Busty Recruitment Advertisements Criticised
February 4th, 2008
Last summer the Australian Department of Defence discarded recruitment advertisements depicting a voluptuous uniformed brunette. The woman is shown stirring a pot as a cook, wielding a large spanner as an engineer, changing the tire of a military vehicle, singing with the army band, and walking across a helicopter tarmac with a male soldier. Images of the cartoon heroine bursting out of her white medical gear stirred up the most controversy.
“WE WANT YOU” is the message scrawled across the posters and recruitment brochures.
Australian newspapers reported that many women in the military did not believe the “you” as depicted even existed. Many skeptics compared the busty cadet to video game sensation Laura Croft. Some women believed the posters sent inappropriate signals and they wouldn’t necessarily want the type of women attracted by the posters.
Oh really?
We know many voluptuous women able to change tires, fix machinery, and still cook a good meal. Since nothing sexual is depicted in the pictures, what are women angry about? That the cartoon brunette is busty and athletic? Have a good look at the photos and tell us what you think!
We’re bombarded every day with images of impossibly thin models and actresses - and none of them are discarded by magazines, ads or whatever. What’s the big diff?
… and she is NOT “spilling out of her clothes!” She looks normal to me.
Maggie is right. Tight clothing “DOES” make big girls look voluptuous. There is no way around it. The uniforms worn by may service units are designed to be tight (I served in the US airforce) to prevent snags and keep costs down. Yes I do think that some of these pictures exaggerate curves and plump up her lips to make her more appealing to men….but so what. All we still have is a pretty girl working hard for her country.
Lets turn the tables. Watch a recruiting commercial for ANY armed forces and have a good look at the men. What kind of men do they show doing drills, putting on their uniforms, and working on machinery? See any beer guts and pimples? I didn’t think so. Should fat men complain that the images of a male soldier is not typical of the average man?
I am from Brisbane but I live in the USA now. I remember when this happened.
“Some women believed the posters sent inappropriate signals and they wouldn’t necessarily want the type of women attracted by the posters.”
That can only mean one thing. Big boobs are not allowed in Australian armed forces. And why not? I do see this type of stereotyping happening all over the world so we shouldn’t just pick on the aussies. If I have daughters some day Ill be proud to have them serve our country and fight for freedom no matter what size their chest is!
Well she does look like laura croft but even then, I don’t see anything wrong with that. Both laura croft and this cartoon military girl are working hard to achieve great things. Had the cartoon girl started taking her clothing off or teasing the men, then the message would be wrong for people considering the military. The ad campaign gets a thumbs up from me!
Jenny Hiykel
I LOVE IT!
I think it is good to see a large breasted woman in the military. Not to be mean, but the image of a butch, skinny, flat, chain-smoking, tattooed biker chic, doesn’t make me want to sign up!
Why does being feminine get attacked so much these days? Heaven forbid we look pretty and work hard at the same time!
Shannon
Comic-book style art has always exaggerated feminine as well as masculine characteristics. Should men with exaggerated shoulders and bicepts also be banned from comic-book style ads for the military?
She looks pretty regular to me. I’ve seen far racier in Army publications, look up Connie Rod. I think the bigger controversy is that she looks very much like Lara Croft, she even has Lara’s glasses. She’s very “borrowed” indeed.
Agreed. It is the Lara Croft comparisons that got this advertisement campaign in trouble. The girl is over the top, but that is the point. Men and women need to be over the top to with-stand the rigors of military life.
Gets a thumbs up from me! I have seen far worse and I really don’t believe this to be offensive to women without big boobs.
Is there really nothing else people have time to worry about? Why would a woman be angry over a cartoon? Since when did men become so stupid as to confuse fiction with reality? Besides, even if some men do, why waste time with a slug like that anyway? Women angry with a cartoon must have inferiority complexes about breasts.
You’re absolutely right. Many people have personal problems but are so quick to see fault in others. As for these photos, they’re not provocative at all. I don’t even consider her breasts to be large. More like medium. I guess some people see anything more than absolutely flat to be “too large”. They certainly don’t command attention at the expense of the message. There isn’t even cleavage showing. Some people just have nothing better to do with their time than to look for things to complain about, like when Ned Flanders on the Simpsons recorded everything on television to look for swear words and send complaints to the FCC. As the saying goes, “The empty can rattles most.”
As far as advertising goes - this is pretty tame. She is reasonably covered and happens to have an hour-glass figure…big deal. It always amazes me how natural (if she was real) beauty is always criticized throughout the world. If you don’t have big boobs, why go after girls that do? I for one enjoy looking at boobs and would rather they be big. Doesn’t make me a lezi. We will send the wrong message to young girls if we tell them that being fat and flat is the “only” way to live.
Megan plant, I agree with you. I think instead that natural beauty is an indicator of health and good upbringing. In the animal kingdom, it’s the ones with the most beautiful coats or longest feathers or biggest antlers that have enough nutrition to grow them, and I think with humans it’s no different. What’s so wrong with a shapely hourglass figure with big breasts? I read in an article once that this body type has more hormones that make her more likely to get pregnant or something. As though men prefer this body type because this kind of woman would be healthy enough to bear offspring.
I think that those who dislike human beauty are jealous because they don’t have it. They are jealous of all of the attention the other person has that they don’t get. Instead of getting jealous, we should instead focus on improving our own lives through exercising and eating right and getting enough rest. But also in staying happy and joyful and clearing all hard feelings and negative emotions. More importantly, we should do all of these things at a very young age so we can grow and mature the right way because once that period of growth has passed, it will be harder, if not impossible, to change certain things.
I wanted to add that by improving our lives through exercise and eating right and taking care of ourselves, we’ll also improve our physical bodies. We’ll lose weight, get better skin and muscle tone, and many other benefits. We’ll look better over all. One other thing is that human beings are supposed to be diverse. We’re not supposed to all look the same. But what many people and society in general mistakenly believe is that one body type is more “natural” or “normal” than any of the others. That’s wrong. So just because you don’t look like that model doesn’t mean you have to feel inferior to her, destroy yourself to meet that standard, or fear others will do so.
no doubt about it! cartoon or not, she is pretty and has big boobs. we think the world would be boring if everyone looked the same!
No offence to big chested ladies… but as a woman with small breasts, I can understand this feeling of inadequacy.
It is extreme though that people criticize this just because she’s busty (and a cartoon? pffft!). I agree that she’s pretty covered, plus her breasts don’t really look huge… so it’s not a big deal about THIS ad.
But for us, small chested women, seeing big breasts glorified everywhere can be a bit hard. Yes, we get jealous. Yes, we would like the attention. Yes, we also would like to be glorified as a sexy ideal! Because this is what big breasts are taken for.
People always talk about the advantages of small breasts, or how fashion models mostly have small breasts, that magazines such as Vogue emphasize this look… but WHO cares about Vogue? Gay men? If you take a look at Maxim or Playboy, you’ll quickly realize that YOU are the ideal, that a small chest is never considered sexy, only “fashionable”, and only sometimes. And who cares about being fashionable? Ok, some do, but I for instance, don’t. We’re sexual beings, we want to be SEXY, not fashionable.
Nobody is hating on big breasted women because we think you’re unhealthy. Quite the opposite, what some of us would like is that all breasts were glorified and thought of as norma, healthy and sexy as big ones are. That plastic surgeons wouldn’t use terms such as “deformity” when referring to small breasts, like it was some sort of malady. Well, it’s NORMAL, just like big breasts are. We would like that big breasts weren’t such a huge deal in our society (just like a lot of you probably would like). That we weren’t made to feel inferior just because we have a different genetic make up.
I agree that a healthy lifestyle is the way to go. But please don’t be so defensive if we get jealous! You should be flattered, this means we would like to look like you! Or maybe not look like ou, but that big and small breasts were equally appreciated in society. Maybe to you it isn’t so painful, but for us it can be, because breasts are so tied to our sense of femininity. I, for one, would LOVE to have a full bosom! It would match my wide hips. I feel so disproportioned with my round, wide hips and flat chest!
Sorry for the rant and long post, but I was just giving the other perspective.
Lorraine says:
“People always talk about the advantages of small breasts, or how fashion models mostly have small breasts, that magazines such as Vogue emphasize this look… but WHO cares about Vogue? Gay men? If you take a look at Maxim or Playboy, you’ll quickly realize that YOU are the ideal, that a small chest is never considered sexy, only “fashionable”, and only sometimes. And who cares about being fashionable? Ok, some do, but I for instance, don’t. We’re sexual beings, we want to be SEXY, not fashionable.”
So very accurate of how I feel as well. While I am large, it all boils down to being either a sex ideal or fashionable. And does either one really matter? Lorraine mentions a magazine like Vogue and I have never known anyone who reads Vogue. I might look at the ads and thumb through it at the grocery store but that is about it.
Lorraine says:
“I feel so dissproportioned with my round, wide hips and flat chest!”
I know men that would consider this to be their ideal sexual shape. :)
I enjoyed reading your post Lorraine!
Lorraine - “Sorry for the rant and long post, but I was just giving the other perspective.”
And I am glad you did. Your post ranks up there with some of the best posts we have received on Hiddenfeet.com
The girls and I who work on hiddenfeet are pleased you stopped by and spoke your mind.
I think the nurse picture cartoon is the only one that might cause trouble with most women. I like the x-ray one the best. On the whole I don’t think these cartoons are worth getting worked up over. I see male cartoons with men having muscles that are way over the top and neither side complains. Come to think of it, how many short comic book super heros are there? Should men of shorter height start complaining? I wish boobs were everywhere in the media and entertainment so that they would be so common place that I would blend in more.
I love you Sara!
Thank you ladies. It’s refreshing to run into a website like this. It’s just awful, you know, how this society finds problem with every aspect of breasts… they are ALWAYS either too small or too big. And just because big breasts are everywhere doesn’t mean you girls have it easy - quite the opposite sometimes I’d guess, with stereotypes and people not knowing what they talk about.
I think it’s great that there’s a site for big breasted women. Looks aside, breasts are a very important part of female anatomy, and they need proper care to be healthy. Especially concerning back problems, getting the right bra support, and obviously cancer.
Congrats girls, and keep it up! ;)
Well said, Lorraine! Katie, I agree with you. There are some anime shows that have some women with large breasts, but people complain about that. And these characters don’t flaunt it all that much (that I know of) except for wearing plunging necklines that reveal their cleavages. And maybe some exaggerated swinging motion sometimes. I believe society associates large breasts with sex and that if you want a “serious” media production, you’d cast small-breasted girls. However, if I were to produce a TV show, movie or computer game or some other media production, I would cast large-breasted women in important roles so that the audience can admire them for their personality and integrity and perhaps look at large breasted women in a different light. Large-breasted women also deserve to be role models.
My friend was trying to work for a Detroit news channel and she thinks that her boobs are preventing her from being taken seriously even though she has a masters degree in broadcast journalism AND business economics from Ohio State. She hasn’t had a reduction but has discussed the possibility with her family in the past. She is such a small girl that her DD chest becomes hard to hide on her little body. I think her boobs would look normal on almost anyone else….but on her they pop out of almost everything she wears.
I will get her to write a story for hiddenfeet next time I talk to her.
J - some of those anime characters DO moonlight on other programs which are more sexually explicit - which is why many people have a problem with the way they appear on some of the tamer programs.
If you’ve ever watched Days of Our Lives - it’s the same thing that Patch went through when he did the Oija board movie with that woman from the Whitesnake videos. Once you are typecast - it’s difficult to overcome.
I would like to say that I agree with a lot of what Lorraine wrote as well - and Stepanie - as a fellow journalist - I can relate to your friends problem being taken seriously in the work place. As a man, I have found my unusual good looks, striking sense of personal style, charm and positive attitude an anathema to being taken seriously in the workplace.
Just tell her to keep fighting the good fight - and we’re pulling for her!
I love the site Sara - keep up the great work!
Ian