Ladies is this the best way to sell mens pants? ( Archived) (8)

Is this really the way for M&S to sell more men's pants?

Muscles flexed, eyes narrowed, skin a sun-kissed brown, scantily clad model David Gandy smoulders in the latest Marks and Spencer ad campaign.
But will the sight of a man in impossibly tight pants really help shift the retailer's latest range of underwear? Or will the rather risqué shots simply alienate M&S’s traditional, middle-aged customer base?
Here, four writers give their opinion of the eye-popping advertisement..







Oh dear, M&S, what were you thinking? Yours is the brand women have trusted almost from the day we were born. As children, our mothers took us to buy our knickers from Marks 'n' Sparks.
It was a buying habit that, certainly in my case, never changed. My first bra was bought from their displays in a state of frenzied excitement, and what a relief it was to know we wouldn’t have to brave a changing room, or the scrutiny of a snooty assistant.
You see, there were no changing rooms, and we could take our most private purchases home to try on in the seclusion of our bedrooms. As long as we had the bag and the receipt, we could take them back and exchange them, without question, if they didn't fit.

For so many years, you understood your market so well. It was generally middle-aged women, who wanted quality at a reasonable price, with husbands and partners who might opt for sensible M&S underpants as they got older.
Their sons, meanwhile, wouldn't be seen dead in them, until they invariably got to the 'life is too short to waste hard-earned cash on Calvin Kleins' stage.