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Objectification in Advertising — Vintage Style!

Cara

Underalls: Making your butt disappear for the benefit of those men who don’t want your butt to get in the way of their checking out your butt! Don’t you want to look good for them? After all, little lady, you’re the one who left the inside of your house!

Via Sociological Images

15 thoughts on Objectification in Advertising — Vintage Style!

  1. Objectification noted, and valued, but…

    Who wears pantyhose when camping or hanggliding? This ad is just *so* wrong.

  2. Gexx, I think you fail to understand — women need to always be ready to be gazed upon. Sure, they’re allowed to be active in this modern society of ours! But only if they look good while doing it!

  4. There’s a scene in the book Trainspotting, by Irvine Welsh, where the main character is in a nightclub, eyeing up a young woman, and she puts her hands in her pockets, making the panty-line visible under her jeans, and he’s very turned on by this detail. I remember really appreciating that it was THAT detail that he fixated on, rather than “boobies” or somesuch. Always made much more sense to me than “ewww…VPL…”.

    Though of course, it’s still problematic from the male gaze perspective. When I watch this commercial I’m struck by two things – who’d wear panty-tights things under jeans while in the country, camping or hanggliding (for f*cks sake), and I’m imagining the women responding: “yikes, the underalls fairy stole my knickers I FEEL A DRAFT!”

  5. That actually wasn’t as bad as the one where a model walks past the camera (which is pointed waist level) and she bends down and says, with a coy wink and a smile, (paraphrase here) “…they make me look like I’m wearin’ nothing!”

  6. Maybe the wearer of flattering clothes can be judged as enabling of those who would objectify her…limited to men, apparently, who of course still want to keep her inside the house. Or, maybe she just wants to look and feel presentable as she perceives it.

    It’s insane how our obsessed our society is with butts. The thread-starter too, it seems.

  7. This commercial has so destroyed my brain cells that I can only express my feelings about it in the vernacular of the less intelligent of my compatriots:

    Dude. What the fuck.

  8. I remember this product. They weren’t panty/pantyhose, they were panties that were seamless and had a waistband that had enough give that it wasn’t supposed to make a line that showed. I bought a couple of pairs and really hated the way the fabric felt. They also tended to ride up in odd ways.

  9. @Cara
    True, true… my bad. Apparently I’m not a good woman. Take away my card and keep me under probation for pantylines whilst swiming or something.

  10. I remember that ad, I was probably 14 or so when it came out. Underalls were somewhat revolutionary at the time because it meant one less piece of underthings that you had to wear. And many women then did wear pantyhose all the time and even under pants, even casual pants, which was a step down from wearing the 18-hour girdle that they had worn for years (I’m thinking specifically of my mother and her girlfriends, but I think it was a standard thing for many of their age.) Still, very weird, that thing flying around smacking their butts. I don’t remember my reaction to it then, but seeing it now… ick.

  11. And you know what else? I’ve never been able to figure out exactly why VPL is supposed to be ‘unsightly.’ I mean, the outline of bra straps and bra bands are acceptable, and even evident cup seams have a certain retro appeal, so why is VPL a crime against all that’s holy?

    Oh. Because some advertiser said so.

  13. Do they even make Underalls any more?

    I seem to remember an even stupider Underalls commercial when I was a kid. The camera followed a model sashaying down the street, and eventually she whipped around and breathlessly whispered, “Underalls make me feel like I’m wearin’ nuthin’!”

    This made perfect sense to my then 14-year-old self, as it undoubtedly did to the guys (you know they were guys) who wrote it. But I found out much later that it helped sink the brand, because most women don’t want to feel like they’re “wearin’ nuthin’.”

  14. Benvolio – I once got asked to change my clothes at work because of VPL, and to make sure VPL didn’t happen again.

    My boss was a woman. A very evil, evil woman.

  15. KathyMarie: Apparently I’m a MUCH more evil woman than your boss; I fear my solution would be to go into the bathroom, remove the offending garment, and put it on her desk.

    (Yes, and then I’d be job hunting. I’d be evil, and job hunting. But I’d be happy.)

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