Phoebe Cates on JC Penney's advertisement

It’s been said before, but JC Penney’s new ad reminds us: The female body is miraculous. So maybe we should take JC Penney’s use of Phoebe Cates‘ sexy bikini-clad body to sell dress shirts as a clever compliment to the female form, but instead, we mostly feel insulted by the implication that our bodies are just an advertising prop.












The ad opens with Kenny Mayne (an ESPN sports journalist and comedian) empathizing with viewers’ hatred of clothing ads, followed by a compromise: Alongside their ads for dress shirts, he offers Cates’ sexy pool scene from Fast Times at Ridgemont High (minus the actual nudity).