Kenneth Cole models include people with disabilities, an injured American soldier, a woman covered with tattoos, a Sikh, a gay married couple and their daughter, an HIV-positive woman and others

From Women’s Wear Daily, Fox Business:

When you look at the photo at left, what do you see? An attractive young woman in a short skirt who seems to be thrusting her hips in the universal language of sexual come-on. Only later does it hit you. Those high heels she’s teetering on are attached to prosthetic legs.

Aimee Mullins (left) is president of the Women’s Sports Foundation, a Georgetown University graduate with dual degrees in history and diplomacy. But the reason she was chosen for the cover photo of the Kenneth Cole spring ad campaign is that she challenges conventional wisdom: She’s an accomplished woman who is also a double amputee, the result of being born without fibula bones in her legs.

The campaign, called “We Walk in Different Shoes,” carries the tagline “25 years of non-uniform thinking.” It features 11 people who “live their lives in non-uniform ways, either by choice or circumstance,” and will be carried in magazines such as Vogue, Men’s Health and Vanity Fair.

The juxtaposition of a double amputee with a Sikh, an athlete in a wheelchair and a woman covered with tattoos is thought-provoking indeed. What do they have in common (other than selling shoes, that is?) Here are some excerpts from their personal statements, found in video on the Kenneth Cole website:

“We all are handed challenges, whether it was something that happened to you in your childhood or something you did to yourself. We all have the opportunity to start over every day. and decide that we can remake, rebuild and recreate ourselves and our identity. ”
— Aimee Mullins

“Maybe the point is to make that mark and say, yeah, I am different and now I have to deal with it. I think it’s important for society and the world to accept not only diverse voices but diverse people.”
— Theo Kogan, musician, explaining the significance of her tattoos

“I can’t walk through an airport without getting special security screening and having people look really afraid … I think it’s important for people to respect other people’s differences. Not because you agree with those differences but because being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes may impact how you think about how you behave. It may help you grow … ”
– Sonny Caberwal — Sikh, entrepreneur, law school graduate

“The obstacles I face are not really physical because I’m strong enough to get around anywhere. It’s the mental, you know, the stares and the gawks. I understand it from little kids, but I don’t understand it from grownups.”
– Delmon Dunston, professional wheelchair rugby player

See related posts:

Lincoln ad features amputee triathlete

Pepsi Super Bowl ad features deaf culture, moment of silence

Still thinking about the Super Bowl Pepsi advertisement

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 9:41 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, advertising, business, disabilities, discrimination, limb loss, media, personal stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post