Mexx International is a fashion company offering a wide range of clothing for adults and children. Recently, the campaign for their youth store Mexx Kids has received criticism for its questionable depiction of young children. Print and poster ads feature young children posing provocatively and physically exposed. One ad in particular features four children – two boys and two girls – posing shirtless in front of a white backdrop wearing Mexx jeans. The children have serious and somewhat suggestive expressions that are typically seen in advertisements for brands featuring models at least 2-3 times their age. This particular ad was run in parts of Europe, but similar ones can be seen in Canada as well.
This ad is unethical in my opinion because it places children in a sexual context. Children can be a touchy issue when it comes to advertising and media, and Mexx definitely crossed the line in their campaign. Under no circumstance should children be objectified in the media. Like others that have criticized the ads have said, it borderlines on child pornography. I completely agree. There is no justifiable reason to show have these kids pose shirtless with suggestive expressions. It would be one thing if the kids were behaving as children and wearing the clothes to feature Mexx, but when someone intentionally puts children in an adult-like context – especially one that is sexual in nature – and puts that out in the public view to accomplish marketing goals, I find it to be absolutely unethical. It serves to further the trend of desensitization already occurring in modern society. Images of beauty in the media have already skewed our perceptions and expectations enough. Children are even more receptive and impressionable to these sorts of images, and it is unethical for a company to communicate such negative messages to youth.
I get that Mexx is trying to communicate a “mature” image for a kids’ clothing store, but did they really need to go this far? They could have had the kids doing something like playing the piano or painting on a canvas – fully clothed of course. Whatever the case, there are plenty of ways for Mexx to communicate its brand image that do not involve exploiting children inappropriately.
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