Gawker: sexuality

Teen Sex Ad Not Actually From JC Penney

Ryan Tate — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:04:15 EDT

That JC Penney commercial, which featured two teens practicing for a naked romp in the basement? The one that won a prize at the Cannes Lions Awards this weekend and spread quickly on the Web yesterday? It was an unauthorized fake, and executives at the department store are royally pissed. "It's obviously inappropriate and nothing we would ever condone," Penney's chief marketing officer told the Wall Street Journal. "We're very disappointed that our logo and brand position were used in that way." Thus began the blame game over who unleashed this mutant sorta-sex tape, one that will seem oh-so-familiar to anyone who recalls, say, the Miley Cyrus incident with Vanity Fair.

Because the spot is so well made, and because someone had to enter it it at Cannes, JC Penney is blaming its ad agency, Saatchi & Saatchi. The ad agency, in turn, is pointing the finger at production company, Epoch Films of New York, which is indeed the listed entrant. There is speculation "the video may have been filmed after hours by a producer at Epoch who was working on the Penney ads for Saatchi."

Since Penney is based in Plano, Texas and sells to middle-American families that were so outraged to see teen starlet Cyrus in nothing but a bedsheet, a lawsuit, against an individual if not a company, doesn't seem entirely out of the question. On the bright side, some swashbuckling video rebel (every company has one!) just launched a promising career in the awards-obsessed ad industry, albeit at the expense of someone else's brand.

The fake ad in question:

[WSJ]

Teen Sex Gains Mainstream Approval With JC Penney Ad

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:02:40 EDT

Well, it's official now: teen sex is okay with middle America. This momentous shift comes in the form of a new JC Penney ad, in which the thoroughly middlebrow retailer has a few laughs about two teen luvahs learning to put their clothes on quickly enough to avoid the mom of the house walking in on them doing the nasty. Forget the whole Miley Cyrus photo uproar! Go home, abstinence-preaching Christians! If JC Penney can sell three-packs of Hanes boxers to your family using a well-placed horny teen theme, well, it's time to lay the "controversy" of teenage sexuality to rest. They like to fuck—particularly on top of JC Penney products! Watch the commercial acknowledgment of biology and profound cultural moment for mall moms, after the jump:

[via Adrants]

Fierce Man With Close Shave Wants No Labels

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:08:40 EDT

Philips got some props recently for its thoughtful ad for women's razors that starred a crossdressing dancer (man) named Karis. The spot was a break from the ad world's normal "Girlie men are funny ha ha" angle. Although you shouldn't expect to see any serious portrayals of transvestites in Budweiser Super Bowl ads any time soon. Boinkology went and interviewed Karis, and he wants the world to know that he doesn't put all these crazy labels on himself. His motivation? "Just being fierce."

What do you mean by misled?
I first of all don't identify as a tranny, or transsexual. For the commercial I wore breasts, and I knew it was going to come back to me, but it was so groundbreaking that I was happy to do it. Honestly, I like to think that I can change myself and be however I'm comfortable. I'm a little tranny... I'm all of those things

So how do you identify yourself?

I'm so comfortable being myself, I've just never questioned. I love the whole androgyny thing, though, if that's even a category. I'm a man, and I do love being a man, and would never want to change that - but I also have my days where I love getting dressed up and just being fierce.

About the ad, Karis says, "It's a shame that it'll never air in the States - but thank god for the internet."

The Liquor Ad That Only Gays Were Supposed To See

Hamilton Nolan — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:28:03 EDT

Gays: Here is one of the plainest insights you will ever get into how you are perceived by the liquor industry, and, by extension, by the advertising industry that gets paid to understand consumers such as yourself. Pictured here is an ad for Basil Hayden's whiskey that was placed in "general market" publications. Its tagline reads, "When you walk into a bar, you're on stage." After the jump, the tagline for the version of that same ad that was placed into Gay/ Lesbian publications:

The inescapable conclusion: They believe that only gays are fit for modeling! Outrageous. Or maybe it's something else, now that I think about it. Other possible conclusions in the comments, please.

[via MultiCultClassics]