A lingerie company insists that it intended only to spark thoughtful debate with an ad campaign featuring this scantily-clad mother-daughter duo.

Tom Hines

he image: Talk about a mother-daughter bond. The Lake and Stars, a New York-based lingerie and swimwear company, is making waves for a new ad campaign that features a pale, red-headed 19-year-old girl posing seductively in lingerie with her tan, fit, silver-haired mother, also in skimpy lingerie. (See the images at right and below.) "There's no shock value here," says Maayan Zilberman, the company's co-owner. "We're not trying to make people feel uncomfortable in order to provoke dialogue." These images are just about the "psychology between women as they're growing up and dealing with family politics or women in the workplace."  

The reaction: "Is this sexy, disturbing, or awkward?" says Leon Watson at Britain's Daily Mail. Regardless, this "provocative" campaign "cleverly extends its branding," says Scallywag at Scallywag & Vagabond. It forces the consumer to "take the extra second to consider what it is what we are witnessing and how or why it intrigues and... perhaps repulses us." Well, I don't think these images are worth my time, says Meredith Carroll at Babble. This is a publicity stunt, pure and simple. Judge for yourself:

Photo: Tom Hines