Kiddie Ho-wear part II

I said in my last post that I was going to discuss the idea of stupidly young models / pimping kiddies. OK, so that was days ago, but I’ve finally gotten around to putting this post together. A mate of mine dropped around the other night, really excited. He’s a printer, and they had just run their first job using some revolutionary new technique for printing that gives deeper, richer, more life-like colours. He had the brochure in hand, and yes, it looked amazing – definitely a step up on anything I’d seen before. I’m sure the super glossy stock helped as well, but the richness and texture was incredible.

So what, you’re asking, does this have to do with the previous post?

Well, the brochure was for a swimwear company, and after admiring the print quality, he told me that the girl featured throughout the brochure, including the front cover, was 15. 15. I mean, are we that desperate to push the ideals of youth onto a jaded market that swimwear models are now not even of age? And where is the line between young models and child exploitation? Now I’m not suggesting that this is in anyway pornographic, but surely you have to wonder about the blurring of the line between legitimate and not, and our society’s view on such matters.

As I said in my earlier brief post, I’m guessing that this is going to make me sound like a bit of an old wowser, which is far from the truth. I’m just not sure this is the right direction for us to be taking as a society. Just a thought.