Culture Jam
OF AN UNDER-AGED SEXUAL H&M ADVERTISEMENT
ACADEMIC ESSAY
ROSEMARY STEYNBERG
231046
7 AUGUST 2024
List of Figures
Figure
RATIONALE
Two young girls in a pink setting, innocent? Although pink is often associated with girlhood, this image hints at the cover of a pornographic video (Pink Is Erotic, n.d.).
I based my culture jam on the controversial thought that young girls should turn heads. This choice of words sexualises under-aged girls which evoked anger in parents and viewers (News24, 2024).
After many complaints, H&M removed this image from their campaign and wrote apology letters (News24, 2024). Although promising to be more conscious about future ads, their past showcases the longevity of their continuous offence to the public leading to boycotts and protests to get people to refuse the brand (Clean Clothes, 2016). Although the original meaning was only to nudge girls into wanting to buy clothes to look beautiful, it came over as a sexual advertisement.
As Naomi Klein states, by changing the visuals of an advert we can draw attention to the original corporate strategy (Klein, 2000, p. 281). For that reason, I chose to accentuate the sexual aspect by culture jamming the image to say how you should buy this brand of clothing to catch the attention of a boy and implying that without sex, school is not fun. I added to that by changing the dress’s price to the girl’s price and saying two for the price of one to objectify the girls.
Berger (2008) and Mulvey (2009, p. 837) speak about the male gaze and how a woman is only there to be looked at and objectified. In this advertisement, I decided to highlight how H&M puts the standard on a girl from Primary School to realise that her true worth does not come from going to school and getting an education, but only in how she looks and appears to men.
H&M advertisement: “Back to School Fashion.”
Note: H&M, 2024, via News24
FIGURE
Note: Rosemary Steynberg, 2024, (In possession of artist)
FIGURE
Rosemary Steynberg’s Culture Jam of H&M advertisement: “Back to School Fashion.”
REFERENCES
Berger, J. (2008). Ways of seeing. Penguin.
clean clothes. (2016). Labour groups demand H&M deliver ‘safety conscious’ fashion [Page]. Clean Clothes Campaign. https://cleanclothes.org/news/2016/04/07/labour-groupsdemand-h-m-deliver-201csafety-conscious201d-fashion
Klein, N. (2000). No logo: Taking aim at the brand bullies (1st Picador USA ed). Picador.
Mulvey, L. (2009). The Male Gaze. In “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism. Oxford UP,.
News24. (2024, January 23). H&M pulls ad after claims it sexualised under-age girls. Business. https://www.news24.com/fin24/companies/hm-pulls-ad-after-claims-it-sexualised-under-agegirls-20240123
Pink Is Erotic. (n.d.). TV Tropes. Retrieved 7 August 2024, from https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/ pmwiki.php/Analysis/PinkIsErotic
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