This is in response to the letter written by Jasmine Marsh (“Give a hoot,” Letterhead, Feb. 14) directed at an ad placed by X-Citement Video in The Coast Feb. 7. First, I do not understand how that ad can be deemed sexist. It’s directed towards women that come in and buy lingerie. Men don’t buy lingerie—women do. The women depicted in the ad are your average women. I don’t know when the last time you took a look around was, but blonde girls with B cups aren’t that out of the ordinary. What wasn’t depicted in the ad were porn star figures or your picture-perfect model figures, but instead your standard Sear’s catalogue model. In addition, they weren’t scantily clad; one of them was in a dress! The rest had more covering them than your standard bathing suit ads, or your average downtown club ad.
Most people make the mistake of thinking that X-Citement sells videos only, when in fact it’s a toy/lingerie/video store. It’s one of the only places in town where you can buy affordable sex toys and lingerie. Their right to advertise their merchandise in a tasteful fashion is being attacked for no reason. Maybe next time you decide to write a letter, you could look at the ads a little more objectively instead of with a “We’re all so victimized by media” attitude.
By Lindsay Allain
This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 5, 2008.