Many sports attire stores such as Nike, Puma, and Under Armor use male and female when trying to promote couples athletic wear. Although on Valentines Day this year Adidas pushed the boundaries on the “couples wear.” As you can see in this picture it is two girls most likely kissing and working out. Now when I first saw this picture I didn’t think anything of it, but then I read the comments about people being upset and saying Adidas shouldn’t have done this. In chapter 7 we talked about ways that women should do when they are Growing Up Feminine. Women should be worried about their appearances, be sensitive and caring, negative treatment by others, and be superwomen. In this add it is showing women, not only being in a relationship, but also being fit, working out, and getting stronger. Many people had a problem with this add because it’s two women, but all I see is love for and individual and love for being healthy. Thoughts?
*click on the Adidas word to view the image*
Hey Drew!
I thought this was a really good blog post! I was actually watching a documentary a few weeks ago called, A Ballerina’s Tale. The documentary was about how hard it was for Misty Copeland, a black ballerina to become a prima and how hard she worked to become a lead in a ballet. Addidas actually put her in an advertisement and on billboards, in the movie family and friends surrounded the advertisement to celebrate and share the achievement with her. For her to be able to show young black girls that they can be a ballerina too, no matter the norm.
Hey Drew! I really enjoyed reading this post, I thought it was really interesting, I remember seeing this advertisement and it reminded me of a commercial that describe that love has no labels, I am posting it below because I find it really interesting that more of these commercials are coming out and not directly stating equality for all, but just putting it in our peripheral vision as consumers. Here is the link to the video! Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnDgZuGIhHs
I’m glad you pointed this out to us because I didn’t notice it was such a big issue. I see exactly what you see “love for and individual and love for being healthy.” Who cares if it is two women. If anything, Adidas is proving that all couples can be strong and fit together. It does not matter about you relationship preference. All that matters is that both of you are working out together lifting each other up to reach your goals. I can see the relation to chapter 7 as it talks about women being feminine. There are many ways to being feminine especially when you’re working out. When you work out you feel good, you love yourself and your body. You are keeping up with your appearance and you are being feminine in your relationship. It is ads like this that break gender norms that make it especially easier for other companies to what to join and support because Adidas is such a huge name brand. All I see are two women in love and supporting each other.
Cool post. I remember hearing that they go some backlash on this because of course they did. I think it’s comforting to see companies embracing multisexual perspectives. I just hope that organizations aren’t doing it to simply make a trendy splash or just earn credibility. Seems like Adidas is really behind the cause, especially since they defended the post so valiantly!
Drew,
I had seen this ad while searching through the Discover section on Instagram and honestly had acted like you, and thought nothing of it. As I looked a little closer I began to consciously become aware that the two individuals were both wearing the same shoes, and that they looked pretty feminine. I soon realized that Adidas had in fact displayed what appeared to be a lesbian couple, who enjoyed working out and being together. On another note, of course I found these shoes to be more feminine because of the specific colors we are thought to recognize as “girly” colors – such as pink and purple. In turn, this only furthers the concept that we are all socially trained to define certain colors to certain sexes. In addition this ad reminded me of the Campbell’s Soup commercial with the two dads! Great post – I’m glad you highlighted on this advertisement!
Drew,
I saw this advertisement on Facebook when it came out! I had to look closely to even see what they were trying to sell or advertise too because I did not even put two and two together that it was two girls (doing whatever your mind first thinks). Adidas has always been a unique brand. They are never afraid to do whatever they want. It is awesome. It is also awesome how we as a class can connect Chapter seven and the growing up feminine aspects that women grow up with. This ad is great for basically saying, yeah you can be girly (because of the “girly” colors that they are wearing), you can stay fit and take care of your appearance, as well as love and nurture the ones around you. Now, it goes above and beyond those society norms because they girls are doing all that, but are doing it for themselves and the same gender! This will set the bar for other brands to practically do the same thing next time they are about to advertise their next product, or philosophy so to speak.
I think this ad is amazing. I love that Adidas decided to do this, especially on Valentines Day. I love that it is showing woman working out and getting fit and breaking down gender barriers. I also agree that this goes along with chapter 7 very well when we talked about girls growing up feminine. I think this ad helps that stigma and is making so many great changes one company at a time. I think that once the public and other companies see the impact this is going to make, other companies will follow suit.