Victorian Visual Culture

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1. 

   That’s a really interesting find. (And by interesting I mean super-awkward) In my creative writing class today, we were talking about the Obscene Publications Act and Victorian porn (also a fascinating class). Professor Valerie Martin mentioned that while the pornographic photographs were very racy—and illegal—for their time, they are almost “precious” by today’s standards. It’s interesting that a mainstream advertising campaign in today’s culture would have been much more explicit than even the most forbidden images of the Victorian era.

   By: Laurel2250 on November 10, 2010
   at 12:47 am

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2. 

   Those ads were definitely awkward and I felt that it made it even more awkward knowing that the advertisers were using sex to sell suits. Even reading some of the comments posted on the ad were very blasé; it was slightly disturbing that it really didn’t bother most. It’s as if everyone today is so used to sex being advertised, we’ve become immune and numb from it’s shocking value. It begs the question then, what do advertisers have to do now a days to shock us and make us feel uncomfortable?

   A friend of mine was telling me about unintentionally sexual advertisements, and the ones I have posted below are perfect examples of the awkwardness one feels while watching it. I’d also like to point out how the advertisers change their pitch of the same product to target women in one and men in the other. The product being sold is called the Shake Weight.

   For women –
   

   For men –
   

   By: sabinabw on November 10, 2010
   at 5:14 am

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3. 

   If you follow the “Shameless” link this next website provides a bit more insight. It states “The daring campaign showing men in suits in a luxury surroundings with half naked women has led to some (intended) controversy and is already being reported on some news sites.” As disturbing (and kinda gross) as they are, the advertisements are effective. We’re discussing them here, after all. The website commends, “Nice campaign and a smart move from Suit Supply to definitely get some buzz started.”

   I would put these advertisements on par with the Pears’ Soap ad with the two children and the tub that we have looked at in depth. Not for the inherent controversy (since the Victorian viewer may not have felt it as such) but rather for the extremity of their message. The soap advertisement insinuates that the product can clean so well that it scrubs a black child’s skin to whiteness. These Suit Supply ads make the claim that these suits cause supermodels to expose themselves in public. While neither is an “appropriate” message for an advertisement, you cannot deny that they are effective, intriguing, and doing what they’ve set out to do in drawing attention to a product.

   By: ellenlarson on November 10, 2010
   at 3:44 pm

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