Leg logos (aka legos)

Jules van Schaijik | Feb 22, 2013

Shirt logos are so commonplace nowadays that I rarely think about them. But sometimes, when I go shopping with my boys for instance, they still bother me. Why is it that we all accept this form of advertising? Why do we allow ourselves to be used in this way? Why, in fact, do we often have to (or want to) pay extra for the ads?

It is not just boys or sports clothing either. Even dressier shirts usually have logos on them, small but instantly recognizable. 

I know, I know. It is not a big deal. It may be a subtle form of objectifying ourselves, of allowing ourselves to be used as billboards, but I agree that it is too insignificant to make an issue out of.

But what are we to think about this new development I read about this morning: Japanese women renting out their thighs as advertising space? Is this okay?

These "legos" are certainly a much bigger deal than the logos mentioned above. Here are some of the reasons why:

• They are put on our body instead of just on the clothes we wear. They are removable, thank goodness, but still.
• The women who wear them get paid for doing so. Between $13 and $128, according to this article. In some ways this is only right. On the other hand, it raises the whole thing to a new level. The logos on our shirts we wear without thinking. But these legos, these ads-on-thighs, are deliberate. They represent a person's conscious decision to make money by using his body-surface as an advertising medium.
• They are placed on women's thighs. I don't need to explain the significance of that. These ads represent a much more obvious and serious form of objectification than the clothing logos discussed above.
• Apparently, in order to get paid, these women "must also post photos of themselves wearing the adhesive on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter."

What do you think? Worth making a fuss over, or should we see it as a great opportunity and send temporary Personalist Project tattoos to all our members. (Men would be asked to place them on their biceps.)