I know advertisers are loath to show unattractive women except as the "before" picture. That's why you see 30-year-olds on TV explaining how they keep their dentures in, why the guys in Viagra ads have wives who look like Melania.
So I was not surprised, but a little disappointed, to see this ad from Quilting Daily, selling tutorials on various aspects of quilting.
Interestingly enough, the actual titles all feature photos of the presenters, and all of them are ordinary looking real women. Some of them middle aged. None of them wearing lingerie.
Funny how these photos of real women are OK to inspire buyer confidence in the actual products, but they have to find a hot model to advertise the sale. I think it would be more persuasive to show a real woman watching her tablet while sitting upright by her sewing machine.
Good point, but it is the 30 year olds that run the world.
ReplyDeleteOh for heaven's sake!!! I am so sick of seeing the ED ads for starters...and now this! Really!! How silly!
ReplyDeleteWhat I love so much about the quilting community is that it is made of up every demographic out there. This creates such wonderful and diverse quilts. Now, I don't know of any who quilt in lingerie and if there are any out there, they are certainly in the minority. And, yes, the 30's rule everything! Unfair, yes; but, oh the memories of those days.
ReplyDeletei would expect the presenter to look older since they are supposed to be more experienced and have spent many years and even decades learning their craft. i would also expect the student to be younger and just starting down the path of fine tuning their craft. to me this is an accurate representation of our quilting guild - we have younger women who are there to learn and we have many older women who are willing to share their knowledge that took them decades to acquire.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Klue that it is inclusive. However I do still think it is dumb to have a semi-scantily dressed hottie looking at a tablet on a quilt at the park. (See the grass along the edge? Pretty sure the quilt is on grass.)
ReplyDeleteAlso if I saw that photo, the last topic I would assume is quilting. Perhaps it is age-ist of me, but she looks like she's going to be looking at a makeup webinar, or a haul video. Not quilting. Laying on a quilt at the park does not even remotely indicate an interest in quilting, but perhaps that stock photo is all they could afford.
I don't see it as inclusive, even if the millennials are taking over, a scantily clad (thanks Leigh Wheeler) young woman in that position is not indicative of how a quilter would approach watching tutorials. thanks for pointing this out! caltexgal@aol.com
ReplyDeleteOkay guys really, she has bluejeans on and a camisole. I am sixty-two and even I can see that. She is certainly not wearing lingerie nor is she scantily clad. Get over it.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Sounds more like envy to me. I think this right on trend as the marketers & guilds have become more concerned about luring in the 20 to 30 year Ole's. And yes, that demographic would most likely be reclining somewhere with their tablet to check out what classes are being offered. Seriously, I doubt the offended here were the target of the ad. Calm down!
DeleteDon't tell me you weren't checking out the cleavage from the ever so convenient photographic angle. lol
DeleteI always preferred the Henry James euphemism, "Woman of a Certain Age" to the other designator. But still, I hope that some of the 30 somethings are getting into it...my own daughter sure isn't!
ReplyDeleteAmen sister!
ReplyDeleteI was 30 once myself (only once) and I felt perfectly, sometimes acutely, real.
ReplyDeleteAgeism, like other -isms, flows unkindly in all directions.
-Melanie