Art vs. Porn

First things first: Regardless of the fact if you are male or female you must have stopped and looked at this advertisement. Sex sells period. Tom Ford’s advertisements have always been provocative and gone against mainstream. These images are actually quite “clean” compared to some other ones he has put out. You should definitely check them out here. But, this goes into the issue of advertising, and I’m not so focused on that.

When Tom Ford unleashed these advertisements for his fragrance back in 2007, there were two kinds. These specific ones were "not as tame" as the ones featured in magazines and were only showed on the company's website. Nevertheless, they were out in the open, no pun intended. This comes to show that censorship did take place in this situation and that there were certain images that could be viewed on the internet and certain images strictly for magazines.

Some people may argue that these images exploit women and their bodies. In the first photograph she is opening her mouth, and it’s like well what more do you want? There is also no face attached to the bodies so it makes it easier for the viewer not to relate in that manner. In addition, these photographs each possess a lot of power. The woman is using her body to entice the viewer. This fragrance is directed towards men, and what better way to lure men in than to have a sexy image in front of them? Especially those red nails!

Keep in mind that these photographs were taken by the well known and controversial photographer, Terry Richardson. I happen to be a big fan of his work. To me his work is weird, but that’s why I like it. He makes me question and look at things in new ways. He also always makes the people he shoots look so sickly and unhealthy, but he is able to capture raw images and make them look really interesting. At the same time, if you are a fan of his work, you have to appreciate his style and his vision and I do.

So is it creative? I think that it does have some elements of creativity to it because this is so simple and in your face that you can’t miss it, so it is creative in that way. But, I think that it’s not a new and fresh idea and thus it’s kind of just whatever. So if you ask me, I see this argument from both sides. I can't say that these images are beyond incredible, although I definitely do see some artistic value, but I can say that this advertisement did a brilliant job and then some. Look, I'm blogging about it right now, and that is exactly what the company wanted. More power and kudos to Tom Ford. P.S. I wonder how this fragrance did in sales?