Adultery

 

 I ran across this controversial ad for the even more controversial website, Ashley Madison.  Ashley Madison is an on line site where married men who want to have an affair can search for women.  The ad features a very corpulent women juxtaposed against a young, hot, attractive thin women.  The ad says we call it as we see it and life is too short, have an affair.

The border of the ad is pink which is quite interesting.  Pink ads are normally designed for women under the stereotypical view that women prefer pink to other colors and that pink is a sign of femininity.  The pink works in this ad even though the audience is male because the point of the ad is that men can find women on the Ashley Madison site and thus pink is symbolic of the women waiting on the site.

There is also a box next to each of the two women.  Next to the corpulent women is a box with a red x in it.  Red generally stands for stop and x generally stands for wrong.  The color and imagery thus are saying no to the large women--monogamy.  Next to the attractive women is a box with a green check mark.  Checks generally stand for correct and green generally stands for go.  The color and imagery are thus saying go for it -- have that affair it is the right thing to do.

The message of the ad is also very existential.  The premise of the ad is that life is short so you might as well violate the sanctity of marriage.  The notion is that we are all going to die anyway so what does it matter that one has committed and pledged to live a monogamous life.

The ad is obviously going to be very offensive to many segments of America, especially married women.  Nevertheless, because the target audience is married men who are thinking of having affairs the ad can be effective even if it inflames a lot of people. 

The ad is simultaneously effective and offensive.