by Stephanie Cole

The new ad campaign recently released by Zappos, the popular on-line shoe store, is so exemplary of sexualization in advertising that it almost seems like a joke. The ads, which feature women going about everyday activities in nothing but shoes, promote the retailer’s clothing department. The women’s bodies are “censored” with the words “More Than Shoes,” and in the margins are the clothing items that the women are missing. Online, the women can be dressed in the missing clothes like paper dolls.
These ads so blatantly play into stereotypes of sexist marketing that there is little left that I feel I need to point out. If asked to create an obvious satire of objectification in advertising, I would probably include a naked woman, an ogling man, and the name of a product that has nothing do with either. Zappos has done all the work for me, and added the extra fun of turning women into dolls, thus further delegitimizing their humanity.
Maybe I’m overreacting. The ads, after all, are not violent. The women have realistic bodies, are not participating in any degrading activities, and they appear to be confident in their exposure, as if it’s the viewers fault if they are bothered. And there is nothing intrinsically wrong with a lack of clothing. But I simply don’t believe that Zappos was going for anything empowering here, and I note that while their site offers clothing for men as well, their only naked man add is arriving belatedly–almost as an attempt to cover up their sexism. And while these women seem happy to be naked, there is absolutely no logical reason why they shouldn’t be wearing the clothes that they are advertising. These women are literally stripped of their privacy on public streets, and it degrades them. The only explanation is that Zappos is buying into the tired “sex sells” trope. I’m sorry, but I’m not buying.