Baby's Got Back: Spring Fashion Ads Take Things Lying Down

Trend-forecasting expert David Wolfe, on ads featuring supine models: “It’s very hard to make a sexy picture of an elegant dress… But throw the woman on the ground, and, oh, it’s a sexual come-on. That moves merchandise.” O RLY?

Maybe for a man a picture of a woman on her back is a turn-on. But these ads aren’t for men. And when the camera is looming over a woman from a position of dominance, the image reads as one of submission (something Wolfe admits, saying: “I do watch The Dog Whisperer. When dogs or cats lower themselves to make themselves seem submissive, they are giving up their power and displaying their lack of aggression.”) Whether you think the women in many of the spring ads (Versace, Vuitton, Calvin Klein, etc.) are swooning, seducing, or just posing awkwardly, it’s distracting from the clothes and the handbags, which ought to be the focus of the ads. And despite what Wolfe says, as a woman, these ads don’t make me want to buy anything. They do, however, make me fantasize about taking a nap.