Triumph underwear...
Triumph underwear
Date: January 1, 1970
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The Billboard shows three women clad in triumph lingerie. One of them is lying down with her feet up. Just above her is the caption, ‘READY TO BARE.’ The other caption on the billboard says ‘SEEMLESSLY SEXY’.
This advertisement may be used to:
1. Demonstrate blatant gender stereotyping in advertisements.
2. Prompt debate on alternative approaches.
Trainer’s notes
Both women and men agreed that the advertisement relates to the product being sold, but women felt that the advert reduces them to sexual objects there for the pleasure of men. This is accentuated by the woman’s posture: she is lying on her back with her legs in the air. Woman participants said that if they bought the underwear it is because it is beautiful; not because they like the way it’s being advertised.
Men argued that there is no other way of marketing the product other than showing women wearing the lingerie. One male participant felt that the advert should have shown a man helping a woman get into the underwear.
Discussion Questions
1. What messages are conveyed in the advert?
2. If women are entitled to celebrate and enjoy their sexuality without this being a service or object of pleasure for men?
3. How the advert might have been done differently?
4. If the wording was different i.e. instead of "Ready to Bare" a phrase that suggested that a woman wears beautiful lingerie for herself, would this change the tone of the advert ?
5. Read "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall?" below. What is the impact of such advertising on young women?
Training Exercises
1. Visit or call a lingerie shop. Ask sales clerks what the most often purchased sizes of lingerie are. (Note: it is likely that the average size bought is larger than the size of the models in the photos!)
2. Search for advertisements for men’s underwear. Compare the two.
Additional training resources
Picture our Lives: Gender and Images in Southern Africa, Chapter Seven: Sex Sells- or Does It?
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