French Lingerie for 4 year olds and Tweens

A marketing campaign for a new line of French lingerie for four- to 12-year-olds is raising new concerns about how young girls are portrayed, along with questions about the role modern mothers play in sexualizing their daughters.

The Internet campaign for the company Jours Après Lunes features girls in lace-trimmed bras and panties, some wearing pearls and sporting Brigitte Bardot-inspired hairdos. One girl is reclining in a lounge chair and another strikes a coquettish pose in front of a mirror. Ads for a line of lingerie for tweens show older girls hugging teddy bears while dressed in skimpy underwear.

Although the ads have attracted little attention in France, the fashion world outside Europe was quick to condemn the campaign as exploitive and “creepy.” And a spokesperson for the prominent French feminist group Ni Putes Ni Soumisessaid it was time for mothers to own up to their responsibility in a trend toward portraying very young girls as sex objects.

“I don’t think a five-year-old is going to ask for this stuff, so it’s the parents who will ask for it,” said Gabrielle Apfelbaum. “It’s important for the parents to understand what their role is and what their child’s role is and that sharing stuff with your children does not mean sharing your lingerie or your sexual abilities.”

The campaign appeared just two weeks after French Vogue sparked international outrage with a provocative photo of 10-year-old Thylane Loubry Blondeau on its cover. Although the two campaigns come from France, Ms. Apfelbaum said they are part of an “international problem” that is “changing the image of young girls.”

“In the U.S. there is a big thing about red-carpeting the children of stars,” she said, adding that it is now common for celebrities to dress their young children as adults and bring them to public functions.

Fashion writer Marilisa Racco, author of Le Snob Lingerie, said advertisers are increasingly use children “to front something that is targeted at adults.”

This week, clothing retailer American Eagle raised eyebrows after marketing a push-up bra for young teenage girls. Last month, 13-year-old Elle Fanning was named the new face of the Marc Jacobs fashion line, and in May, 14-year-old Haille Steinfeld became the face of Miu Miu, a fashion house known for its sensual and provocative clothing.

Ms. Racco said that by putting the young girls in adult-like poses, the Jours Après Lunes campaign crosses “that fine line between art and sexual exploitation.”

Jours Après Lunes creator Sophie Morin defended her company and described it as a “family brand.” She said she was trying to create a “chic” new line of underwear for girls, and did not intend to sexualize them.

“There is no vulgar connotation,” she told the Lingerie Trade website. “The materials are totally opaque, there is no transparency, no lace. … There is no bra in my collection.”

“The children are not wearing heels, nor nail polish, nor lipstick,” Ms. Morin added. “Their hairstyles are exaggerated, just as are games and the child’s universe. These models are professional models and not Lolitas who have stolen women’s clothing.

The French website Gala defended the marketing campaign, suggesting that any criticism was the product of North American prudishness. But readers of the French Elle magazine website disagreed. Dozens of posts expressed outrage and demanded that advertisers stop exploiting children.

“I don’t understand how these photos could have been published,” one writer said. “This is what happens when, in the name of defending freedom of expression, we permit ourselves to stage pedophilic fantasies.”

Video talking about it: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/fashio...5/?from=2134540

:yuckky: :shock:

WTF!!

Um "although the ads have attracted little attention in France" <--- Hello France, someone needs to pay more attention and spend a tad more time being outraged. Mkay? Thanks

OMG?!@# that is tasteless on SO many levels :yuckky: :yuckky: :yuckky: :yuckky: :yuckky: :yuckky: , seriously thats a ped's dream right there, this person is on crack if they dont think this is wrong

what in the bloddy blue hell is wrong with those peopel?!?!?!?! who in their right mind would EVER think that sh!t is ok?? this is f'n sick and wrong on so many levels.

as a father to a 6 year old i can tell you i would never let her wer things like that. What parent would?!?!?! good god!

Ok guys I don't want to have a fight with any of you and I totally agree it's a sick campaign! This is totally wrong.

As this

Is also totally wrong.

This lingerie campaign for little girl in France is to me as much a pedophile dream than the 5 years old beauty pageants in USA.

I really understand that you are disgusted/shocked by this but this is just a sick buzz for the media to talk about this lingerie brand. We have harsh laws to protect children in France and this campaign is not going to last long. They did their big scandal with the pictures & medias are playing their sick game. Now we are talking about it all over the world & they are promoting their products for free!

I don't want to give lessons to anyone but no country on this bloody planet is better than another and

Um "although the ads have attracted little attention in France" <--- Hello France, someone needs to pay more attention and spend a tad more time being outraged. Mkay? Thanks

this comment is just contemptuous. It's a big attention in France right now and we are outraged as much as Americans could be about the little girls pageants? I am not living is the US for now so I don't know how Americans react to 5 years old little girls in bikinis wearing enough make up to pimp a stolen car? But I live in France and i know this campaign a big big scandal.

I know this is not a France/Usa debat but I just want to clear things about my county. The French fashion world and France are 2 different things. Weird people are making the fashion & real good people (and a bunch of idiots!) are making France.

And if they don't vote for Sarkozy again in April 2012 I would say the idiots are gone!

and that disturbbs me too.

little girls should be just that, little girls. they should not be dresswed up and have make up and wear skimpy outfits of any nature.

i swear ID NEVER put my daughter in a beauty pag. at that age, if she was older, high school etc MAYBE, but i know that cant be good on a girls self worth

the point is though, the US has jsut as many weirdos as anyplace in the world. I didn;t mean to single out one country, cause we also have way too many sickos here.

and i just hate all kid pageant like these as i find them disturbing to parade kids around like that.

i hate Pedophile and CZhild molesters of any nation. They are to me the most revolting of any sex criminals as they rob kids of their innocence. And making clothing for kids like this is just wrong, i don;t care what country we are talking about

This should be focused on the advertisement not the country. But unfortunately it's always one country pointing the other country to tell how despicable it is. When they should swipe in front of their door before to swipe our door. U know that I have absolutely now animosity against America & Americans but your medias when it comes to foreign countries is made with 99% of sensational craps! If I was Americans I would think French are pedophiles always on strike burning cars in riots and drinking wine for breakfast. And women are thin well dressed sluts not shaving their under arms and legs and they want to dress their little girl like mini sluts. Oh And French don't shower bien sûr! Of course it's a cliché but how many Americans are believing those clichés? I would say too much.

Stereotypes are believed world wide; about France, the United States, the UK, China, Russia etc. It's not one country that's being singled out when it comes to cliches.

As for Beauty Pageants being compared to a company that is using children to market lingerie for children, I find very little that can be compared between the two. Beauty Pageants are not being used to 'sell' a product not to mention Pageants are done world wide, or we wouldn't have Miss Universe. And if you look at those little pageant girls when they aren't doing the glitz and the glam they are 'normal' I use that term loosely children, having fun and doing their thing. The beach wear, (swimsuit) is only brought into the lower age bracket because it IS part of the older age bracket to become an actual quote on quote beauty queen and go on to compete competitively.

The makeup, and the flippers, and the over done hair is not as prevalent in the natural pageants either, it's only when you start getting into the glitz market that they become so over the top. The whole idea behind the pageant scene is to create a living breathing doll, which is why in their glamor shots that's exactly what they look like. It's not to create or promote sexualization in a child.

Using children to market lingerie is not only exceptionally wrong, it's rather frightening as it's not the only marketing trend where children are being over sensationalized and sexualized in the fashion community. Now I'm not trying to point any fingers kiki, but it was Paris Vogue, (the beauty edition I believe) that also marketed a child on the cover with a small editorial inside. Obviously the article did point out the French Elle viewers were expressing outrage at the campaign, so I wouldn't say that the entire country is lewd or licentious or accepting of it, however the designer's comment, "that the brand was a family orientated brand" is a little ridiculous.

It comes across, (at least in my opinion) as a brand geared towards adults who for absolutely no reason feel like they should and can sexualize their children and make them feel 'grown up'. Throw a little bit of cheap makeup their way, let them play with some old hair products and you have a child who's like a pig in mud, able to play dress up like barbie and still be a kid.

erm Kiki, I dont have such opinions about the French, and I would hope most americans dont, its a misconception on both sides of the fence i think. Its merely a thread pointing out the Ad, not to Bash ones country, All countries no matter WHO they are have issues like this, the Media scoops it up, vomits it out, and the Masses thrive on it, and the masses i mean the world, not just one country or another.

To answer to Pheno I am totally agree with you about how wrong it is to sell sexy lingerie for children (or make-up). We all know when a woman is buying lingerie is most of the time to seduce. Seduce herself or a sexual partner. Lingerie for little girls is a complete distorted message & this commercial is just a stupid provocation made by hypocrites. They knew these pictures will never be accept by the general public but they give it a shot. I mean why been lost in so many brands for children when they can give one good strike?

I think the Vogue editorial with the little girls is different. At first they just wanted to do a shoot with girls dressing like mom, wearing make-up and high heels. They wanted to talk about how young is too young to wear make-up and such for kids? But it came out all wrong. The kids were over sexualized and I don't even know why Vogue published the pictures? (bad publicity is still publicity for them I guess?) <_<

I seriously think the whole world is fucked up and the line between what is correct or not was been crossed a long long time ago by almost every countries. Fashion industry is always going to push the limits because unfortunately it's all about money and not the children. And that's so wrong.

& to quote my 6 years old niece words of wisdom talking about this kid lingerie

I am not going to wear that panty! It's ugly and i am sure I am going to sweat in that and... I don't like when it goes in my buttock like that!

and she shown me what the "like that" was at the same time she was saying it epic cuteness

And about the Beauty Pageants to me is also just all wrong. On different levels and for other reasons but it's really disturbing for me to see those little girls wearing bikinis and waxed face and fake smile. I don't like it and it freaks me out.

To LMS: I am sure u don't think that way about French. I will kill u if u do and i'll eat you!

i can totally agree with all that Kiki, and i totally agree with pheno and pretty.

i think though ALL of us have seen way too many other memebrs jsut attack countries and lump everyone from that country as being the same. By now i think we all know each other well enough on here to know that none of us are the types of people to generalize a whole country. We are proud where we come from but also are not blind to the bad side of our countries as well. Hey, we got pelnty of closed minded you-know-whats on here as it is, let's not turn one each other.

hugs and kisses for all

Ok guys I don't want to have a fight with any of you and I totally agree it's a sick campaign! This is totally wrong.

As this

Is also totally wrong.

This lingerie campaign for little girl in France is to me as much a pedophile dream than the 5 years old beauty pageants in USA.

I really understand that you are disgusted/shocked by this but this is just a sick buzz for the media to talk about this lingerie brand. We have harsh laws to protect children in France and this campaign is not going to last long. They did their big scandal with the pictures & medias are playing their sick game. Now we are talking about it all over the world & they are promoting their disgusting products for free!

I don't want to give lessons to anyone but no country on this bloody planet is better than another and

Um "although the ads have attracted little attention in France" <--- Hello France, someone needs to pay more attention and spend a tad more time being outraged. Mkay? Thanks

this comment is just contemptuous. It's a big attention in France right now and we are outraged as much as Americans could be about the little girls pageants? I am not living is the US for now so I don't know how Americans react to 5 years old little girls in bikinis wearing enough make up to pimp a stolen car? But I live in France and i know this campaign a big big scandal & is also breaking few laws about children protection.

I know this is not a France/Usa debat but I just want to clear things about my county. The French fashion world and France are 2 different things. Weird people are making the fashion & real good people (and a bunch of idiots!) are making France.

And if they don't vote for Sarkozy again in April 2012 I would say the idiots are gone!

Amen to this. I´m already fed up with this whole nonsense and yes, I do find the children pageants incredibly disgusting and wrong on so many levels. There is no difference for me between these two issues - it´s just making me sick. It´s not normal.

People should stop pointing fingers on the others to cover their own mess.

Just like this issue with Gisele´s son. Sick people.

It's being called Babygate.

Photos popped up yesterday of Gisele Bundchen playing on a beach in Costa Rica on Monday with her baby son, Benjamin. Dad Tom Brady was back home practicing with the New England Patriots, prepping for the rapidly-approaching NFL season.

The supermodel, who sported a bikini, frolicked in the surf with 20-month-old Benjamin, who was naked.

The uproar came after the bawdy guys at Barstoolsports.com posted some of the photos and zoomed in on little Ben's private parts and threw in some lewd commentary, fueling outrage on Twitter, reports the Boston Herald, adding that the site also received a cease-and-desist letter from a Brazilian photo agency demanding the pics be taken down.

Site creator David Portnoy told New England Cable News this morning, "We saw the Brady's kid picture and basically I saw it and thought it was a funny joke," Portnoy. "I mean really that's the nuts and bolts of it. For me it wasn't so much about the kid, it's an ongoing theme with us is that Brady is the best, Brady is God and really for us that blog was just another way to say it."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/en...-cause-uproar/1

I've seen the pictures of Gisele little boy and i found them cute. I know they are stolen pictures but if u think about the context: A mom at the beach with family it's just normal. Having papz taking pictures of them is the not normal thing. And focusing on the little boy naked and make it a joke is stupid.

I have pictures of me or my sister or brother naked at the beach just like the ones with Gisele boy. Not taken by paparazzi of course! But by my mom or my dad. And i look at them with tenderness because it was a time of innocence and today is a perverted time. A simple innocent thing as a kid on a beach is turning into something nasty. Pedophiles have enough awful things on the net to have an interest in Gisele baby boy or girls on tasteless lingerie commercial.

i can totally agree with all that Kiki, and i totally agree with pheno and pretty.

i think though ALL of us have seen way too many other memebrs jsut attack countries and lump everyone from that country as being the same. By now i think we all know each other well enough on here to know that none of us are the types of people to generalize a whole country. We are proud where we come from but also are not blind to the bad side of our countries as well. Hey, we got pelnty of closed minded you-know-whats on here as it is, let's not turn one each other.

hugs and kisses for all

My American Dalai Lama I you!

And I think we have a really polite conversation so far?

thanks Kiki. Kissssssssssssssssss for my fave french vixen.

yes we are.

just seen in the apst with other people, that one wrong or msitaken word can turn it all ugly really fast and i'd hate to have that happen here.

I've seen the pictures of Gisele little boy and i found them cute. I know they are stolen pictures but if u think about the context: A mom at the beach with family it's just normal. Having papz taking pictures of them is the not normal thing. And focusing on the little boy naked and make it a joke is stupid.

I have pictures of me or my sister or brother naked at the beach just like the ones with Gisele boy. Not taken by paparazzi of course! But by my mom or my dad. And i look at them with tenderness because it was a time of innocence and today is a perverted time. A simple innocent thing as a kid on a beach is turning into something nasty. Pedophiles have enough awful things on the net to have an interest in Gisele baby boy or girls on tasteless lingerie commercial.

I have such pictures too and I find them, just as you said, very tender and kind but other people sneakin on little boys or girls, making fun of it (or even worse things) it´s just pure sickness.

Some people should be sent to mines so they could not have time to spread idiotism in ANY country :persuazn:

And I find it great to share opinions here - so we get to know each other nationality more in the correct, polite way. Yay for that!

I think the Vogue editorial with the little girls is different. At first they just wanted to do a shoot with girls dressing like mom, wearing make-up and high heels. They wanted to talk about how young is too young to wear make-up and such for kids? But it came out all wrong. The kids were over sexualized and I don't even know why Vogue published the pictures? (bad publicity is still publicity for them I guess?) <_<

That photoshoot was the last nail to Carine Roitfeld's coffin (as the editor in chief for Vogue Paris). I really don't understand people who kept defending those photos saying it's "little girls dressing up". Really? 10-year-olds can make perfect make up and hair and strike particular poses? Uhmm it didn't look like an innocent game of girls being all clumsy when trying on mum's shoes and wearing her long dresses etc.

Anyway, I have a serious question for Americans here about kids' pageant. Aren't these things regularly protested nowadays? I mean, I guess kids beauty pageants bring lots of money each year so it would be difficult to ban them but