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Want To Sell Shoes? Use Boobs

Warrior has released their newest shoe, the Coxswain, and with it, they have released a brand new ad campaign featuring Ken Clausen in one video, and a large pair of breasts in another.

While this approach doesn’t quite reach the levels of absurdity that Warrior’s “Ninja Please” campaign delivered, it is still pretty ridiculous, and when you look at it in comparison to older, more classic commercials (like these Nike Lacrosse ads), there is a striking difference.

The vast majority of the commercial in question is actually about the product, what it offers, and it’s great to see so much focus on the shoe itself. But there are moments of breasts, which have absolutely nothing to do with the shoe, that I just can’t ignore.

Screen Shot 2013-03-12 at 11.17.22 AM

No, not for that reason. Well, maybe that reason plays a part… but it’s like someone saw the commercial when it was almost done and said, “I don’t know… I like it, but is there any way we can work a boob joke in there“, and then it was re-edited with two breast shots, and finished up for dissemination.

https://youtu.be/RhADntO-zXE

It’s not illegal to have breasts in a commercial. Hundreds, if not thousands, of companies do it every single year. But this commercial seems to lack any breastacular context whatsoever. Does using a crew term somehow open the doors to breast-centric advertising? And since lacrosse is a game played by men AND women, couldn’t we be a little more conservative in how hard we sell the game through sex and objectification?

It’s just a thought.

Personally, I found Ken Clausen’s portion of the campaign a lot more compelling:

https://youtu.be/BQ8kFEEKG14

My only problem with the Clausen commercial is that Warrior calls the Coxswain the “first athletically inspired boat shoe“. I’m pretty sure anyone who sails competitively would tell you that ALL real sailing shoes are athletically inspired, because sailing is a sport. But I digress.

Overall, Clausen’s was much better, but it has only a fraction of the views that the boobs video does on Youtube. Taking that into account, maybe Warrior really isn’t to blame here just because they put this stuff out there…

Perhaps WE are all to blame for watching it. Perhaps I am to blame for writing about it. Or maybe no one is to blame, because nothing bad has happened.

I’ve laid my $.02 on the line… so what do YOU think about Warrior’s Coxswain Commerical?