Since when has Gisele Bündchen even been criticized for showing too much skin? The stunning supermodel is pretty much synonymous to the word "underwear" anyways. That would be like chiding Lea Michele for singing showtunes. It's their forte, people!
However, this little brush with controversy goes a little bit differently. Miss Bündchen is currently representing HOPE, a Brazilian lingerie company, as a spokesmodel in their ads. The premise of the commercials basically show the supermodel breaking bad news to an unseen husband, while wearing regular clothing. WRONG, it beeps. Take two: she confesses her faults to hubby again, only this time - she is donning her sexy undies. RIGHT, ding ding ding! The voiceover then suggests to women that by wearing their lingerie, along with "using Brazilian charm", it would be a better way to let their men down gently.
The Women's Rights Secretariat had asked the National Advertising Council to suspend the advertisement since it glorified the notion that women were only seen as sex objects. Representatives for HOPE, however claim that the whole message of the ad was that a: "Brazilian woman's sensuality is her best protection when delivering bad news." They even insist that the Victoria's Secret model herself can vouch for the company, "Gisele can testify that all of the situations shown in the campaign are jokes about daily life (and) in no way should they be taken as being depreciative of the feminine figure."
The tag line at the end of the ads claim, "Hope teaches". Teaches what? That women should that use their sexuality to get away with something? To be honest - not that I am siding with either party, since both make equal points - many women would be lying to if they say they haven't used their feminine charms to their advantage at some point in time. It doesn't mean we ladies do it all the time, no! Not at all. But come on, just own up to it. The commercial clearly shows Gisele sweet-talking her significant other, not a lawyer in the courtroom. Then again, there is a huge difference between flirting your way out of a driving ticket as opposed to flashing your ta-tas to rob a bank, so we all can at least agree it's a heated topic.
Below is one of the three TV spots aired. Do you find the campaign to be sexist? Or just plain old fun, just like the marketers have previously explained?
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