The only time body type pisses me off is when I get my larger size catalogs. They never use models who show how the clothes look on a larger person. And I know darn well that the way an outfit looks on the “plus size” size 12 :rolleyes: woman won’t look the same on 2X or 5X. And this has nothing to do with self-esteem. It has to do with not wanting to buy something that may not be a flattering on someone larger than the model shown.
I became much more comfortable with my own body once I realized that women of all shapes and sizes are disappointed in their bodies. Among other things, to hear my 5’2", 90lb friend talk about how hard it was to find clothes that fit her properly was a huge epiphany.
It’s not that I don’t care at all how I look. I do. But at some point a light did go off and I figured out that women in popular entertainment and advertising made me feel just as bad about myself as they made someone half my size feel.
So, at least this article points out the fact that it’s not just us fat chicks who feel bad about the way other women look. It’s everyone.
Amen to that. Lane Bryant (the store) does a pretty decent job of showing plus-sized models. Not exactly all size 24’s but at least they are big girls. Lane Bryant, the catalog (for older ladies) never did.
Women do this to themselves by setting impossible standards…but so do the men who work for ad agencies and are making these ads. And the men who are fashion designers and make clothing that only fits certain body types, or that fits women’s bodies in certain ways. Or the men who direct films and decide that women in their movies should look and act a certain way. 'Cause those are all male dominated industries.
Clearly we’re doing it to ourselves.
There is an obvious solution, which is that ads should show women of all body types, without trying to focus on any one in particular. Models should look like normal people (except that they should always look confident and comfortable, to emphasize that the product has a positive effect, because it is advertising after all). If a company only advertises to a certain body type that is not my body type, then it doesn’t matter if those people are fatter than me or thinner than me or they’re all blond or what, I’ll just feel that it’s not for me because the company doesn’t think of me when it makes its products.
I’d shorten it to “Advertising sucks.”
The article’s garbage, though. There’s no data from the study at all, and nothing about the methodology. Plenty of lame jokes about fat people. Take that, Kirstie Alley! You’ve been zinged by the Phoenix NewTimes!
“Tampex: The best for…well…whatever the hell it is that you broads use them for.”
Hah! As if those marketers and designers make decisions based on their own tastes. That’s not at all how commerce works.
Flossing.
What? What else is the string there for?
Or even more to the point “It just sucks to be a woman”.
Sure, any beautiful, not-fat model MUST be emaciated and bulimic-looking.:rolleyes:
They have clearly never watched women cheer at the latest Dove campaign. I know several women who buy nothing but Dove because of their use of “real beauties.” I recall comments like “oh my God, a model whose legs end at her BUTT! I’m in love!” “Wouldn’t your husband be surprised?” “I don’t mean with her, I mean with whomever hired her :p”
Depends on the model/actress. Some, like Keira Knightly are clearly supposed to be tiny. They’re built for it. I have no problems with those people in media, but many are like this. And you can’t tell me this isn’t ridiculous or doesn’t have at least some casual correlation with this.
Of course. Ads that say: “You’re okay, you’ve got no serious problems, and you don’t need really this product” wouldn’t sell much.
Exactly. I always tell my young women friends, before they decide that a particular flaw is just crippling and impeding the otherwise perfect and wonderful life they’d have, to consider how much money is made from making you feel like crap. When the peak amount of money is made from convincing you that you, say, smell bad, the companies will move on to something else to convince you all to hate. And it keeps going and going. Why feel like crap about yourself to line their pockets?
As far as I can tell, all advertising is based on a lack of something - it’s all negative.
I personally like the Dove “real beauty” ads, but I’m not a woman who is empowered by my dozens of foot-wrecking shoes.
I don’t understand this. They’re excited about being manipulated in a new way?
(Not your acquaintances specifically… but the underlying notion that a business should be rewarded for their advertising. No matter how new and bold it is, it’s still fundamentally a ploy to get you buying their product/service.)
Yeah! Especially since my cat and I probably have the same cup size. 
I would also like to say that I am willing to purchase anything Alan Rickman might tell me to.
where else can one’s legs end?
(Though I do like the Dove campaign.)
At her feet. Unless she’s got legs that won’t quit.
I have such a hard time understanding how someone could read this much into an ad. If I see an ad for a guy wearing a suit, I think they are trying to remind me “you should buy this suit”. I could see reading into how good the guy looks in the suit. I could even see someone feeling insecure and thinking the ad is meant to remind them they’ll never look that good in a suit. But jumping to “you’re here to be looked at” seems as far as leap as “you exist to wear suits and make money to support your wife and kids”. It’s just an enormous leap you seem to be taking.