For this task we had to choose from two erotic advertising images for two different fashion companies. From the two, Duncan Quinn’s advertisement of a young lady sprawled over the car bonnet caught my attention. Duncan Quinn is a bespoke men’s tailoring company, but I would have never known this from the advertisement presented before us.
The man in the advertisement is using his high end, bespoke tailored tie as a leash for the young ladies neck while he has a smug look on his face, implying that he is enjoying the act and dominance he has over her. Her young, idealistic body, wearing nothing but lacey underwear, sprawled out over the car dehumanizes her, making her seem more like a sex toy. This adds to his sexual desires and fantasy as he drags her across the bonnet. She is also young of age, with a great figure, which adds further to the sexual fantasies and appeal of the male. The way she is also looking up at him suggests that she is looking at him to stop, which makes him seem very important. With the male smirking and loosing gripping the tie suggests strong dominance over the young lady. This adds to the playfulness and arousing feelings the photographer is trying to portray; trying to get the male audience to imagine what wearing a suit from Duncan Quinn will do to a lady.
From researching Duncan Quinn, it is clear that he enjoys the finer things in life, “He’s also been known to throw the occasional party, indulge in the odd cheeky lunch, drive too fast and enjoy life just a little too much in the company of his friends” taken from his website bio. From this, I have built up an image in my head of what Duncan would be like, and it links very well into the imagery in this advertisement…a womanizer! This is clearly portrayed in the advert. The use of a classic car which the young girl is sprawled across, the bespoke tailored suit, and the manner in which the male is presenting himself with his stance, all implies that he likes the dominance, power and finer things life has to bring. The whole image of the Duncan Quinn label, comes across this way too. Lots of their images are of wealthy looking men, in front of nice cars while everyone walks past in ore of what this man has; making them desirable. This is also what I believe the advert is trying to portray to male audience. If you dress in Duncan Quinn’s suits, you’ll have the dominance, sexual power and attention of women and all fantasies will come true.
Andrea Dworkin wrote, “Any violation of a woman’s body can become sex for men; this is the essential truth of pornography.” And this is true for this advertisement, the use of the idealistic woman’s body over a car controlled from her neck, is seen in a sexual light for some men. It implies that it is masculine and they should have sexual power over vulnerable woman, just like it’s seen in this advertisement.
Bibliography:
- http://duncanquinn.com/bespoke