By now, no one is surprised by the actions of reality television star, Kim Kardashian-West. With such a massive following on social media, it seems like she could wipe her rear, post the paper on Instagram and we'd have an instant Instagram hit. After all, art is subjective, right? Were the images she used in her recent campaign to launch her newest line of perfume used in good taste, or was the advertising concept a fail supported by her massive... following?
Sales of the perfume will ultimately tell whether or not the photographs of nude female bodies (photographer currently unknown), some of which feature bodies painted with a type of grey body paint and glitter, attracted more consumers. Call me morbid, but the first thing that came to mind when I scrolled by one of the images in my Instagram feed were memories of my time spent in the medical field and dead bodies - perhaps about as far removed from thoughts of delightful fragrances as ever.
The images have been removed from Instagram, citing a violation of their policies.
With over 120 million Instagram followers, Kardashian-West seems to have the Instagram world wrapped around her highly manicured pinky finger. With such a following, it can become questionable whether or not her use of graphic imagery in advertising is effective or not. The images have since been removed from Instagram, citing a violation of their policies.
What are your thoughts on the images that were used to promote the launch of her fragrance line?
Kim who?
Vile. But then, that's her M.O.
WTF? Just.. why? In what world would this have been a good idea? Crazy.
Pathetic
lol...such interesting times to be alive...
and why this on fstoppers ?
my only guess is because pictures...but other than that, I can't fathom why this is an article. I literally only clicked it because I wanted to read these comments.
Because they are out of new ideas on how to remain relevant in today's day and age and have to resort to BS like this lol
“I hate good taste. It's the worst thing that can happen to a creative person.”
-Helmut Newton
to suggest a dead body looks better than a living one is kind of weird. lol
Geez - I look at these photos, and then at the comments, and then I scroll to the bottom of the page, and see all the half-naked women you all apparently photograph, and the hypocrisy just leaves me agape. So the bodies are painted in some grey paint. In fact, that they don't look like perfect naked bodies makes them miles more interesting than the soft-core porn you all traffic in.
I know you'll all trash me, but these photos at least stop me and ask me to ponder what it is about bodies that interest so. The removal of identifying characteristics like nipples turns them into pure form, ala' Weston and his pepper.
Look down at the bottom of the page - women with their clothes falling off and gaping vacantly into the camera. You call that art? It belongs in the pages of a men's magazine, and nothing more. These photos above will likely hang in a gallery, and rightfully so.
Ask yourself this question: had Steve McCurry or Platon taken these photos, would you have had the same reaction?
But these are not meant to be the interchangeable nudes that are on most photo sites. Most of those are "weil lit" overly processed conventional copies of copies of a picture someone saw on another site..
They are something else. Like the landscape shot Kanye took from a car window that got all the "why didn't he do it how I would do it " guys posting.
Your "bad taste" is subjective. These photos made me stop and inspect and think. Far more so than any of the throwaway images of women's bodies on this site. These are far more post-modern than any of the photos on this site even try to be.
A photograph with conventionally perfect lighting, styling, composition, and post-processing still does not equal a good photo. A good photo makes you stop and think and really look at it, not just scroll past it.
What has that got to do with anything? If you don't have a rebuttal to my assertion that these are interesting photos for the reasons I've stated beyond "you have bad taste" then you have run your course. Will any credentials I choose to share change your conception of my taste? If so, then you're shallower than the concept of "post-modern erotic photography". With all due respect of course.
Looking at the featured photos it looks like about 25-30% are of women and Damn few of those are nudes or even provocative .
Steve McCurry?
Lazlo Toth? THE Lazlo Toth?
You get the award for first to ever catch that.
Your opinions now make a lot more sense.
The question is: Will they encourage anyone to buy the perfume? "Umm, yeah, I wanna smell like one of those women."
But as has been noted, the name "Kim Kardashian" will bring in the purchases. The images are just an indulgence.
Looks like they used Sony, shoulda used a Canon to get that healthy orangey glow...ya know "color science"
a little dark, but i think it's funny! haha
How is it dark...you do know these aren't cadavers. It's glitter paint.
haha.... never mind dude, you don't get it. you see, mr. hogwallop is essentially using clever language to portray the differences of Sony and Canon on the theater of the "cadavers". see how i put "cadavers" in quotes? that's sarcasm, btw... ha. but yeah, seriously, i got (and still do) that they're "not cadavers", and glitter paint was probably almost certainly used, lol... but, yeah, thx. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29rMIfibt9g
I fully got Mr. Hogwallops joke, it's hilarious. My comment is not in response to his joke, but rather your "a little dark" comment. I thought you were thinking they were real dead bodies and you thought joking about cadavers was dark. You missed the point of my comment a little bit. No worries though. You went all out in your response...I must have hit a sensitive spot. Have a good one mate.
ohhh, okay, sure, man... haha
https://tenor.com/view/bitchplease-whatever-jamesharden-gif-8851897
You realize the comment you’re butthurt about literally starts with “how is it dark” jeez man, learn to read.
you did it, man... hahaha https://goo.gl/images/HBY2Er #dontBeThatGuyNow
Did what exactly? I feel like we are having two different conversations.
sure, how about making it 3 conversations, whatever. look dude, nobody's butthurt (most certainly not me (i'm basically just trolling you at this point haha); you commented and i commented back, and that's cool. i was just gonna write it off as a, "bitch please" situation. but you wanna come back at me with even more, so i was beginning to imagine you as that guy that's always whining and crying to get his way. anyway, i didn't misinterpret your initial comment, in fact, i'm pretty sure i was spot on. i told you that you didn't get it, and i was right. in fact, you admitted that you thought i was talking about.... blah blah blah.... but you gotta admit, harden's "bitch, please" meme is pretty damn funny. #bitchplease haha.
Thats the funniest thing I've read on here in long time. HAHA!!!
Its a fact though. Jerome Royes george andrews
Bold advertising move, but you know what they say: Sex Sells.
No wonder Fstoppers has so many half-naked women then! Right?
Then again, if it wasn’t a kardashian would this article even exist
The smell of death is pretty strong, you only need a little.
dude, wow... i can imagine some family members' respective faces if i told them, "so, i have this idea..." :) i mean, seriously. there's a proverbial line drawn in everything. isn't there, or not so much anymore? sadly tho, and i'm gonna admit that i think i know the type. jaime, if ur reading this- playing drums with headphones on, "dude, come on man..." and later, any dude, anywhere, under any circumstance drinking a zima. i mean, if we learned anything from the older kids, c'mon. haha...
I actually really like these images. I like that there is a lot of variance in skin tone and that they haven't been overly retouched (other than the removal of certain attributes for Instagram). I also don't think that these are particularly sexual in nature. I think most the people who are confused by this don't understand what they are trying to accomplish. If you look at the majority of "Nudes" in the photography community you really only see sexualized women who have been greased up and retouched to hell and back.
I think these are the bodies that would go into Kanye's fashions.
https://observer.com/2016/02/before-yeezy-kanye-west-had-this-fashion-line/
These are are meant to look like her 'stone' perfume bottles called BODY I, II & III.Those ones have the speckles all over them, like the bottles of perfume. The rest of the campaign shows other bodies to support the ideal of every body is beautiful. They haven't been removed, they're still on that fragrance IG page.
I don't give a damn about the story, but these images are better art than 99,99% of pictures on fstoppers. But ok, this is not a website for art.
lol, the post the comments, just lol.
Reminds me of Marilyn Manson's Mechanical Animal album cover
I honestly find those photos interesting. At least different. And actually tasteful, considering who's promoting it.
The comment is bananas
These remind me of a lot of figure drawings that are commonly done in art schools. I like them. They aren't really that suggestive and I find the shapes and lines to be interesting since they're very abstract.
The fact that Kim's name is somehow attached to the photos isn't significant.
I find the images interesting but do not associate a pleasant fragrance with them.
But then again Benetton was really successful with a their advertisement in the early nineties.
I really like these photos. Isn't the purpose of art to make your audience feel a certain way? Emotion and wonder fill me when I looked at these.
Are people talking about it? Yes. It has worked to spread brand awareness. I personally don't care for the images, but whatever.
these photo are clearly a reminding of Irving Penn nudes, I can't see any problem, if anyone have a problem with these photo i could tell to put away the camera and open some book.
uploded image of Irving penn
Is the target demographic dead people? If so, it's spot on.