Sunday, June 28, 2009

What do you see in this billboard?

That's the question puzzling Athenians recently as they leave downtown. A second question quickly follows: "And what does she (and what's she's doing) have to do with a credit union?"

Credit Flagpole's Chris Hassiotis with the picture and printing both questions in the June 10 issue. Answer #1: A woman looking for change in her dryer. Answer #2: Well, the credit union's VP of marketing said it was one of several images in the the campaign targeted to college students who are, you know, always scratching for a couple bucks.

According to Hassiotis' lead, the image has tickled the male imagination, or at least triggered thoughts within both sexual and sexist contexts. But others see something else entirely. "It's funny to me," said the CU's VP, "...It's a girl who's fully clothed. The advertising is of someone fully clothed. I mean, I'm a Sunday school teacher."

Which begs the question, when is a young woman on all fours with her head stuck in a dryer just a young woman on all fours with her head stuck in a dryer?

3 comments:

David said...

Nice find, Professor Reichert. BTW, you were mentioned on a blog I read today: http://www.brandflakesforbreakfast.com/2009/07/sex-in-advertising-explained.html

N said...

Excellent blog, I am sure to keep visiting.

Regards from Europe

N

Oana Culache said...

Hello. I appreciate very much your work. I am graduating this summer and I am planning to do my final project on this subject (sex in advertising), but only about printed ads. Maybe you could help me with some fresh ideas from US, articles or studies I can't get. Regards from Eastern Europe (Romania).