A/X Window Display
By
The above image is a red heart made out of about 400 red condoms. This is one of many window displays in A/X Armani Exchange stores around the country. This Valentines Day display was the cause of a lot of controversy and talk among shoppers. Although the heart is in support of the National AIDS Fund, many people were still worried about what kind of values A/X was promoting. Obviously they were getting the message out to practice safe sex, but these were up at shopping malls where families go. Parents were worried about their kids asking what a condom was, and others were worried about the display promoting sex to people who are too young to be engaging in the act. Many malls and shopping centers received complaints about the heart of condoms, but it is the right of A/X to keep it in their window if they so please.
Do you think that this display is appropriate to be up in windows where children can see?
Do you think A/X is promoting the right message and the right values?
4 Comments
February 17th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
I personally wouldn’t want to have to explain what a condom was to my child, but then again when I was a kid I think I would have been totally oblivious to what the heart was actually made out of. Maybe the display could have gone inside the store so that A/X could still have supported the National AIDS Fund and Valentines Day, without exposing every kid who happened to walk by to questionable content.
February 17th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I think this public display is totally inappropriate. I understand that it is promoting a good cause, but at the same time maybe it is not. Perhaps its presence in the mall is influencing kids to ask about sex at a younger age and therefore influencing their ideas about it. Additionally, malls attract all ages, however teenage girls and boys tend to group at malls to hangout. Window displays such as these will most likely appeal to these kids and might even influence them because it is seen as trendy. I don’t think it was very considerate of the store to jeopordize entire malls with this stigma and that A/X should definitely receive some repurcussions for their displays.
February 18th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Promoting safe sex to adults is worthy of being called ‘virtuous advertising.’ This is not.
As Olivia and Brittany pointed out, the placement of this promotion is completely inappropriate. It not only is no longer virtuous, it’s abhorrent. This is another attempt by A/X to be controversial… except this time they’re hiding under the false pretense of social responsibility. Completely despicable.
February 19th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
A/X should be ashamed that they put this “heart”on display. While they were trying to promote safe sex by showing a plethora of condoms, I think the condoms were the thing that gained my attention. If i walked by this in the mall and didnt know their connection to stopping the AIDS epidemic, I would have thought that they were saying “go out and have sex on valentines day with red condoms” by their display. Their attempt at being “responsible” in the end just made them look even worse in my opinion.