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What’s so offensive about breasts?

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simon field

simon field

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Feb 4, 2011
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Adidas has had an advert banned, due to it showing an assortment of breasts.

The nipples are censored out.

Question: Why is a bare breasted woman deemed offensive whilst a bare chested man, not?

Isn’t it about time we admired the beauty, rather than pretending it doesn’t exist?
 
simon field said:
Question: Why is a bare breasted woman deemed offensive whilst a bare chested man, not?
Click to expand...

Depends on the man.

https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2FNetwork%2FImages%2Fmanboobs-160128.jpg
 
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simon field said:
Adidas has had an advert banned, due to it showing an assortment of breasts.

The nipples are censored out.

Question: Why is a bare breasted woman deemed offensive whilst a bare chested man, not?

Isn’t it about time we admired the beauty, rather than pretending it doesn’t exist?
Click to expand...
The same reason that, generally, men wear only swimming trunks on the beach, but women cover their breasts.

Probably related to the fact that a large number of men see women's breasts as sex objects.
 
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Newchodge said:
The same reason that, generally, men wear only swimming trunks on the beach, but women cover their breasts.

Probably related to the fact that a large number of men see women's breasts as sex objects.
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Do they?

Do women not see men’s chests as sexy too?
 
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Newchodge said:
Rarely
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Luckily, more liberated countries than the stuck up old UK take a different view!

But I still don’t get it. Obviously the ladies in the advert are happy to display their bodies. One would assume that a majority of people wouldn’t choose to be offended by the simple biology of the human body. Those who DO decide to take offence - well, nobody’s forcing them to look at the avert, so, are they getting all bent out of shape on behalf of other people?

Genuinely mystified.
 
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simon field said:
Luckily, more liberated countries than the stuck up old UK take a different view!

But I still don’t get it. Obviously the ladies in the advert are happy to display their bodies. One would assume that a majority of people wouldn’t choose to be offended by the simple biology of the human body. Those who DO decide to take offence - well, nobody’s forcing them to look at the avert, so, are they getting all bent out of shape on behalf of other people?

Genuinely mystified.
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Using sex to sell anything is unacceptable. Is that hard to understand? So, women lying across the bonnets of cars at the Motor Show was unacceptable donkey's years ago. What have women's breasts (showing nipples or not) to do with the product being advertised?
 
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Newchodge said:
Using sex to sell anything is unacceptable. Is that hard to understand? So, women lying across the bonnets of cars at the Motor Show was unacceptable donkey's years ago. What have women's breasts (showing nipples or not) to do with the product being advertised?
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Erm. The product being advertised is a sports bra. Emphasis is on all shapes and sizes.

How is that ‘using sex’?
 
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simon field said:
Erm. The product being advertised is a sports bra. Emphasis is on all shapes and sizes.

How is that ‘using sex’?
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Does it show the breasts supported by the bra?
 
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Newchodge said:
Does it show the breasts supported by the bra?
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Nope. That part is left to the imagination, which is great!

Do you imagine that the product is somehow being marketed to men, so they can buy a bra for their partner’s specific body shape?

What other body parts should be banned? Legs? Feet?
 
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See, I can’t help but think that the

‘Oh it must be offensive because it’s sexual’

mindset, is actually only in the minds of those who decide to take offence at what the majority of people can just accept as normal.
 
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Newchodge said:
Does it show the breasts supported by the bra?
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No, that wasn’t the point of the advert. It was to show that all women are different which is why there are 42 different sports bras.
 
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fisicx said:
No, that wasn’t the point of the advert. It was to show that all women are different which is why there are 42 different sports bras.
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Well all I can say is when it is allowed to be up and running - send me the link as I manage a couple of female rugby teams who between them probably cover most of your 42 shapes and are forever complaining about the poor quality of female sportwear

With it just being confirmed that England will host the 2025 Womens rugby world cup I think I can spot a marketing opportunity for them
 
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Newchodge said:
The same reason that, generally, men wear only swimming trunks on the beach, but women cover their breasts.

Probably related to the fact that a large number of men see women's breasts as sex objects.
Click to expand...

Breasts are seen as important in the upbringing of children. Men are genetically programmed to find them attractive, as it shows the woman has the makings of good mother. In a similar way to women being physically attracted to muscular men, they have the ability to provide for the family.

Give it a few thousand years and we all may have moved on.
 
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IanSuth said:
Well all I can say is when it is allowed to be up and running - send me the link as I manage a couple of female rugby teams who between them probably cover most of your 42 shapes and are forever complaining about the poor quality of female sportwear

With it just being confirmed that England will host the 2025 Womens rugby world cup I think I can spot a marketing opportunity for them
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Nothing like getting a breast of the compitition ?
 
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Newchodge said:
Surely, showing the effect of the 42 different bras would be a far more efective advert?
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No.

It’s more about ladies being able to clearly identify their own particular shape. It smashes stereotypes.

It’s not in any way Risqué, say like a Diet Coke advert, or after shave, or Cadburys flake. Nor is it in any way suggestive or even erotic. It’s just body parts, plain and simple.

The ad is inclusive, forward-thinking, and I would think a
welcome change from the plastic, unrealistic portrayal of women seen all too often in the past.
 
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Newchodge said:
Using sex to sell anything is unacceptable.
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Says who?

Sex is a normal healthy part of human life. Why is it unacceptable to use it as an advertising tactic?

This advert however is, from the comments, not overtly sexual at all. It merely shows female anatomy. Why should we be ashamed of what is natural?
 
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simon field said:
To be honest, I haven't seen the advert, but if it is bare breasts on display on a public advert (which I thought it was), then that would be risqué, however given that the nipples were censored out, then I retract my statement!
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I posted a link up there ^^^ to an article written by a woman, showing and welcoming the ad.
 
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As said before, any connotations of

‘oh god, it’s not on, they’re breasts, that’s really bad’

exist purely in the heads of the great offended.
 
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Men look at women. It's a sort of built in function. It's one of those 'look it's a woman - she has big/small/long/short/whatever the penchant of the admirer'. Seconds after the look men have already forgotten who they were looking at. It has nothing to to with treating women as sex objects or objectifying women. Men look at women the same way they look at a car or a powertool or pokemon cards. I can understand why some women get upset but men just don't think the same way. There are plenty of studies you can read about how men observe the world.

So no, I don't think the advert was sexist.
 
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I think the marketing agency that ran the ad knew exactly what they were doing, exactly as @MOIC alluded to above. Their job was to get Adidas in the news and get people talking about Adidas, the advert was to the general public to appear as an advert for sport bras, but the wider strategic objective of the agency as it is with all media agencies - get people talking about their client.

The advert was risqué from the perspective of; will it create controversy? Will it go viral? Will it get into the newspapers? If it achieves all or the majority of these then they have succeeded. They have come out of this in the media as leaders and champions for women, the agency have done well.

Society is what society is, and if you can create some divisive opinions and debate off the back of your marketing campaign by getting society to chew itself up then that is today's successful social media marketing strategy.

Coming from a bloke who genuinely has zero interest in boobs, just don't interest me at all.
 
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@Newchodge, have you dug yourself into a little bit of a hole here?

How about the famous fine art paintings? Nudes.

Artists ‘using sex’ to sell a painting. Just plain wrong? ?
 
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simon field said:
@Newchodge, have you dug yourself into a little bit of a hole here?

How about the famous fine art paintings? Nudes.

Artists ‘using sex’ to sell a painting. Just plain wrong? ?
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Can you explain why, if the advert was about the human form, the nipples were censored out. Are they not an inherent part of the human form?
 
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Newchodge said:
Can you explain why, if the advert was about the human form, the nipples were censored out. Are they not an inherent part of the human form?
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Yes, I can. It’s because a small minority of people decide to be offended on behalf of others.

Offended by milk-teats.

Can you not see now how silly that sounds?
 
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simon field said:
Yes, I can. It’s because a small minority of people decide to be offended on behalf of others.

Offended by milk-teats.

Can you not see now how silly that sounds?
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But the nipple is the reason for the existence of the breasts. If this was only about the glorifying of the human form, they would not have been censored. Censoring suggests the reason was sensationalism and nothing else.
 
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No, it’s more about being a bit more open-minded about these things.

Sadly, some are still stuck in the old ways.
 
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Oh I don't know, I still think it's all part of the intended marketing strategy right down to any censorship put in place. All carefully planned and worked on, and strategies in place to deal with media and social reaction.
I cannot help but admire it, wouldn't be surprised if the agency win some awards for this.

We're talking about the censorship and I really think we should be talking about the cleverness of it and how the agency has used news and society enragement as a very clever marketing strategy. Honestly, I'm impressed and love it ... we should write a business guide about it on here ?
 
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