What’s up with this whole nudity in advertising thing? Headlines scream, “Celebrity Gets Naked in New Ad Campaign!” Yet, the celebrity is not actually naked. Either they are wearing minimal clothing or have their private bits strategically covered with another body part.
And what, actually, is nudity? Not so long ago, exposing any part of the breast was considered nudity. Then came plunging necklines revealing cavernous cleavage. Then came underboob which, with a strategically placed small t-shirt, exposed the bottom half of the breast. Then, it seems, exposing the entire breast except the nipple became acceptable. That came either in the form of pasties or the beloved hand bra.
o when press releases scream Lady Gaga gets naked in new perfume ad, we tend to yawn and head over to Busty Amateurs or Slim and Busty where actually nudity can be appreciated. Not during business hours, of course.
And, we tend to wonder just how far marketers will push the line before we all just toss our hands up, wonder what we have been fussing about for so long and just leave the bras and tops on the photography studio floor.
But until then – and perhaps this is a good thing – creativity will reign supreme in terms of devising new and interesting methods of shooting “nude” models for ad campaigns.
The latest entry into the “nude celebrity in advertising thing” comes to us courtesy of Lady Gaga who got naked for a new Fame perfume ad. Her still “unacceptable” naked parts are strategically covered by tiny men climbing her mountains of flesh as if in the midst of some Gulliver’s Travels-style sexual fantasy.
The work was released by Lady Gaga herself who tweeted before releasing the photo, “I won’t lie. I’m a bit nervous. It’s been a while since I’ve shared some work with you. But I’m so proud of Steven (photographer Steven Klein) +I, we really did not sleep!”
And how about fashion advertising in general? Has to be the easiest work to create. Find a hot model, a decent photographer, some Photoshop skills, slap a logo on the thing and send it out. Tweet it. Like it. Blog it. Done.
i won’t lie I’m a bit nervous. its been a while since i’ve shared some work with you. But i’m so proud of Steven+I, we really did not sleep!
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) July 16, 2012
