Mother-Daughter Lingerie Ad Sparks 'Incense' Criticism

A lingerie line’s new ad campaign features a mom and daughter lounging together in their underwear. The pictures are certainly weird, but do they really suggest incest?

That’s what Dr. Nancy Irwin tells Fox News about The Lake and Stars‘s new campaign: “These ads are highly suggestive. They are clearly designed to titillate consumers; mostly men. The incestuous and lesbian suggestions, with the phallic images of cactus and logs, are juvenile at best.” On the flip side, there’s Steve Hall of AdRants, who says,

It’s a metaphor, of course. It’s unlikely a mother and daughter would be caught dead in the same room with one another clad only in lingerie. But that’s the literal visual people are reacting to, not the idea of a close, nurturing, loving relationship between a mother and a daughter.

I know I’ve changed clothes in the same room as my mom many a time, but it’s true that I’m unlikely to pose poutily with her while we lie on the floor. I don’t think the ads are meant to suggest an incestuous relationship between the two women, but given the sexualized nature of lingerie ads, a mother-daughter campaign just seems like a bad idea. I don’t want to think about my mom when purchasing sexy underwear, and I’ll wager she doesn’t want to think about me. However, the whole thing may be worth it for this astute criticism, from the blog Scallywag & Vagabond: “What’s controversial isn’t that these two women appear half naked in the ad together but how they actually appear together. Or to be succinct how they relate to each other, which in this case borders on incense.” We all know that’s a fire hazard.

‘It Borders on Incense!’ L&S Photos Provoke Some Strong Reactions [LingerieTalk]
Are Lingerie Ads Featuring Mother And Daughter Disturbing, Or Just Darling? [Fox News]