If you’re like us, you’ve been swooning over the new ad campaign put out by clothing brand Suitsupply. Just last month the brand released their Summer 2018 ads that features men same-sex couples who are impeccably dressed in their designs that urges you to “find your perfect fit”. Makes you want those clothes so bad—and to be the meat in those sandwiches.
Obviously, not everyone is on board because that’s just the world we live in. The company lost over ten thousand followers on social media following the release of the campaign and they have received thousands of complaints asking how parents should explain the ads to their children. Ummm, isn’t that YOUR job as a parent? They just make suits.
The company also deployed the displaying of the ads at 22 of their locations around the world, with the exception of Russia and the United Arab Emirates. One of the places that Suitsupply CEO Fokke de Jong wasn’t expecting any pushback was from the Netherlands, where 90% of the population support same-sex equality. The country was also the world's first to pass same-sex marriage in 2001. According to NU.nl, Suitsupply hung the ads at 5,000 locations around the Netherlands by the end of last week and over the last few days over 30 locations had been vandalized. Is this homophobia at work? Very likely.
De Jong shared with NU.nl:
We expected quite some serious reactions, but not to this extent, and certainly not in the Neterherlands.
It is not strange that we highlight intimate attraction between gay men, although that is not common in mainstream advertising. In some countries there are actually people who will no longer collect their ordered suits.
The slogan is ‘find your own perfect fit’ not only when it comes to clothes, but also in life itself. I can just imagine that we can come up with more campaigns around that theme that not everyone agrees with.
JCDecaux, the company that manages the locations where the ads are displayed urges individuals who feel strongly about the ads to file official complaints to the Advertising Code Committee in the Netherlands rather than destroy the property to make a statement.
I thought the Netherlands was
I thought the Netherlands was a highly accepting of homosexuality. Why are they going backwards?
for a country that has
for a country that has legalized marijuana and prostitution, they take offense on this?
I don’t condone what the
I don't condone what the thugs did to the company's billboards but showing two men kissing and the white guy sitting on the upper thigh area of a darker skinned man that appears to be a North African is not the right marketing strategy by a suit company. I hope they learned their lessons now and stop showing offensive billboards in public.
Castle, would it be less
Castle, would it be less offensive for you if a short skirted chick kissing a guy while sitting on his lap? If a male & female can show affection for each other, why not 2 people of the same sex who are in love? LOVE not HATE!
I personally don’t like to
I personally don't like to see two men kissing in such a bold manner but I can tolerate the image and just bite my tongue. Clearly some people in that country felt that these billboards were going too far for a suit company and decided to take the matter into their own hands.
So you don’t approve of a
So you don't approve of a white guy kissing a "Dark skinned man that appears to be a North African",, that sounds not only homophobic,, but also somewhat racist CastleSF,,, would it be easier for you to look at it if it was two white guys kissing,, what is your problem with a dark skinned man?? Or maybe you think the "darkm skinned" guy should be subservient and be sitting on the great white mans knee instead? I would also be interested on your stance if it was a girl kissing a guy to sell clothes,, we see scantily clad female models being used in the advertising industry every day selling everything from clothes,, beer,, cars etc etc,,, is this also objectional to you,, Someone else asked you this question, which you avoided answering in your response. I'm going to stay at home from work all day eagerly awaiting your reply.
Women wearing tight short
Women wearing tight short skirts is fine because they are expressing their sexuality and guys like that. There are a lot of conservative Middle Eastern and North African immigrants in that part of Europe and seeing one of them as a model in those controversial ads in public billboards must have angered some of them. Again we are talking about a suit company's marketing strategy here. Those photos are perfectly OK if placed in trendy magazines but if you put them in the public areas, you are likely to invite vandalism.