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With the holidays quickly approaching, I wanted to be sure to catch a glimpse of some holiday themed advertising campaigns. Sweden is well known for their H&M brand internationally, and I checked out their holiday campaign online at <www.hm.se>. The same photos can be seen when viewing the site from America, and the fashion photography to me, was striking. The photos are very androgynous and question gender very outwardly. Looking at the first photo at the top of the children, the boy and the girl look very alike with similar hair and facial expression, and wear the same pieces of clothing. The pair below them, called 'sisters' seem to question the idea of gender as well when considering their hair styles, bone structures, and pose. The lowest photo, in my opinion, is very bold for an international clothing company. Although stated as 'friends', the two figures look to be lovers, with the figure on the left being very soft, pictured in women's clothing, but otherwise bears no distinction of gender. The clothes in all the pictures seem to question the aspect of gender. Are the clothes what determine the gender? Or in the top picture's case, are the clothes what absolutely do not determine the gender? Although H&M can be liable for going against gender neutrality just by being a clothing company that designs clothes strictly for certain genders and ages, the ads suggest otherwise. Perhaps H&M is suggesting a more creative way to use their clothing, showing ways that it can be gender neutral, and ways that it can work in every relationship (whether it is true to the description or not). Whatever the case may be, this is an interesting image to place in store windows and company websites, sure to attract the attention of many. By being a Swedish company that most likely wishes to uphold Swedish ideals of gender neutrality and equality, they are forced to be creative when marketing to an international audience, and the subtlety of the campaign is well thought out.
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