I do detect a difference, I must say.
"I think it's totally sickening how American Apparel markets its clothes," Swedish blogger Emelie Eriksson told Sweden's English language news site, The Local. "It shows they have a very degrading view toward women and I'm surprised they've been able to do this without facing any strong criticism."
In particular, Eriksson noted how American Apparel marketed shirts branded as "unisex," posting screenshots to her blog — which you see here, aligned side-by-side.
As you can see, the young men are posed unassumingly and sport non-sexual zombie stares, while the come-hither young women are very unbuttoned and all pants-less.
There are actually more, very NSFW uni-sex shirt images on AA's site. To see those, go to Eriksson's post.
A representative from the Swedish Advertising Ombudsman confirmed that they had received several complaints about American Apparel product images. The watchdog head Elisabeth Trotzih added, however, that the matter may lie outside the ombudsman's jurisdiction as the website isn't in Swedish nor is it found within the .se domain.
Seems Sweden is playing catch-up with the many other countries in the world.
Last month, two "overtly sexual" American Apparel ad images were banned in the UK.
Wanna play some bottomless polo, boys?
