It's no secret that everybody seems to be offended by everything these days. From Kleenex having to rename their "Mansized" tissues to making sure you address someone politically correct. All of these controversial topics (using the term controversial loosely here), means our focus is taken away from the real issues.
Doing fashion promotion we are encouraged to consider the implications that certain images may have on different demographics. Whether it will be deemed offensive or cause controversy. It seems many fashion brands want to go for the shock factor; however, there is a fine line between shocking and causing offence.
Take a look at the images below...
These are some of the images we looked at today, and we all had different opinions on them. Some viewed them as female empowerment, others saw them as female victimisation. Personally, I think they're unecessary, there seems to be no art direction behind them apart from the concept that "sex sells".
The Sisley ad I find on a whole other level. Making drugs fashionable and sought after can be extremely damaging to young minds and could even possibly sway someone down the wrong path if it's seen as desirable. Capitalising on these kinds of topics I believe can completely deface a brand, make them seem unwanted.
On the flip side to this, keeping up with politics and society can be beneficial to brands. If they can create more social awareness as well as promote their own product I don't see a problem with that. A lot of it is how it done - whether it';s tasteful or not. As well as where the advert is placed, an advert on a billboard may have to be more conservative as it's seen by many people all from different demographics. Whereas, if it's in a magazine you're only really appealing to one type of demographic so you might be able to step outside the box a little more.
The question is where is the line.
References
http://tisotit.blogspot.com/2011/11/pizza-coke-pic.html
http://www.womensviewsonnews.org/2010/11/confirmation-tweet-suit-supply-asked-to-remove-offensive-images/