The internet truly does bring up some strange things.

Whilst researching an article about São Paulo’s current city-wide ban on advertising I came across this bizarre collaboration. When Abercrombie and Fitch asked Slavoj Zizek, a philosopher famous for his blend of Hegelianism, Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis, to write the captions for their 2003 catalogue the results were bound to be brilliant.

Zizek has never been one to shy away from a critique of sexuality and it’s role in contemporary society. His lectures are constantly filled with dirty jokes, and his most recent movie, The Perverts Guide to Ideology, analyses the symbolic role of cinema in 20th century capitalism from a psychoanalytic standpoint. So for a man who’s most famous films are titled A Perverts Guide to… maybe it’s not such a surprise that he would relish the opportunity to ramble over a bunch of young models with their clothes off, who are supposedly advertising a clothing brand…

Zizek’s interpretations of these photos are bloody hilarious, and I’m not quite sure that the marketing team at A&F quite got the joke. One is thing is for sure, soft-core porn plus anti-consumerist psychoanalysis is a pretty weird way to sell clothes.

Sources: The New Yorker, Critical-Theory.com, full catalogue here.