Models In This Ad ...

"Models used in this ad do not reflect any racial preference" said the fine print.

They put beautiful women in advertisements to get mens' attention. I'm normal - this works on me.

The Friday section of The Wall Street Journal called Weekend Journal contains a lot of these ads - usually for high priced condos. My attention was drawn to one of these, and for some reason I read the whole ad. There at the bottom at the end of the small print was the statement "Models used in this ad do not reflect any racial preference".

How bizarre I thought. In a country that is 70% white, you have to put a disclaimer in an ad that features a white model.

So I looked at the other ads. None of them had this disclaimer, save one. Again, this featured a very good looking, young, white model. The unifying feature in both ads was that the woman was alone, and her picture dominated about a quarter of the broadsheet page.

It gets even more bizarre: this complex has the disclaimer on their website even thought they don't show models there, while this website does not have the disclaimer although it does flash a picture of the same model as the print ad.

So ... apparently there is now a threshold for advertising to the baser instincts of men above which you have to legally protect yourself because your choice of eye candy is potentially deleterious to your bottom line.

Tip: If you are into website design, or just design in general, the sites for these high priced condos often have cool websites with interesting features.

Comments

[Mike]

I understand there are some pretty strict rules about real estate ads - they have to be very careful not to imply any discrimination on the basis of race. I'd guessing this might be what's motivated this.

[Half Sigma]

"the sites for these high priced condos often have cool websites "

I think a lot of those condo ads are overdesigned. You can't find the information you REALLY want beause of all the annoying flash and hard to figure out navigation.

[Dave Tufte]

REPLY TO MIKE:

I've been checking on this. It is only the ads with suggestively dressed white women that contain this blurb. What' up with that?

REPLY TO HALF SIGMA:

Don't tell me you can actually shop in that price range ...

I agree that you can't find information on them, but I always assumed this was because they wanted to draw you in for a more solid contact. They are overdesigned, but the pieces they contain are often pretty cool.