A ridiculous new advertisement for Pepe Jeans serves as a stark reminder that social conditioning starts early in women, often enforced through imagery that try to define gender roles based on patriarchy.
The latest ad in a leading daily is a juxtaposition of two images of a little girl. The first image shows her standing with a football, dressed in a sleeveless, loose tee, shorts and floaters with a devil-may-care grin that can light up an entire city. The second image is of the same smiling girl, but this time, sitting with her legs crossed, her hair neatly tied, and wearing a denim dress with red pumps.
Let's take a moment here to discuss what the two images are meant to represent.
Pepe used the first image as a 'before' placeholder to drive home the point that little girls who play football, have dishevelled hair and scruffy knees need to modelled into mini versions of The Stepford Wives. And who better than Pepe to help the carefree little hell-raisers who believe they can be anything they want to be, transition into the women the society wants them to be.
This is quite literally the brand's idea of how women should look like.
In a Facebook post, Payal Talreja, Creative Director of an online retail store, called out Pepe Jeans for its sexist ad. She mentions, "Why must a child be 'prettified' into someones idea of a girl?"
You tell them, Payal.