One man who springs to mind when I think of sex selling products is Tom Ford, the man behind some of the nicest smelling perfumes and aftershaves in existence (or i think so at least) they should sell themselves but he still insists on the most shocking of advertisements.....
here is the man himself cutting some knickers of a model....
The most shocking that I can think of is for his M7 fragrance for men, where full frontal male nudity was used for the first time in an advertisement (I have censored the image below because i don't want my blog to be adult only... (but you can google it if you must.....)
Tom Ford defended the naked images saying, "Perfume is worn on the skin,so why hide the body?"
He's got a point in some ways but, well not being male I wouldn't know the answer to this, but would men really spray eau d'toilette inside their boxers?? I don't think i want to know the answer......
Anyway, I'm sort of digressing from the point of this post...yesterday I was having a lazy afternoon on the internet, i like looking at design and photography blogs and finding someone that i like, i came across a photographer called Magna Biernat (click here to see her work) who has some really beautiful architectural photographs. Then i came across a set called "Betel Nut Beauties" images of Asian girls wearing revealing outfits say in mainly glass fronted, neon lit kiosks.
images:Magda Biernat
I did a bit of googling and found out that these "betel nut girls" are found working in kiosks around Taiwan selling betel nuts and cigarettes. Betel nut is something which is popular across Asia but it is only in Taiwan that it is sold like this, which has raised questions of exploiting the young women who work in the kiosks, and has been a source of traffic accidents...you can guess why..(to read more about them click here)
American photographer Tobie Openshaw photographed and researched betel nut beauties and describes them as "a beautiful object framed in a beautiful box" here are some of his images....
images:Tobie Openshaw
"The design of the stalls usually show the betelnut beauties as “a beautiful object framed in a beautiful box”, and sometimes that’s what I like to capture in my photographs. (Taiwanese-American artist Annemarie Ho recently set up a betelnut stall complete with betelnut beauty in NY’s Times Square, and I have had artists from fashion design to architecture approach me for help in researching the betelnut girls.) But of course I intersperse that with close-ups shot right inside the booths, show the girls as they really are – pretty, young, slightly bored and with smiles and cheerfulness sometimes coming over as a little brittle. I like to try and make the “object” real and show that she might be more than you thought you knew – and she deserves more respect than she’s getting. "
Tobie Openshaw
The discovery of the betel nut beauties was all new to me and i was fascinated by the concept and the design of the kiosks. I really don't agree with it being anything to do with female empowerment though, whilst these women aren't prostitutes, they are still exhibited like a zoo animals, and the power still lies in the male customers and the presumably male owners of the kiosks who are probably earning a nice profit whilst these girls are making enough to get them by.
My research led me to a trend in Seattle of "bikini barristas" i suppose America is home to hooters, so its little surprise that these kiosks work there. Seattle, home of starbucks, has many drive through coffee outlets and kiosks. Now, i love a good pun, they make me laugh more than they should and a business with a pun in its title is always a winner for me but, when thinking of starting my own coffee kiosk, these names never did cross my mind....
"Peek A-Brew", "Grab n' Go", "Cowgirls Espresso", "Smokin' Hot Espresso" "Java Jigglers" "Sweet Spot", and "Natte Latte"
But they are all up and running in Seattle, where, unlike the betel nut girls in their heels and mini skirts, the barristas serve coffee in nothing more but bikinis....
It seems they have caused a lot of controversy, with some being shut down after girls were offering more than coffee......i even read that one kiosk had let girls wear nothing but pasties (this confused me, where i am from, pasties are something you get from the bakery on your lunch break, turns out they are stick on nipple covers, often seen sported by strippers....nice....just what you want your coffee barrista to be wearing....)
I still have a dream of opening up my own coffee kiosk and, although the design of the kiosk and the marketing strategies have been on my mind, funnily enough, wearing a bikini hadn't came into my plans. I'm glad that I don't live in Seattle as I'm sure if it was a choice between me selling coffee, and a bikini clad girl down the road, I'd be out of business quickly. I think if i could steal any of the Taiwan kiosk designs it would be one of these though....
It's times like these that i am glad that I live in Scotland, where winters are cold and summers aren't much better. If i do get to open a kiosk then a bikini would be out of the question unless you like your coffee served by a girl with hypothermia, no, i'll be applying my winter clothing strategy of layers, lots and lots of layers...probably even in the summer. I have drawn some oufit ideas....
.... of course, every business needs a plan b back up plan if all is failing, so i've also drawn up some ideas of me as a half naked barrista because then i will be guaranteed cash(surely?-its worked for Tom Ford afterall..), but have absolutely no morals or dignity left, now, who has a good name for the kiosk?.....
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