Watch TV for more than just a couple hours and you’re bound to see a lingerie commercial. It’s not surprising to see thin super models gyrating around in their skivvies, and the networks have never seemed to have a problem showing the ads or showing lingerie-clad actors in their shows (Desperate Housewives, anyone?). But recently two US networks, FOX and ABC, have refused to run a steamy Lane Bryant ad for Cacique lingerie. The commercial in question:
The Lane Bryant blog claims that ABC refused to give the commercial airtime during Dancing with the Stars, while FOX “demanded excessive re-edits and rebuffed it three times before relenting to air it during the final 10 minutes of American Idol, but only after we threatened to pull the ad buy.”
Lane Bryant goes on to say:
“We knew the ads were sexy, but they are not salacious. Our new commercials represent the sensuality of the curvy woman who has more to show the world than the typical waif-like lingerie model. What we didn’t know was that the networks, which regularly run Victoria’s Secret and Playtex advertising on the very shows from which we’re restricted, would object to a different view of beauty. If Victoria’s Secret and Playtex can run ads at any time during the 9pm to 10pm hour, why is Lane Bryant restricted only to the final 10 minutes?
While it’s no secret that Victoria’s Secret “The Nakeds” ads are prancing around on major networks leaving little to the imagination, steaming up t.v. screens and baring nearly everything but their souls, our sultry siren who shows sophisticated sass is somehow deemed inappropriate. The network exclaimed, she has “too much cleavage” Gasp!
Does that make sense to you? It doesn’t to us either.
Does this smack of a double standard? Yep. It does to us, too.”
What do you think of the ad? Would you like to see it on TV?