A new advertisement for Candies shoes stars not only teen superstar and advertising vetran Hilary Duff touting the trendy treads, but also a troop of Duff’s “friends” including singer Ciara, and actresses Michelle Trachtenburg and Samaire Armstrong. According to an article in Women’s Wear Daily last week, the advertisements are set to run in magazines this March.

Snarky blogger Trent from Pink Is the New Blog, wrote recently,

“I love that her new BFF Michelle Trachtenberg is now a part of the campaign ... as is Ciara and some other unimportant chick. I think Hilary likes being the most famous girl in the ad.”

But what I find even funnier is the flip-flop in choice of what side of the feminine appeal Candies has chosen to tap in to. Duff is clearly the star of the campaign, and isn’t she the reigning queen of girlish sweetness and innocence?

“Since the last campaign starred Hilary, we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to show all the new products using Hilary’s friends?’” Dari Marder, a creative director for candies told WWD. “Plus, all the girls are in that 18-22-year-old range, which is the perfect demographic of a Candie’s girl.”

It seems like only yesterday that Seventeen magazines ran ads for Candies with MTV personality and former Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy, one of which had her sitting on the toilet, apparently doing her business while wearing little but of course, Candies shoes. Funny, but definantly not without controversy. An E!Online article from 1997 reported:

“Two New York television stations, WCBS and WNBC, have rejected a Candie's shoes TV commercial, featuring Jenny McCarthy, as being too explicit. Not because the former Playboy pin-up and soon-to-be sitcom star shows too much flesh, but because a plumber, bending over to fix the pipe beneath her kitchen sink, reveals too much butt-crack.

The 30-second spot, designed to sell Candie's "Durango" ankle boots, shows the former MTV vixen sporting a bright yellow pair (of shoes). As the plumber gets to work, McCarthy chats to a friend over the phone. "I'm getting my crack fixed," she deadpans.

I don’t know about you, but if I were working advertising, I’d have chosen the unabashed, potty mouthed, quote-machine McCarthy over squeaky-clean Duff any day, because when looking back on all the advertisements that bombarded my impressionable eyes when I was at apart of that influential teen market group, the image Jenny McCarthy on the pot is the only one that I clearly remember.