Advertising

Advertising is fundamental in how products are marketed and sold in todays consumer society, with footwear this is no exception. Genders are divided clearly and without confusion as to who wears what shoes. Sneaker culture has not escaped this division and the marketing and advertising of sneakers only serves to make this division larger. Since the birth of sneaker culture the ads that are aimed at men and women have always been different and this has not changed. Sneakers have been transformed into objects of sexual desire, as well as useful in enhancing sexuality thanks to the sexualisation of advertisements and products.

There is a large difference in the way that mens shoes are advertised in comparison to women’s. The focus is primarily on the sneakers itself, and the associations that sneaker has to the lifestyle that goes with it. The sneakers are photographed in such a way that they reflect what type of shoe it is meant to be; rock star, skate, boutique, dress, athletic. Brands like MacBeth like to use real life rock-stars (majority of the time male) to wear their shoes whilst they play their instrument of choice, whereas Supra prefer to just have the sneaker on a plainly coloured background and that is all.




However for women there is a greater focus on the women themselves. Women are usually shown to be doing something of social, sexual or athletic nature, the sneaker itself not being the main focus of the ad. The woman’s athleticism, social nature and sexuality are the primary focus with the sneakers acting as the tool needed to enhance these things. It is the lifestyle being sold in conjunction with the sneakers that is of high priority in women’s ads. Depending on the type of sneaker being sold the way women are portrayed will differ. For sneakers that are used for running the woman is shown to be in an action stance, often wearing only a sports bra and small shorts, making a point to show off the athletic physique of the women wearing those particular sneakers. This isn’t an uncommon approach for specifically athletic sneakers.

With sneakers worn for fashion and leather the advertising takes a completely different approach. In various Adidas Originals ads the women are shown to be having a good time out with the boys or in a party scene, they aren’t shown to be a strong confident role within the ad but to be submissive to the male figure that appears. This approach is common in other brands as well, like Le Coq and Creation, in this same approach the women become a sexual object rather than a role model to women who purchase sneakers.




The sexualisation of sneakers has become a key factor in marketing particular brands; Patrick and Puma use this to give their sneakers a sexual edge. Patrick follow a retro chic within their ad campaigns, women in short athletic clothes sporting these sneakers whilst showing off a lot of leg. In the same campaign they have a shot of woman seductively pulling a shoelace with her teeth. Puma take a similar approach but are a lot more sexually explicit, in particular an advert depicting a range of women who are naked except for the sneakers and socks that they wear. These ads may have been intended to inspire confidence in women, insinuating that wearing these sneakers will give you the confidence to be comfortable enough to wear nothing but your sneakers. The truth is that these ads really only appeal to men and reaffirm the sexism that exists in our culture.




It gets worse than this though, in another Puma ad that I found via google image search depicts a faceless woman performing sexual acts on a man, the point of the ad being that she is wearing puma’s and therefore she is far more sexually submissive because of this. Whether this ad is fake or not the fact that it exists means that for many ad agencies this is an acceptable way to advertise sneakers to the general public but also causes a disruption within the culture itself, in terms of how the men view women. Women appearing to be less than men is nothing new in advertising but the persistence in which these ads are generated is concerning.

This type of advertising is responsible for the reoccurrence of sexism in western culture, the notion that a woman being highly sexual is empowering and inspires confidence is being used constantly by big brands to sell their products. However the consequences of doing so means that many men now continue to view women as sexual objects rather than people, the advertising within sneaker culture is only a small part of a much larger issue. The fact that this is how sneakers are marketed cause the designers to continue to create stereotypical feminine sneakers that embody these ideals. The marketing of sneakers for women needs to change in order to dissolve the division of genders as well as changing the preconceived notions of what women actually want when it comes to sneakers.