House Of Dereon Girls' Collection: Cringe-Worthy Advertising Campaign For A Cringe-Worthy Brand

Speaking as someone who has been reading fashion magazines since the age of 7, I can safely say that I've come across more than my share of offensive adverts over the years. As a result, my tolerance for tacky, tasteless and sexist ads is therefore fairly high (sad as this may be). After all, sexual objectification of women is nothing new in advertising and no where is this more true than in fashion and beauty industry advertising. Yet, despite my finely honed cynicism, I recently came across an advertisement that is so disturbing, so cringe-worthy, that I couldn't help but be deeply offended by it.

The advert in question is for The House of Dereon Girls' Collection, a line of children's wear recently launched by the brand fronted by Beyonce and "designed" by her mother Tina Knowles. (Source) It depicts a group of four little girls aged between 5 and 6 years old (at most) dressed in a variety of outfits ranging from leopard-print fedoras, hot pink feather boas and high-heeled shoes. The little girls are heavily made up, their hair is teased and styled and they are photographed in various adult poses complete with hands on hips and insolent little pouts. In other words, the little girls were intentionally made up to look like little tarts for the purpose of promoting children's clothing. How perverse is that? While House of Dereon is, at its core, a cynical exercise motivated by little more than celebrity greed, the brand's line of children's wear and the advertising campaign designed to promote it goes beyond mere greed. In this instance, the brand crosses into corporate irresponsibility and the brand's management as well as the celebrity who cynically fronts it should be held accountable.

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

Comments

[Brittany]

Wow i really love all her outfits they ar ethe best. shes diffrent with style she knows the combinations very good. i really love all your outfits girl keep it up. and those are some very pretty little girl modles there. but anyway keep doing what makes you happy and nice clothing too girl. lol

[ashinti]

wowo i really love all your outfita and stuff they are very cute and diffrnet my daughter loves wearing them all the time keep it up girl with all the cute outfits and more.

[ben]

altheya did you dress like a hooker when you were seven?

[wholesale apple bottoms]

for my own opinion, guys! it depend to the person who wear that clothes! maybe some of us didn't like that, but some us like that kind of clothes! it depend upon to our own taste. and style! by the way! i like the style of clothes! very fashionable..thanks for sharing!

-altheya-

[wholesale apple bottoms]

hmhm. such a good post! and very interesting ! i enjoyed reading and browsing your blogs. its true,,

-altheya-

[dereon]

I enjoyed reading your article. such an interesting post!! keep going,,

-sidney-

[Helene]

I respectfully disagree Kiki - it's not the same as playing dress up with our mother's clothing because our mothers didn't dress like sluts. What does it say about our society that we now allow our young daughters to idolize the likes of Britney Spears and Beyonce? Both of these performers dress provocatively, appear in highly sexualized music videos akin to soft porn and sing songs with highly suggestive lyrics. None of this is appropriate for little girls barely old enough to read. That House of Dereon seeks to directly cash in on this unfortunate (not to mention detrimental) trend says a lot about the people running the business.

Helene

[Kiki]

would it have made a difference if they were dressed in their mothers clothing with the same lipstick and make up? No, because someone would have thought that was cute. there are hallmark cards with little girls that have a face full of make up and high hills saying she wants to be just like her mother. I don't really see the big deal. Its just an add with the girls playing dress up, which you can see if you go in any store.

[Dahlia]

Straight off the set of Little Miss Sunshine...have these people learned nothing about objectifying little girls in these kinds of ads?! But at the same time it's not surprising from something the likes of Beyonce.