Boy Tugs Skirt-Clad Lands' End Back End. Confusion Ensues

lands_end_covered.jpg

There are so many confusing messages emanating from the cover of this Lands' End catalog, we simply don't know where to start. First, there' the very curvaceous back end of women juxtaposed just beneath the title of the catalog, Lands' End, as if illustrative of some sort of early American west conquest for land but with a tone far removed from that depicted in the Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman movie Far and Away.

Then, there's the young boy tugging on the women's spandex-like skirt with a cute, semi-mischievous look on his face. Is the woman his mother? Is the boy just some random kid grabbing at some random woman's skin tight, bathing suit-like skirt? Is he just doing what all men eventually do, literally or figuratively, when they grow up? Or is this some art director's realized wet dream?

Finally, there's the cheesy copy which reads, "We've got you covered. No kidding." Covered how? With a skirt so tight it's man-proof? No kidding as in Lands' End has to somehow remind us clothes do, in fact, cover the body? Or perhaps it's a message to "boys" of all ages informing them Land's End has their best interests at heart by offering up back end-covering eye candy so enticing they can't keep their hands off.

We've looked at this cover 50 times and still don't know who to react. We're calling our therapist right now for guidance.

by Steve Hall    Jun-10-07   Click to Comment   
Topic: Creative Commentary, Direct, Strange   

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Comments



Comments

By all appearances, it looks like the original concept had that boy pulling her skin off. "Rubs the lotion on its skin, or it get Lands End again."

Posted by: Nik on June 10, 2007 2:50 PM

Glad to know I'm not the only one weirded out by that cover. I just want to smack that creepy little kid. Where's his mother and why isn't she smacking him? And if he's pulling his own mother's skirt off without being scolded by her, well, therapy can't start too soon for the little tyke.

Posted by: mitten on June 10, 2007 3:55 PM

i think he's got a little kiddie boner.

Posted by: spencer on June 10, 2007 11:38 PM

And somewhere the Coppertone dog is crying, for it is no longer needed.

Posted by: makethelogobigger on June 11, 2007 11:18 AM

How bizarre that you're incapable of seeing from the perspective of the woman wearing the skirt -- which the ad copy is obviously intended to represent. It's got the woman who wears the skirt "covered" in the sense that it's still manages to cover her in spite of the kid's annoying behavior. Who cares who the kid is?

But then, whyever would AdRants interpret or perceive something from an actual female's point of view. And why expect anyone else in the ad industry to do the same? (Rather than contrive ridiculous explanations for strange art director fantasies or behavior, that is).

Come on guys. Sometimes it's all pretty simple, and not some sexually over-toned or under-toned approach.. even when created by the ad industry. Imagine that.

Posted by: marcom on June 11, 2007 1:02 PM

THANK YOU! I hated this cover when I got the catalog at home. Aside from all of the comments made already, I kept thinking of the flip side - what if a little girl was grabbing an adult male's - what? OMG! That's something you're sure never to see on Lands' End - I'm totally crying "Foul!" over this one!

Posted by: Kimberly on June 11, 2007 1:31 PM

I agree with Marcom. I think the worlds over imagination has run wild. But, everyones talk is added publicity for LE. Maybe that is what they intended.

Posted by: Di on June 27, 2007 2:24 PM

I agree with Marcom. I think the worlds over imagination has run wild. But, everyones talk is added publicity for LE. Maybe that is what they intended.

Posted by: Di on June 27, 2007 2:27 PM