Adbusters - Christian Louboutin Spoof

Christian Louboutin is a French fashion designer. He makes high end stiletto footwear with red soles that became his signature, and allowed him to sell high end shoes to celebrities, which then increased his popularity. He focuses on very high-heeled shoes.

Spoof Advert

This is a feature from adbusters, designed to promote anti-consumerism, and is satirizing Christian Louboutin shoes and people who buy them.

The picture depicts a black person with shoes made of old bottles and rags. This juxtaposes with Christian Loubotuin's shoes that retail for around £500. The irony is that Loubotuin made his fortune with his patented red soles and they were looked at as iconic and desirable, and in this photo with the tagline "red soles are always in season", it is referring to the red feet of blisters caused by having to walk long distance with footwear made from whatever can be found.

They have used a black person, standing on arid ground, which connotes drought and poverty. It indicates that it is a developing country, which promotes anti-consumerism because it shows that instead of spending £500 on shoes, you should be working to promote change in these developing countries.

There is a binary opposition between the celebrity-endorsed, high end, Christian Louboutin shoes and the makeshift bottle flip-flops in the spoof advert. This encourages people to see the problems that this capitalist society has created and to try to help work against inequality.