Politically Incorrect Underwear Ads?

Amrita has an interesting discussion on the controversial print ads of Hanes underwear. While here in the US, Hanes TV commercials are quite harmless (not to mention, boring), the print ads in India seem to be garnering attention, and not entirely for the right reasons. While the ads have found supporters, Amrita opines that those who don’t like the ads, have a point too:

Because [...] this is an ad that could possibly hoodwink some poor mentally challenged bigot into thinking that Hanes supports his/her bigotry. I’d like to think that we live in a world where people aren’t yet stupid enough to not put the words in context with the big picture, but I’m being constantly disappointed, so who knows? It’s entirely possible that someone might be so transfixed by all the pretty colors that they missed out on everything but the giant letters.

In a time where labels (or racial epithets) are entering into people’s vocabularies at an uncomfortable speed, such ads only add fuel to the fire. The words make up for a major part of the page, attracting the readers’ attention to the word, rather than the message. Advertising is all about taking risks, and even negative attraction might be good for the company, and that’s just a shame.