It's true that the commercial marketplace does impose its rules, or at least people think it does, that customers will be attracted to the conventional "attractive" image of a young woman. Erotic elements can be added to the extent the market tolerates them, but it has to be a woman, or women, being shown. Notice how rarely women and men are shown together! That's because if there's a man in the picture, he's seen as being already in possession of the woman, destroying the idea that the consumer can step in and claim the prize.
That picture is the same old stuff it's always been. I truly wish that naturists would be more willing to point out which nude images fit into the standard pattern, and which ones (if we can find any!) are offering something different. Because isn't naturism supposed to be different from the textile outlook?
This is an area where we could really use some input from women, which I hope would push us toward a more inclusive style of imagery. But that doesn't seem likely.
I know these replies are for an old post. I found these in my directory and had neglected to post them.
Part I
It's true that the commercial marketplace does impose its rules, or at least people think it does, that customers will be attracted to the conventional "attractive" image of a young woman. Erotic elements can be added to the extent the market tolerates them, but it has to be a woman, or women, being shown. Notice how rarely women and men are shown together! That's because if there's a man in the picture, he's seen as being already in possession of the woman, destroying the idea that the consumer can step in and claim the prize.
{emphases are mine}
If the image of an everyday man or woman would sell the product, that’s what would get used. It’s about advertising. I hear the comment about how this or that group are manipulating the market. That’s what sales is, to get more people to choose your product. If using sexy images does the trick, that’s what gets used. It doesn’t have anything to do with the sexy looking person. It has to do with what’s going on in the head of the buyer.
John, I don’t disagree with anything you say about the sexy images of women, or men for that matter. But sexy images of men are also used to manipulate the women. Since men control a larger percentage of the wealth, for now, you are going to see more sexy women images. It’s all about what’s going on in the head of the person who’s buying.
My wife was in sales, as a seller, a sales manager and a market manager. She was/is VERY good at it. She was constantly at or near the top of her company’s performance rankings. She always says a good salesman 1st has to find out what the buyer wants, and then find a way to give them what they want at a price they are willing to bear. I always found this to be bothersome because she knows a truth about people. You can manipulate them if you know what they want. It’s sort of disturbing and annoying. But that’s just the way the market works!
All this talk about which images are good or bad doesn’t seem important as long as the brain of the buyer remains stuck in a stereotype that Madison Ave. understands all too well. Referring to the man-woman relations implied by the images you see in advertising. What’s going on in the brain is where the problem is, not the images. The images are merely a reflection.
That’s a tougher nut to crack. Change that and the market will spin differently.
Cross fingers, click heels!
Duane
