American Apparel Advertisement Analysis: Time To Play

Time to Play

An American Apparel ad is laid out with half of the page showing a colorful image of a man and a woman, but is only shown from the waist down. The woman is atop of the man, with her hands on the man’s stomach. She is only wearing underwear, and the male is appearing to be wearing boxer shorts. The bottom half of the page is white. In big bold text in the upper right hand corner of the second half, it says ‘Playtime’. In the lower right hand corner, it lists all the locations of the American Apparel stores. This is an ad for American Apparel, a clothing company. But there is a problem; these models are wearing little to no clothing whatsoever. If a store wishes to sell clothing, putting a picture of half naked people surely is

Normally, clothing ads feel inviting and the people in these advertisements seem very happy, and it gives off a very comfortable feeling. In this American Apparel ad, it gives off a cold, dark feeling. This may be due to one’s personal feelings about the advertisement, or the color choices in the ad as well. It feels like one are dazed, confused and do not know exactly what’s going on. Along with this, the American Apparel ad makes some people feel singled out. In most magazine ads selling clothes, the people in said ads look at the viewer, making them feel a part of whatever might have been actually happening in the advertisement. In the other ad, however, one would more than likely take the role of the male, due to the point of view of the picture taken. This states that most people who would look at this ad would be men, so that they would enjoy such an ad. It not only singles out men who may not want to take part in whatever may be going on in the picture, but to women as well. These people who do not want to be involved may feel disgusted by the fact they are forced into this role or feel upset because they feel like they have intruded in on something