By Hayleigh Griffiths
TOM FORD’S FIRST FRAGRANCE FOR MEN
(FIGURE 1)
An image of Tom Ford For Men Fragrance cupped between a females breasts
Tom Ford is an American fashion designer, film director, screenwriter and film producer.
After being the creative director for Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, Ford launched his own label in 2006.
His label includes Menswear, Beauty, Eyewear and Accessories.
He has designed a range of clothing for celebrities to wear including artists such as Beyonce and Justin Timberlake, to First Lady, Michelle Obama.
Tom Ford’s mission is to deliver the highest quality product and the greatest standard of service.
(FIGURE 2)
An image of Tom Fords For Men Fragrance placed over a females genitals.
In an interview with CNBC’s Tania Bryer, Fords reveals that his target market is aimed towards men between the ages of 25-75 from more urban areas.
However as well as this he also has a female audience and these would be:
“Strong women who know their own style”
(FIGURE 3)
An image of all 3 of the Tom Ford For Men Fragrance
Tom Ford is known for having outrageous and explicit advertisements for his products, therefore it comes with little shock that his first mens fragrance features a naked women.
Yet, Ford does not deny how exposed the women are, but instead quotes:
“The thing is, you can’t show male nudity in our culture in the way you can show female nudity. We’re very comfortable as a culture exploiting women, but not men” – Tom Ford
(Figure 4)
Video Advertisement of Tom Ford’s First Fragrance For Men
This is a short video that focuses on Tom Ford’s First Fragrance For Men Campaign, it has quick, flashing images of the product featuring the nudity of women.
(Figure 5)
“This picture reflects the gender stereotypes of femininity and masculinity in that woman are viewed as sex symbols and submissive and men are viewed as the sexually aggressive. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the raciness of this add. Even more I was shocked after viewing the website, which contains pictures that are far more seductive.
Even though we can only see half of her body this women looks like what society would term the perfect women, which directly relates to femininity, stressing the importance of women being focused on their appearance. The advertisement also suggests that if a man wears this cologne it makes him more masculine and will persuade women to want to have sex with him. I believe that this add is in a sense derogatory towards women and creates a stereotype that females can be easily controlled by men.”- Jenny Taggarto, 2013, https://jennietaggart0.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/4
Controversies
he is an “equal opportunity objectifier” and is “just as happy to objectify men”. He argued “you can’t show male nudity in our culture in the way you can show female nudity” and pointed out that he did a male nude ad while at Yves Saint Laurent which got pulled’ –
Provocative sexual imagery, called “King of sex’’ “the straights gay man in the world’’
His brand was labelled as: “This essence of beauty, luxury, desirability, sex”. -The fashion Law
“The decision to swap the images was explained by a spokeswoman for Tom Ford Beauty, ‘We loved the original Marilyn Minter images, but while on a shoot with [Richardson] in Milan, we decided that a sharper, more graphic approach clearly communicated the bold and provocative mood of the fragrance” –Marie Claire, 2007
(Figure 6)
Comments from Facebook BBC News, Opinions on Tom Ford’s ‘Objectifying Men’ w
“Jordi Vallverdú “I’m equal-opportunity gendered and domestic violence objectifier: I hit also men”…great way to change things….doing the same wrong ones in a new population target?!”
“Ryan K Newman So as opposed to men objectifying women, we have an example of a rich, powerful person claiming the right to objectify anyone he wants. People aren’t objects. To look at any person as an object is to dehumanize them, to ignore their mind and their emotions. That’s true whether you are taking that position as a man towards a woman or a wealthy plutocrat towards the less fortunate.”
If he means it in the artistic sense of using models as tools to convey meaning then that’s fine. But because he talks about the ‘selling point’ I really can’t believe that here. It’s confusing though because as a film director he certainly uses people as a creative tool instead of a commercial one.
I suppose he just sees people as props? Dolls to use however he wishes…”
