Sex sells...

QUOTE: Originally posted by djmodels1999 Don't know if you have noticed where you are, but Eduard have lately been advertising their wares in magazines with full-colour full-pages ads depicting scantily dressed women.

They do?!


I haven't seen it but: Cool!!

not cool, actually :/

One of the great things about fine-scale modelling is that it is a 'safe' hobby for a married man with children. I don't have to explain to my wife that it is not my fault that an ugly-stug is pretty...because the stug does NOT represent any competition.

I was excited to get a SAMI magazine the other day, and asked her to drive so I could read in the car. About 10 pages in, I find myself flipping past this Eduard Ad as quickly as I could. Amazingly, it wasn't quick enough :/

If there were a nice, simply way of saying to Eduard, "thanks, but no thanks", I'd like to do that.

QT

Ah well,

My wife looked at the ads and thought they were cute.

Regards,

Write a physical letter to the company in question. You'd be suprised how effective that can be.

Writing to Eduard might not do the trick, though I will do it. Writing to the magazines in question may be more effective?

I don't think that sex sells (for me personally)-if I want something bad enough-I don't care how it's advertised. Unless we're talking lingerie, bikinis or, well, sex.

i think it is stupid too

Yes, it does sell everything from alcohol (mainly beer) to you-name-it. If anything, it gets one's attention. Is it in poor taste, sure, but admit it, we really don't mind it that much now do we?

I know what you mean Eric, but it still bothers me to see breasts and bottoms, as cute as they may be, in a scale modeling mag. What message are we giving young modelers? or female modelers for that matter...?

Eduard's 'Tight Fit' series of ads are very poor in taste.

I really can't complain......

Been wondering if anyone would bring this up. Their campaign is for their masks, something like "skin tight fit" or whatever. I can't really complain, but I do find it REALLY stupid and comletely unimaginative, catering to the status quo by making their adds like that. As to their effectiveness, well I didn't buy their masks then, and I won't now either. And when I look at their add, well it won't be their product I'm admiring

Very true, Zoki-often times we remember the ad and not what they're advertising.

Hey, it might get the youngsters involved in the figure(non-military) side of the Hobby.

Great advantages there can be many original design kits that cna be sold cheaply because no copyright exists.

But generally I feel the same thing those ladies are a nuisance and often hide good detail on a car, etc.
But than I was told on my Grandfathers knee that only 2 things make the world go round: money and sex. And often one is used to get the other.

QUOTE: Originally posted by djmodels1999 Don't know if you have noticed where you are, but Eduard have lately been advertising their wares in magazines with full-colour full-pages ads depicting scantily dressed women. Not that I'm not interested in the female forms , but was that absolutely necessary? I now can't even read my mags (well, some of them) without checking in my back to see if the Mrs is not looking... I think Eduard should not go that way. Soon enough, we'll have covers of our favourite scale modeling mags looking like auto or bike rags, where the only way to get someone to buy a particular title rather than another is to have the best looking half-naked woman suggestively posing with the car or the bike. What do you think?

which magazines?

No but seriously, which magazines? Greatmodels actually sent an email about this...

I've only seen the ad in SAMI, but it's caused a bit of a stir in the modeling world. Kind of a dumb way to advertize paint masks IMHO, but the young lady does have pretty nice buns .

Regards, Rick

QUOTE: Originally posted by djmodels1999 I know what you mean Eric, but it still bothers me to see breasts and bottoms, as cute as they may be, in a scale modeling mag. What message are we giving young modelers? or female modelers for that matter...? Eduard's 'Tight Fit' series of ads are very poor in taste.

I can see how some people may find Eduard's advertising in poor taste. However, modeling a B-17, B-24, or B-29, representing (among other things) planes that bombed and killed civilians can also be seen as being in bad taste.

Sex sells, but violence (and military hardware) sell better.

Personally, I think Eduard's advertising is within the bounds of good taste. The point is that their masks fit as tightly as the models' clothes.

I would much rather explain to my (soon to be born) son about the birds and the bees than the bullets and bombs.

Having said that, I like modeling military vehicles, so I guess my kid will have to learn about that too.

Regards,

Not to mention bombed and killed civilians with a scantily clad or even topless girl as nose art!

I've seen the Eduard ads, and so far they've been relatively tame compared to some ads I've seen.

If they advertise their "skin thight"mask with women in bikini's, how are they going to advertise for their Big Ed line.......

QUOTE: Originally posted by Tankmaster7 QUOTE: Originally posted by djmodels1999 Don't know if you have noticed where you are, but Eduard have lately been advertising their wares in magazines with full-colour full-pages ads depicting scantily dressed women. Not that I'm not interested in the female forms , but was that absolutely necessary? I now can't even read my mags (well, some of them) without checking in my back to see if the Mrs is not looking... I think Eduard should not go that way. Soon enough, we'll have covers of our favourite scale modeling mags looking like auto or bike rags, where the only way to get someone to buy a particular title rather than another is to have the best looking half-naked woman suggestively posing with the car or the bike. What do you think? which magazines? No but seriously, which magazines? Greatmodels actually sent an email about this...

Really it reminds me a bit of RC modeling mags from the 80s. Every magazine had on the cover a bikini clad girl holding an RC plane or posed behind a larger RC truck or something.

As for the Eduard ads, they are pretty conservative considering some ad campaigns I've seen.

On North American television we are bombarded by endless ads for feminine hygene products and a certain shampoo (which will remain nameless) that has spent the past five years at least using women faking orgasms in the shower to sell it; now THAT is poor taste!

Eduard could do much better in advertizing their product, but they still have a long way to go before they are trully plumbing the depths of poor taste.

i'd just let the market dynamics take its course. if the ad pulls in more revenue for Eduard, more power to them. otherwise they'll eventually pull the ad. at the meantime, a little bit of variety in scale model advertising doesnt hurt. just my 2 cents.

Well . . . if their is anything to do with sex in these mags . . . I would like to know where you are finding these

QUOTE: Originally posted by Tankmaster7 QUOTE: Originally posted by djmodels1999 Don't know if you have noticed where you are, but Eduard have lately been advertising their wares in magazines with full-colour full-pages ads depicting scantily dressed women. Not that I'm not interested in the female forms , but was that absolutely necessary? I now can't even read my mags (well, some of them) without checking in my back to see if the Mrs is not looking... I think Eduard should not go that way. Soon enough, we'll have covers of our favourite scale modeling mags looking like auto or bike rags, where the only way to get someone to buy a particular title rather than another is to have the best looking half-naked woman suggestively posing with the car or the bike. What do you think? which magazines? No but seriously, which magazines? Greatmodels actually sent an email about this...

yeah greatmodel asked us for some input and they published my answer because ray thought is was a riot

I haven't seen the ads, nor will I go look for them, or hide them if I do see them.
Relax a little folks, it's not that big a deal.

Don

This is quite interesting...The majority of the comments here seems to indicate that most of us either do not really care or actually find this type of advertising welcome... There's another interesting thread going on right now, a poll asking whether we are male or female modelers, and as one would have expected, the vast majority of us are male, though thinking it's a pity that more women do not get involved. I think likewise because I know from experience that women actually build better models than most of us.. I do not know if it's the attention to details, more patience or what, but they often are real good in this hobby.

So, do you think having ads like the ones Eduard is putting in mags will make more women want to give it a go? Sorry, but those 'Tight Fit' ads stink of the 'chauvinistic pig hobby' syndrome...

So I do think it is a big deal. It's about respect.

Ordinarrly I wouldn't let something like that bother me because I've seen worse and it could be worse but I have an over jealous wife that catches everything (EVERYTHING!!)and its just another thing I would have to explain.
But, In the grand scheme of things and life, its probably too small of a thing to really worry about.
I guess I would rather have to worry about that than a hurricane blowing my house apart.
There's my 2 cents.

Well, what do swimsuits have to do with sports (I mean bikinis et al.-not the ones worn by swimming athletes). Yet Sports Illustrated makes mega bucks on the concept-i personally don't read SI-who cares about a game that happened 2 or 3 weeks ago-nor do I purchase their swimsuit issue as I find it cruel and unusual punishment. But I guess-sex DOES sell for the most part. It's pretty much lost on old pharts like me, though.

QUOTE: Originally posted by djmodels1999 So, do you think having ads like the ones Eduard is putting in mags will make more women want to give it a go? Sorry, but those 'Tight Fit' ads stink of the 'chauvinistic pig hobby' syndrome... So I do think it is a big deal. It's about respect.

I'll ask you directly, in a friendly manner: do you think an ad with a model in tight clothing is more offensive to women than all the ads with military hardware and figures showing wounds?

I personally had a lot more explaining to do to my wife, when we first started dating, about why I model military planes, than anything having to do with scantilly clad females.

She was afraid I was some sort of a war monger until she got to know me better.

I think there are much bigger issues than one set of advertisements from Eduard.

For instance, my wife is enthralled by anything having to do with space exploration. When we go to the Air and Space Museum, she loves the space stuff but gets bored with the WWI stuff ( I like it all!). She would be more likely to model a Mercury or Apollo capsule than a plane of any kind.

But when was the last time a real space model was featured in a modeling mag? I remeber a few covers of FSM, but the majority of articles are warplanes and tanks. And who can blame FSM? That's what modelers want to see.

My point is that the Eduard ads are a symptom of the state of the hobby, not the cause.

We have some women modelers who post here. I wonder what they think?

Regards,

Well, Drew-perhaps a scantilly clad astronaut would help! ;-)

OK, Drew.

Drew, what has this image to do with scale modeling?



It's designed for men who will look at the cleavage, look at the main text, have a giggle while using the reptilian part of their brain to make a connection between the two. I'll admit it, It's smart advertising; they know who their customer base is. Just a shame it's so tacky and so degrading to women. Maybe I'm just too concerned. Indeed, maybe some ladies here will tell me, and us, what they think..?

Now to answer your question, war, wounds, blood and gore is not something you find in advertisment very often, is it? I personally am not involved in scale modeling for the lure of the uniform, nor for promoting or glorifying any army or political movement. I build scale models because it's fun and brings me closer, through research mostly, to understanding and own a piece of History. Other may reach the same goal by collecting stamps, taking pictures, reading,..

Eduard's ad is not a reflection of the state of the hobby. The hobby has never been any better. Their business is obviously thriving, and they may well be the most active, pro-active, responsive company involved in the hobby today. Eduard's ad is a joke, a kind of a gamble. I do not see, and I hope I won't ever, see Airfix, Heller, Tamiya, Trumpeter,... using bikini-clad women to sell their products in magazines (or elsewhere).

Now I wonder what they will come up with to advertise their PE sets which I've never been able to fit properly into the kits they were designed for..!? Grubby, hairy men with loose and stained underwear???