September 19, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
A new television ad campaign to raise money for breast-cancer prevention and treatment has drawn some negative reviews.
The advertisements are meant to promote T-shirts, the proceeds of which support breast-cancer groups. But to make their pitch, the commercials make fun of a sexist practice — men leering at women in the workplace.
In one TV spot, a young man in an elevator stares at a woman’s chest. “Nice,” he says. At the end of the ad, the camera reveals that he’s referring to her charity T-shirt.
“This ad makes me uneasy,” writes an anonymous writer on Jezebel, a blog about fashion and celebrities. “Breast cancer is a serious disease that has far-reaching effects on women, children, and families — and men, obviously.”
Jeff Trexler, a professor of social entrepreneurship at Pace University, agrees. “Baptizing the workplace leer in the name of do-goodery is not funny; it’s perverse,” he writes on his blog, Uncivilsociety.
The ads are part of Fashion Targets Breast Cancer, a campaign by the Council of Fashion Designers of America and its partners in the fashion industry. Since its start in 1994, the effort has raised $40-million, according to the campaign’s Web site.
What do you think? Are the ads tasteless or clever?
