Jezebel
Dear Kristen, You have a nice ass. I could have probably inferred that fact by simply getting stuck in certain positions a crowded subway car with you, or walking behind you on a summer's day, but thanks to the new American Apparel Youtube video I know exactly how firm it looks when you lean down and wave it around as if you are being penetrated doggy-style. Congrats on that. Having worked at American Apparel I know you couldn't have received much more than a hundred bucks compensation for that video. Maybe $100 is the going rate for a nice ass in a time during which there seem to be a lot of young women with nice asses who are interested in having the niceness of their asses documented for public consumption on the internet for recognition and/or vanity, which is a something I have learned from many informational outlets from MySpace to the Suicide Girls but which I could have just as easily learned exclusively from looking at American Apparel ads.
But maybe $100 is a discount, a special rate for American Apparel, because you like their clothes and you work there and so do other cool people and you all hang out and go to parties with them and it's less like a company than just a clique of attractive people who all happen to work for the same publicly traded company making kinda sexy videos mainly for one another to get off on and because you're all into it, and you just put them on the American Apparel YouTube site because losers like me are more likely to pay attention when American Apparel is involved, because of all those bullshit sexual harrassment lawsuits and nasty rumors about Dov, who is admittedly a big perv but really, who isn't? After all, if I am so disgusted by American Apparel's "objectification" of women, why don't I stop looking at the ads and writing these posts, right? Why don't I stop buying their clothes? Why don't I stop using them to get hits? Sex sells, everyone knows it. Why don't I give it all up and go to the fucking gym and studiously avoid the American Apparel billboards I must pass on the way there? It's not as if I am going to singlehandedly put an end to the pornification of culture or the fact that women will always be evaluated on the basis of their most superficial unsustainable physical qualities. It's not as if I have a hundred dollars to hand out to every attractive twenty year old girl Dov Charney wants to use in an ad. And even if I did, who would choose me?
Would you, Kristen? I dunno, Kristen. I mean, I don't know you. I only know your ass. I'm probably wayyyy oveanalyzing your thought process here. I know, it's almost creepy, right? I'm totally like a stalker. It almost would have been better if I'd just gone with my gut and written:
"Dear Kristen, I know porn when I see it, and this ad is not porn. It is worse."
American Apparel Brings Its Artistic Vision To Video [Copyranter]
Comments
*wishes she were dead.*
I love you for this, Moe.
And my ass is available should you ever need to videotape it for some nefarious scheme.
It does not, however, look much like the ass above.
By all means, use them for hits but don't buy their clothes, Moe!
I draw the line when the models look/are underage. Otherwise, I don't care.
Assvertising.
They have VIDEOS?
I'm telling you, AA is thisclose to a full-on Hustler style ad with a chick shoving something in her cooch. Just you wait.
Before the recession she would have totally gotten at least 150 for this ad.
@DorothyZbornak: Or that hideous meat grinder graphic.
Great post.
Overreact much? I think this is a response to Dov Chaney and not so much the ad itself. The only difference between this and more "high concept" ads like Gwen Stefani in the "cum spurt" ad that was also featured here on Jezebel is that he's not pretending.
And the ass was nice. Panties, not so much.
This really pisses me off. What an idiot. I bet if you saw her face it would read "smug."
If i were her i would have asked to be paid in pounds.
Best. Last. Line. Ever.
I am proud to say I have never bought anything at an American Apparel. But that really means nothing to them, I'm obviously not in their target market.
How can an ass that looks like the leg connects to the back with no bump at all be considered a nice ass? Maybe it's because I have junk in my trunk and can't fathom anyone liking sticks connected to one another, but whatever.
Her mother must be so proud.
I can't believe that video. I feel really dirty now. Like I've been lodged beneath the flap of Tony Soprano's sweaty man-tit during a "whacking" kind of dirty.
Wtf is this? Porn? Where are the tits????
Thank you, youtube commenter. Your insight is really all this needs.
"Dear Kristen, I know porn when I see it, and this ad is not porn. It is worse."
Yays.
I walked by an AA yesterday and there was a huge ad of a woman in a bathing suit/onesie/whatever with full-on pubic hair showing. Part of me was like "wow, good for them," but most of me was like "eew Dov."
If you haven't already, you should read the "pornography of meat" by Carol J. Adams. She describes the "thingification" of women and nonhumans (i.e. animals) by the advertising industry using ads, illustrations, signs, & photos to backup her argument.
Didn't Jez used o be SPONSORED by AA? [jezebel.com]
What, did we scare them away? Come back, Dov! We only want your balls on a stick!
That ass looks exactly like my flat ass, but I get called "flat ass". What's up, Kristen?!! Am I supposed to lean over, is that the trick?
@BiscuitDoughJones: My mind went to a different kind of "whacking" until I realised you meant "killing". I feel super-extra-dirty now.
How is this worse than porn? I don't get it.
@eeva: Exactly.
You know, I feel bad for the girl because nobody will ever recognize her by her face.
Well, not bad as much as she-has-it-coming-for-being-a-total-ho-bag.
"Dear Kristen, I know porn when I see it, and this ad is not porn. It is worse."
My thoughts exactly.
So today has been pretty NSFW. This ad is also NSFL, really.
@LiLiLi: Because porn is at least honest. Porn doesn't sell a "lifestyle".
This is a really great post. I gotta say I'm conflicted in the same way that you are. I like their clothes (the ones that don't resemble 80s workout/hooker gear) but I don't feel good about supporting a business that, at its heart, is blatantly sexist, demeaning, and disgusting. The sitch: I like sweatshop-free clothing. I like comfy, flattering hoodies and t-shirts. I don't like ads like that and what they do to women.
I plan to go to the store this weekend and buy a hoodie, because I really like it, but I'm going to feel really uncomfortable every second I'm in there. I just know it. I don't understand why Dov Charney does this. What's the point of creating an uncomfortable atmosphere for your clientele? It's sort of like how I can't even step foot in an Abercrombie store (not that I would buy anything there, eugh) without having a damn near panic attack due to the ridiculously loud music/Eau de Frat Party stench/photos of buttcracks all over the place.
This is just tacky and gross. Exactly what I expect from AA .
@meaghan2k: I thought it was flat too until she stood up and I saw some "bumpage."
Hey, let's not attack the model. The concept? Sure. The company? By all means. But not the model.
That was seriously unattractive. I mean, ewww. I actually feel sorry for her... is that wrong? I mean, they must have gotten her pretty coked up to do that, right? Because, seriously, eww.
I think her ass is skinny.
@cuesanibelly: Just put it in some wedgie underwear and wiggle it for the camera, then it'll be hot.
i don't think AA sells good clothes. they awfully plain and sold at a ridiculous price.
@tokenblackgirl:
but if she had those kind of brains she wouldn't be working at ameriApp.
i am so glad i'm totally disinterested in both this company and its clothes.
@TheUptightMidwesterner: Imagine what her father must think! Oh wait. Maybe she doesn't have one? Now I'm worried about Kristen and her homelife. Damn that psychology degree!
I love a gal's butt much more than any of you do, but this sort of exploitation is just wrong. Make it stop.
@LiLiLi: Me neither. For it to be worse than porn, porn would have to be bad.
Not that I really care for porn.
I am so much more offended by the quality of this stuff. I've bought three of their bodysuits (can someone please tell me who else sells a basic cami-bodysuit??) and they've all fallen apart in a matter of days.
Never again.
@meaghan2k: I agree.
Toned ass? Yes. Toned legs? Yes. Nice ass - meh, not so much for me.
@zivah: I'll confess to that, but mostly because if you're gonna sell underwear, at least fill it up with a decent butt. I find nothing attractive at all about any of it, and wouldn't step foot in one of their stores because of this piece of shit ad.
I don't care for AA, dov or their skeezy policies, but should people be complaining about her body when they use "real women" in their ads instead of models? And that you can usually see cellulite/stretch marks/razor burn in them?
@zivah: Why not? By being in the ad she's pretty much stating that she agrees with the concept. And, a model is there to be judged on her looks.
@bess marvin, girl detective: And to add to that, wasn't it this site that determined that their clothes don't fit you right? I bought two band shirts made by AA and they make me look like a fool.
Okay, everyone's ass looks better when they are leaning over. That's just science. What bothers me the most is if she were only paid $100. I'd do an ad like that because my dignity is for sale, but it's certainly pricier than that. Way to flood the skin market, aa-sshole.
Well, this seals the deal - I shall continue to not shop at AA. Haven't found anything there I couldn't live without, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
She's probably Juilliard-trained and thinking, "My body is my instrument."