American Apparel

This essay expresses a concept in advertising that is well known and over used. Yes, we know that sex sells. We also know that photographing young women in sexy clothing is going to boost the sales of their product. Females in the United States are obsessed with body image and will stop at nothing to look like the models in advertisements. Again, this is not something new. Kealey is acknowledging the fact that many companies use overly sexualized advertisements to sell their product, she however is pointing out the key differences between other companies and American Apparel. For example, a company such as Calvin Klein may shoot a highly sexualized AD to put in a magazine, however Klein has a team of people who work with the models and coordinate the photo shoot. Dov Charney, the CEO at American Apparel shoots all of the ADs himself, which means he chooses the models, he chooses what they will wear, and he choosing how sexually they are going to pose. The amount of harassment lawsuits against him is disgusting. One of the most interesting points Kealey makes Dov's choice of models he uses to promote his company. To quote her she says, "There are also negative connotations relating to his choice to use a large number of Asian and black models, as the sexual nature of the imagery can be seen to encourage the belief that non-white women are more sexualized and/or submissive." Throughout history and especially in art, an image of a black woman symbolized being barbaric and sexual, so is it true that Dov uses these models to be even MORE sexualized? Ah, I guess we'll never know the truth.