Why That Dear Kate Underwear Ad Is Like Taking A Shit on the Sidewalk

In defense of a recent campaign which featured women CEOs in their underwear, Dear Kate CEO Julie Sygiel said, “I think a lot of traditional lingerie photo shoots depict women as simply standing there looking sexy. They’re not always in a position of power and control. In our photo shoots it’s important to portray women who are active and ambitious. They’re not just standing around waiting for things to happen.”

What a load of crap. Yea, right, they’re “not just standing around waiting for things to happen.” No, Julie, they’re sitting around in their underwear in a contrived situation waiting for a photographer to take a picture of them. If that’s natural then I think I’ll stand in front of my apartment and take a shit on the sidewalk.

Hey, I’m all for women wearing underwear and lingerie as often as possible but when so many are doing so much to battle stigmas and stereotypes relating to the perception of women in the workplace — and the world at large, this just smacks the face of logic.

Now we all know why Julie did this. For the controversy! Of course, she knew we’d all get our panties in a bunch, run to our keyboards and barf up some crap about how this campaign sets back the women’s movement by decades. But she also knew that it would mean tons of publicity for the company’s new Ada Collection.

No, Julie isn’t dumb. She’s actually very smart. But she really isn’t helping things

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Steve Hall

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