s a bit more misogynistic.

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  fragileheart 5:27 am on January 27, 2008 | # | Reply

  That’s a good way of looking at it Diana