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Hanes offensive ads to sell underwear


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Via Joe.My.God comes this image of a new ad from Hanes, promoting their tagless underwear with the tagline "Because the World Gives You Enough Labels". The ad features a man dragging a stereotype- and slur-laden character. Joe reports that the ad was created by the Bombay division of McCann Erickson, so it's unlikely to appear in American markets.

With a little digging I was able to find two other ads in the campaign, via Trendhunter. They write: "In Fagg*t, you see same-sex kissing, debauchery, toys, bottles of wine and references to beauty: lipstick, nail polish and makeup. In Nigg*r, you see drugs, guns, jail cells, low-life jobs like cleaning toilets, and text about being HIV positive. In Pak! (a demeaning name for people from Pakistan), you see tanks, bullets, bombs and pigs (an anti-Islamic reference)."

Check out the other two ads.....Effective, or just offensive?

http://towleroad.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos...
http://towleroad.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos...
jcwelker

45 responses // Hanes offensive ads to sell underwear

  • at least the penis size on there seems to be a situation of life imitating art! in scale and colour! heheheh!!

    i get it, americans wouldnt get the ad because americans still use these labels and will lie that they dont. plus americans dont get art. they get blue collar humor and redneck jokes...but not real art.

    too bad.
    okinawanmajik
  • Talk about glorification of stereotypes!? This is ridiculous, not even offensive, just ridiculous!
    woodywoodbeck
  • I think they are ridiculing stereotypes

    anywayzzz it PAY$$$ to be controversial, doesn't it?
    jade_azul16
  • Not offensive. Just quite silly for an ad campaign.

    I mean, if this was hanging up in some art gallery, the art itself, not the ad, then I would get it. I wouldn't like it but I'd get it. I'd understand that they were saying these derogatory names fit people's (ignorant people) idea of what it might mean.

    But to use it for an ad campaign is just...I don't know. It's like, Are you trying to make a statement or sell me some shirts? I mean, there are instances where a company can do both successfully but this is not one of them. It can and will offend. Not me but someone (probably American) who thinks they don't think like that; that they are progressive and mindsets like this no longer exist.
    MornRail
  • Whoever designed this has a weird thought process.
    ILiveonaClock
  • watch this comment being used here, here, here, here and here
    I can see why these ads wouldn't be shown in the U.S. Most people would probably just see the art and not the tagline, and then feel offended, though the art and tagline actually team up to say labels are bad, both figuratively and literally.
    ultravphunter
  • Freedom of speech?

    In which country are we?

    Take it or leave it. Come on people...
    AustereMind
  • I don't think anyone here is saying they're not allowed to put out the ad, AM. In fact, most comments find it just odd. Art is subjective.

    They can yell from the mountain tops all the offensive things they want, but someone will hear them and counter what they're saying with their own form of freedom of speech.
    MornRail
  • I'm offended when I see the words faggot, nigger, and paki, but I think that the rest of the add is just weird.
    sabkl
  • i understand the add, but its better for something else. to me it downplays the actual labels or pain associated with them.

    its a though provoking ad, but people are not intelligent enough for this kind of ad. maybe somewhere else, but definately not in the us.
    okinawanmajik
  • new ad slogan.

    Hanes, whether your a: dyke, kike, nigger, spik, mic, fag, haji, wop, bum they'll work for you.
    RoBot_rOcKer
  • This just doesn't work as an ad. I'm interested by the idea of it, but not inclined to go buy Hanes. There are so many labels they could have chosen to use that would make me want to buy the product like "prep" or "punk"...something more frivolous.
    drymama
  • Don't buy from Hanes, they are horrible to their employees in third world nations. Go with American Apparel.
    jh64487
  • I wonder if okinawanmajik realizes that he is being as ignorant and insulting as the stereotypes represented in these ads?
    I am an American and do like these ads for their action against stereotyping however i do think many people wont get them, not because they are only into redneck jokes etc, but because not everyone will see things the same way as everyone else, some will like these ads, some will be immediately offended. These kind of things make great street art, not good ads.
    AswegoAsdego
  • i by no means feel offended by any of this, especially since i am none of those things, but regardless, the ad is meant to show how much stereotypes hold as back, hence the man struggling to carry on, also we americans need to calm down and stop thinking everyone is trying to hurt us in some way, its an ad that will never get its message across in america, however it isn't a bad one to run elsewhere.
    alman365
  • Kind of a stretch, just to sell underwear.
    jsmith354
  • the idea is good, but the execution is poor. maybe if the tag line was bigger, and more noticeable at a glance the ads wouldn't stir up controversy. i would also try clear up whatever the person is doing to the stereotype monster.
    blue_blooded
  • I like the art, it is supposed to make you think. Clearly the best artists are hired for advertising now-a-days.

    I still wouldn't buy from Hanes though.
    cheyroze
  • An advertisement is supposed to make me ask myself, "Do I want and need this product?".
    This doesn't even come close for either.
    huntre
  • I love these ads. And to everyone who thinks that "most people aren't intelligent enough to understand these". How pretentious can you get? I understand it and so I think many others will understand these advertisement. I like an ad that doesn't just try to shove a product down my throat but makes me think. This has done just that.
    ilovevocab
  • These are excellent art piecee, but some American people will not understand it because it uses shock value to take you out of your comfort zone. It examines our collective stereotypes and emcompasses them into a totem of negativity. As it towers over the everyday person, they are forced to drag these with them constantly as it weighs them down and slows thier progress through life.

    I hope they decide to continue this work even if Hanes decides not to use it. Other social stereotypes should be included, as it may offer some profound insight into oursleves as a whole.
    lifestudentno83
  • It's not even really offensive, just unnecessary to sell underwear.
    Kamikazemelon
  • I agree lifestudentno83, they are excellent art pieces, but in my opinion they are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    And a they say: 'There's no such thing as bad publicity.'
    mattbrawn
  • okinawanmajik - the glorious irony you've steeped yourself in is rather upsetting. the whole point of these ads are about labels and stereotypes and then you go and throw around anti-American crap by lumping all of us together? yes, there are rednecks. but there are many Americans who are not rednecks. I find your claim that Americans "won't get the ads" because we "don't get art" to be insulting, ignorant, and disgustingly childish. grow up. and by the way, Hanes, you know, the company who had these ads created, is an American company. way to go.
    thedismembermentplan
  • This is great. It's not offensive at all, it's great advertising. This is the truth about how we view these stereotypes, they need to be fixed, and this will help if people take time to really understand them.
    kdepinna
  • wait till you see what fruit of the loom is coming out with.
    BenDorries
  • I think that all of these company's are making ads not for the US because the US is slumping. Maybe with some shock value we'll get excited?!
    iknew
  • I don't like this at all. Like has been said, I'd get it if it were just art and someone expressing themselves, but to use this as an ad campaign to get me to spend money on one of their products? That's just lame. And the parallel between insulting slurs and clothing comfort is flimsy.
    interrobang
  • I love the ad! I think it does an excellent job visualizing the limitation of negative labels.
    uroborus8
  • i think this is a good ad for Hanes' tagless line precisely because t-shirt tags are irritating and unnecessary, just like semantic terms for stereotypes. In the case of stereotypical slurs, Hanes' ads take words and images that would normally be regarded as incitement and diminishes their power through making a ridiculous collage from them.

    Sticks and stones...
    GOPCrashers
  • ummm..I'm not really offended by use of the stereotypes because I understand the point of the add, its not meant to perpetuate the cycle but to capitalize on the fact there are enough labels and racism within the world. but at the same time...i cant help but notice how they only stereotype certain groups. i mean, if we're going to be offensive, let's just offended everyone and keep it fair.
    nkeg87
  • From my point of view, I would never associate 'tagless' as being the opposite of 'prejudicial.' And would never get the connection between underwear and hate.

    And even if I did, it would not affect my buying habits.

    Some companies just have advertising budgets that are too big.
    jahbini
  • Our culture is being debauched. "Norms" are being broken down. Watch the movie Sin Cities, that describes how culture was de-normalized in Berlin prior to the rise of Hitler:

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457247/plotsummary

    When normality is obfuscated, we are susceptible to the introduction of new normalities, especially norms that are not germane to humanity's own survival tendencies.
    onepersonsopinion
  • it mights quite a powerful statement: stereotypes weigh you down. and i like how it puts it all out there. literally. now as for how effective of an ad campaign it is for underwear? i'm not sure most people will be able to get past the graphic(s) to see the point. but maybe that's precisely the point.
    ashabpatel
  • I think the art is great - but not combined with an ad. The art should be allowed to speak for itself and let each person form their own opinions. I hate being told 'what art means'.
    patsarts
  • Although it's totally understandable why people would get offended by this ad, I don't think people should react any differently to the all the other ads with really explicit sexual overtones plastered to every surface.
    santaman
  • i believe people are just way too sensitive at times and should grow some skin.
    contingent_reality
  • say what you will about it, but It certainly has generated one of the largest conversations about underwear that I have seen in quite some time.
    ac
    • ac
    • 6 months ago
  • It's definitely a head-turning add and from a art/design standpoint it's very well done. I suppose after reading the tagline the artwork makes sense. It gets the message across in a punny sort of way.
    JayneBlonde
  • I think it's strange that in the "N*gg*r" ad, the man dragging the picture is white...kind of defeats the purpose of the specific stereotypes and labeling baggage.
    bdphvb
  • The idea, I think, is that we drag around negative stereotypes of others, and that is to our own detriment.
    ac