By NICKY CHAMP
UPDATE:
Is it a crime scene? Or is it high art?
The latest ad for the Standard hotel chain (which has locations in New York and Los Angeles) features a woman lying face down on concrete, legs and arms splayed typical of a crime scene, with a black suitcase on top of her obscuring her head and neck.
The image was published in DuJour magazine has been criticised for it’s portrayal of violence against women.
The Standard posted the following response to a Change.org petition that :
“The Standard advertisement utilized an image series created by the contemporary artist, Erwin Wurm. We apologize to anyone who views this image as insensitive or promoting violence. No offense or harm was intended. The Standard has discontinued usage of this image.”
Makemeasammich has taken them to task on their apology:
“The Standard advertisement utilized an image series created by the contemporary artist, Erwin Wurm.”
Translation: This is art, dummies. Blame the artist, not us.
“We apologize to anyone who views this image as insensitive or promoting violence.”
Translation: We don’t see it that way, but we’re sorry you do, and if you do, it’s not really our fault.
“No offense or harm was intended.”
Translation: We didn’t mean to do anything wrong, ergo, we didn’t and/or you should let us off the hook because our intentions were not evil.
“The Standard has discontinued usage of this image.”
Translation: We were done with this campaign anyway, so here’s a bone.
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Quick question: is the model in the photograph below a) injured b) a victim of physical assault or c) sniffing lines of cocaine off the carpet?
If you answered a, b or c I’m afraid you were bzzt wrong. The correct answer is she’s actually promoting lingerie – obviously – because nothing says sexy like a woman’s body lying crumpled in a twisted position on the floor.
The image is unbelievably from an ad campaign for Australian supermodel Elle MacPherson’s Intimates label. It was shot back in 2004 but has resurfaced on Twitter after Renee Mayne, an Australian bra business specialist took issue with the image and shared it on social media.
Top Comments
Thank you for covering this--for writing a real story about the implications.
What I'd most like to impress on readers who comment that they don't see the damage is this: just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there. The fact that you don't feel what I feel when you look at some of these images doesn't mean that they do no cause me and other victims of violence pain. The fact that you don't see what the big deal is doesn't mean that there isn't a very real cost to this type of advertising. The fact that you disagree that there is a problem does not cause that problem to go away. I often find that the best way to deal with a problem I don't see is to assume that all the other people who do see it share a perspective I lack--that lack is in me, not them. To employ empathy and say, "I trust you when you say this causes you pain and I will support you in your efforts to make change."
Please trust us when we say that this type of advertising sets us back. And no, it's no better when we do it to men, but mostly we don't. Mostly this sort of treatment is reserved for women. And it doesn't matter who perpetrates it--the damage is the same.
What is wrong with these people !?