It’s funny I feel compelled to actually talk about a recent article I saw regarding American Apparel and its form of advertising which depicts women in a very sexual way. My first reaction was one of bewilderment – what in fact did this have to do with fashion. What ever happened to creating a bit of mystery, intrigue, a sense of what else is there. Is this the way you have to look and act to be cool? Keep your clothes on and let the imagination go to work.

Everything these days is just so in your face and I really wonder what message this sends to our kids, particularly young girls who feel compelled to conform to the stereotype, an image that is often airbrushed images of what a real female is. Images that all too often sexualize very young girls, as a father of a teenage girl, I find this quite strange indeed. I’m not being prudish regarding this, all I’m asking is have we become so bereft of ideas that the only thing we can think of to sell a product is to use virtually naked women? They might as well be naked they have so little on anyway!

Where have all the clever people gone?

Now please don’t think for one moment that I do not appreciate the beauty of the female form but my version of sexy is something that pricks my curiosity, makes me imagine and fills me with excitement. Changing tack slightly I also much prefer watching a drummer, as a matter of fact any musician who leaves me with the thoughts of “I wonder what else they are capable of doing?” Do we really have to expose everything immediately, where’s the slow dance, the romance, the mystery or are we so desensitized and mentally fatigued these days that we have become oblivious to this lazy method of selling products.

Calling out for someone in those so called creative ad departments to push the envelope in a creative way because at the moment they are just plain lazy and ensuring that advertising standards remain low.

Relevance to a drum site probably zero, however I felt I had to express my thoughts on this one.