Campaign for Real Beauty = Real Hypocrisy

Unilver's product, Dove has been running 'Real Beauty' campaigns for a few years now.  The images are of real women in all their natural beauty.  The message is impowering, beautiful, surprisingly honest and sincere.  LOVE your wrinkles. Love your shape.  Love your size.  Love your age.  Love your color...OH wait not your color because it turns out that outside the states there is a beauty campaign going on as well but the message is a little bit different than in the U.S. their version is; White Beauty.

In India Dove and Ponds market skin whitening creams with the message fairer is better.  Lighter skinned girls keep the man, get the job, find their true happiness.  White skin equals modern which equals success.  A sad message, a hateful message, a disappointing twist to an empowering campaign.  Why would a company want to empower American women to love themselves and Indian women to hate themselves?  I will not buy Unilever products again unless I hear of a change to their campaign strategies.

Here is a series of Ponds White Beauty commercials:

Being a Woman is NOT a Pre-existing Ailment

Read a related arcticle about this at Jezebel.com.

Advertising from the past

So the past couple days I've been looking for anti women advertising campaigns.  I have not conclusion.  It's all very interesting, quite irritating, and sometimes it turns my stomach.   I have a theory though which is that man's anger towards women is becoming more transparent with time.  As our equality balances out and man's ability to oppress women becomes more difficult some very angy ads have surfaced.

Below are some images I've found which I would date from doldrums through to last decade.  The marketing images were much more milder.  Where Dolche and Gabana's rape scene to advertise a clothing line was subtly hostile - I think most people would even see it as a violent scene...sadly.  These images from the past were quite boldly misogynistic in a way that angers me even more.  I find it very difficult to find humor in these ads.

Print Ads Disappoint Again

I was flipping thru a copy of US weekly while waiting for the Doctor and I came across an Energizer Battery ad that left me disappointed.    Later at home I got online to see if their entire current ad campaign was online.  It was.  So first off I saw this add that donates 50 cents per purchase for the Cure.  Thats awesome, I like to see that.

But then I saw the rest of the campaign.  One ad is directed at wannabe Spaceship commanders and the other at wannabe Rockstars.  Lame but whatever right.

Below are the other two which I also find lame but offensive as well. 

Misogynistic Media

Offensive, ignorant, irritating, downright misogynistic, or just clever?
You decide. This reader finds these images in poor taste some are just stupid some revolting. What do you think? Post your comments and other questionable advertisements you come across.

Beautiful Imperfections

I just came across an article that makes me very happy! I don't read any of those girly fashion magazines. I don't relate to the women I see in them and feel that they make women strive for an impossible level of outer perfection rather than to grow into the strong women they are meant to become if they take the time to cultivate their minds and souls. Anyways I digress....Look at the beautiful image of Lizzi Miller from Glamour Magazine.

I found this image in the Viva La Lizzi on Blog Chics. I love that she posed with all her beautiful imperfection to show the world to embrace their bodies as they naturally are.

Real is beautiful.

Beyond Belief

Just days before coming across this movie I'd been part of a lengthy discussion, in my women's studies class, asking "what can we actually do to make a difference?". There were the full spectrum of opinions but for most of us the possibilities feel limited.

Who can afford to walk away and joining the Peace Corps or volunteer for an NGO? Not me I have pets, and bills, and too many responsibilities to walk away, the economy is bad so how can I walk away from my job, and many other selfish excuses.

But these women found a way to impact other women, across the world, who had also lost husbands on 9/11. These two women were able to make time in their daily lives to make a lasting contribution. The pessimist in me has to say however that these ladies do seem to be very well off giving them an advantage over the average middle-class citizen. But nonetheless it is a powerful story.

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The following film synopsis is from the Beyond Belief website.

Susan Retik and Patti Quigley are two ordinary soccer moms living in the affluent suburbs of Boston until tragedy strikes. Rather than turning inwards, grief compels these women to focus on the country where the terrorists who took their husbands' lives were trained: Afghanistan.

Over the course of two years, as they cope with loss and struggle to raise their families as single mothers, these extraordinary women dedicate themselves to empowering Afghan widows whose lives have been ravaged by decades of war, poverty and oppression - factors they consider to be the root causes of terrorism. As Susan and Patti make the courageous journey from their comfortable neighborhoods to the most desperate Afghan villages, they discover a powerful bond with each other, an unlikely kinship with widows halfway around the world, and a profound way to move beyond tragedy.

From the ruins of the World Trade Center to those of Kabul and back, theirs is a journey of personal strength and international reconciliation, and a testament to the vision that peace can be forged... one woman at a time.