It is understandable that the whole creative team for these Kiwi Shoe Polish controversial ads by Grey ad agency Hong Kong is male. Because if there was just one female in the team, she would have screamed at them, “What the hell are you thinking???!”
I mean, we know sex sells, and we know that attractive females grab the attention of the male demographic, which is the main target here. But, there is a subtle and clever way and a blatantly immature way to do it.
As you can see in the images in the gallery, the ads not only display scantly clad young women, it shows them in miniature size (just about the size of a shoe brush) polishing the man’s shoes. Because, you know, men are worth it.
If these ads offended me, and I am a man, I imagine they must be much more offensive towardes females.
Any thoughts, ladies?
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Gender Representation
- There is an opportunity for companies and agencies to diversify their creative teams to avoid creating offensive advertisements.
- Social Responsibility
- Businesses have the opportunity to practice social responsibility by creating ads that do not objectify or offend any gender group.
- Ethical Advertising
- The market is shifting towards ethical advertising practices, creating opportunities for companies to differentiate themselves by producing responsible and respectful ads.
Where This Applies
- Advertising
- Advertising agencies have an opportunity to reevaluate their internal creative processes and standards to prevent offensive advertising.
- Fashion and Beauty
- Fashion and beauty companies, who heavily rely on marketing and advertising, have the opportunity to lead the way by championing ethical representations of women in ads and media.
- Media
- Media companies can leverage their influence to promote and encourage ethical advertising practices and positive representations of gender in media.
