WE sweden [1] are in trouble for the way they advertise their underwear. While the men's packaging shows a overweight hairy man, the woman's packaging shows a girl's bottom still red after being freshly spanked.
So far six eloquent complaints have been filed with ERK [2] (ethical advisory board in advertising) prompting the company to remove the spanked image. Greger Hagelin, CEO for WE, defends the image with "we're a skater brand, the idea was that the girl might have fallen off a skateboard."
wanna see images? well then, read more.
The ad and image for packaging of womens underwear. Note the red part is shaped very much like a hand. Or am I dreaming?
The ad and image for packaging of mens underwear.
Aftonbladet in Sweden asked Greger Hagelin why the images for mens and womens underwear are so different, to which he responded:
"We wanted to do something different that caught peoples eye, we wanted to do something similar with the girls, but unfortunately no rounder models were interested."
He also says: "We have decided not to use these ads any more, and next week we'll recall the packaging that carries this image".
WE also has another packaging image for girls underwear depicting a girl with her hand inside her panties - polishing the pearl - WE has no plans on pulling that packaging yet.
WE also has "activists [3]" that represent their brand. One of their big names is Jason Lee [4] of Chasing Amy/Dogma/Vanilla Sky Hollywood and skater fame. We've not been able to call Jason and ask what he thinks of the ads. ;)
ps - We International (Sweden that is) should not be confused with We Europe [5] (origin Holland) - formely known as "Hij" (him) and "Zij" (her) - despite both clothing companies being named WE in 1999.
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