“Sex sells” has been used for years as an excuse to exploit and humiliate women through advertising. We see it everywhere: on television, in cinemas, in magazines, on billboards, literally anywhere an advertisement can be inserted. American Apparel is a company that specializes in advertising sexualizing women in order to sell their clothes. For years, they have created demeaning ads that make the average person believe that they need to look like these images to feel good about themselves. Advertisements like these have a negative effect on society and especially women, but American Apparel has taken things to a whole new level of exploitation. In Jean Kilbourne's documentary "Killing Us Softly 4", she gives multiple detailed examples of advertisers making women a sexual object which leads society to dehumanize the female species. On top of that, they find younger, thinner women to use, even photoshopping their models into unrealistic body shapes; distorting the average woman's perception of what she should look like. The founder and CEO of American Apparel, Dov Charney, himself said that he worked hard to acquire the provocative image they have today and that he deliberately created advertisements "infused with youth and of sex” (Chauduri). The company insists that they are simply "open to sexuality" and should not be persecuted for it (Chauduri). Even though sex is more important and less taboo than it has been in society, there is a clear line between more "open" sexuality and abuse of the sexual side of men and women. By "open about sexuality", Dov Charney and American Apparel actually mean that they will use extremely young women in promiscuous positions to sell their clothes, despite the fact that...... middle of paper ......he The rise of materialism, depression, early sexuality and eating disorders are just a few examples that certainly haven't been helped by advertising. As long as companies like American Apparel continue to produce images like they have been, these things will only get worse. Works Cited Chauduri, Saabira. “Nipples, nudity and a little striptease: the new advertising campaign from American Apparel.” Fast business. Fastcompany.com, November 21, 2008. Web. October 24, 2011. “Eating Disorder Statistics.” Retraining Grant Program 2003. South Carolina Department of Mental Health, 2006. Web. October 24, 2011. “Killing Us Softly 4: The image of women in advertising” Jean Kilbourne. 2010. Documentary