French culture is more than just food and wine … there is also sex.
- Paul Wong
- Yael Kohen
Before I get started I would like to clarify that most cultures (at least the Western ones) are obsessed with sex; the French are just more open about it.
First of all, the French never cut out the nude or sex scenes from movies airing on regular television. In fact they don’t cut those things out of their commercials, either. Many French commercials use sex and nudity to sell some of the most unsexy products out there.
My personal favorite is a commercial for dishwashing gloves, a rather dull product with a not-so-dull ad. It begins with a man searching through his medicine cabinet for a condom. Of course he can’t find one, so instead he decides to use the finger of the very durable dishwashing glove for protection.
Another commercial takes place at the beach where a woman strips down to her scanty panties – yes, just panties – letting the ocean’s waves splash against her bare bosom – yes bare. Obviously, this commercial is for shower gel, but who would’ve guessed?
I would like to add that there are also commercials with exposed men: Let’s take Nescafe Instant Cappuccino for example. The actor is selling cappuccino while hanging out in his bath towel, when suddenly it drops and luckily the already made cappuccino is strategically covering his private parts while he assures the viewer that he has “nothing to hide.” I’m reminded of the scene in Austin Powers when the meat, bread and fruit cover Austin’s privates. But in the States I had to see this scene in a theater where I paid for it, not to mention that it was protected by ratings.
The beach is another place where people have “nothing to hide.” The French are famous for their topless beaches – a big no-no in the states where many people (and the law) consider it to be indecent exposure. Well, I guess it is indecent exposure if you think of it that way but it seems to me that the only people gawking are the American boys and girls who then find the need to take a picture. But there are the American girls who eventually put aside their cultural inhibitions and sunbathe