{"id":17112,"date":"2013-02-24T06:05:44","date_gmt":"2013-02-24T11:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=17112"},"modified":"2013-02-24T06:14:09","modified_gmt":"2013-02-24T11:14:09","slug":"colombo-dept-storeodeladvertises-jeans-asthe-perfect-pairin-an-unabashed-expression-of-lesbian-eroticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=17112","title":{"rendered":"Colombo Dept Store”ODEL”Advertises Jeans as”The Perfect Pair”in an unabashed Expression of Lesbian Eroticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/p>\n

Malinda Seneviratne <\/strong><\/p>\n

ODEL, one of Colombo\u2019s prominent department stores, has broken new ground in advertising with a print creative for jeans depicting two females in an unabashed expression of lesbian eroticism. The ad, which comes with the payoff line \u2018The perfect pair\u2019, is a clear departure from the \u2018traditional\u2019 culture of flaunting sexuality that has been part and parcel of the advertising industry the world over. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The culture police may or may not pounce on the ad and censure ODEL, but the truth of the matter is that all societies have gays, lesbians and bisexuals in addition to heterosexuals, the relevant percentages being roughly equal across time and space. It is \u2018queer\u2019 but not considered enough reason for outright condemnation; people generally being ready to live and let live. What people do in private after all is their business, as is who they do it with. <\/p>\n

A palpably Western fascination with formal rules and institutionalization of propriety has certainly put out roots in other cultures. Just the other day, the Pakistan Supreme Court determined to allow transsexuals to have their own gender category on some official documents. Sri Lanka didn\u2019t have marriage registration until the middle of the 19th Century, but that didn\u2019t stop cohabitation and neither did it make \u2018family\u2019 untenable. \u2018Marriage\u2019 came with a need to track inheritance of land given the complications of a matrilineal system. With it came Victorian morality as well as patriarchal values. And laws, including those that refer to sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

The ad, which its creators defend on the basis of \u2018creative license\u2019, therefore snubs the law that considers gay and lesbian sex \u2018illegal\u2019, never mind societal permissibility. It is quite likely that those who subscribe to ideologies framed by Judeo-Christian morality and others who have internalized Victorian morality would object to the ad. <\/p>\n

Odel\u2019s head of marketing, Upendra said that \u2018the perfect pair\u2019 refers to \u2018jeans and the top\u2019 (not denims and the color blue), and that the idea \u2018was inspired by international trends\u2019. The girl-girl picture was chosen ahead of girl-boy and boy-boy pictures, he said. <\/p>\n

Odel, whose CEO, Otara Gunawardena was recently featured in India\u2019s \u2018Verve\u2019 magazine and is considered a fashion icon and head of a trend-setting enterprise, defends the ad referring to \u2018international trend\u2019 which they\u2019ve incorporated into Odel\u2019s theme of the month, \u2018denims and the color blue\u2019. It is not clear whether lesbian eroticism or advertising that promotes agenda rather than brand is the \u2018trend\u2019 referred to here.<\/p>\n

Recently, a North Carolina-based magazine, \u2018Weddings Unveiled\u2019 refused to carry an advertisement of an Atlanta-based wedding photographer, Anne Almasy, because it showed a lesbian couple kissing at their wedding (gay marriages are legal in certain states of the USA). The \u2018trend\u2019 then, remains unclear.<\/p>\n

So was Odel promoting a brand or pushing an agenda? Upendra said \u2018Odel is not just about clothes, it is about promoting a lifestyle\u2019 and brushed off \u2018acceptability\u2019 issues with \u2018if it is not acceptable, we won\u2019t be promoting it\u2019. <\/p>\n

The point here is that Odel is coming out of the closet, so to speak, in a self-consciously Western manner as per \u2018creative right\u2019 and \u2018ideological persuasion\u2019. In doing so, Odel deliberately ventures into a new dimension in the use of sexuality and sex in advertising. The good and bad of it, the embrace or rejection, whether it will set a trend or be a one-off effort, only time and public perceptions will determine.
\nCOURTESY:THE NATION<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Malinda Seneviratne ODEL, one of Colombo\u2019s prominent department stores, has broken new ground in advertising with a print creative for jeans depicting two females in an unabashed expression of lesbian eroticism. The ad, which comes with the payoff line \u2018The perfect pair\u2019, is a clear departure from the \u2018traditional\u2019 culture of flaunting sexuality that …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Colombo Dept Store”ODEL”Advertises Jeans as”The Perfect Pair”in an unabashed Expression of Lesbian Eroticism’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17112"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17112"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17130,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17112\/revisions\/17130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}