Smarter people than me are also fascinated by it

Sex in advertising, that is.

Lisa Wade, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Occidental College and a blogger at Sociological Images. As she often takes on the issue of sex and sexism in advertising and other media, we often end up sharing links.

The most recent one she shared (via Facebook) is a Pinterest board of ads that use subliminal, and not so subliminal, sexual symbolism.

And by "not subliminal", she means stuff like this:

And this:

And...

Some are subversive:

Others are rather creative:

As an educator, Lisa provides links to analyses of the images. As an adman (and ad critic), I find this both useful and entertaining. Here's hoping the Sexual Symbolism board will continue to expand, and that people will actually learn to make and/or identify better ads because of it.

Happy New Year... WTF?

I found this postcard in a box of old family records a few years ago, and just stumbled upon it again in my New Year's cleanup:

Yes, that's what you think it is... but it's also not what you think it is. Here's the back:

Many of you will already be aware that the swastika is a very ancient symbol that was appropriated by the Nazis. That had already happened before 1922, when this card was sent, but it was much better known at the time as a charming old "good luck" symbol.

Here are some other examples:

The innocence of the symbol would soon end, in the west anyway. The swastika is still a popular religious and folkloric insignia in Asia. You can even see it on packaged goods at the Chinese grocery store.

But it still freaks me out. It's just a symbol, but it's one that we've been raised to have a visceral reaction to. From health, wealth and happiness to hate, genocide and war. It's amazing that a little cross could carry so much baggage.

Here's to a year ahead with as little evil as possible.