Beauty and the Body Beast

Dove may have been on to something when it introduced its "Campaign For Real Beauty" back in 2004. The commercial titled, "Onslaught", is an especially striking one to me. It shows a young girl starring off into the street, then all of a sudden hundreds of ads are flashed before her (and thus our) eyes. These images showcase just how many ads we are bombarded with, and the real message we are sending to those young impressionable minds; be beautiful, be skinny, and in turn be happy. Well, Spain has had enough.

Spain is about to pass a law that will ban marketers from advertising certain beauty products and services "that encourage the cult of body" on TV before 10 p.m. The beauty and hygiene segment of advertisements spent a whopping $708 million in airtime in 2008, according to Advertisement Age. Spain also has banned runway models with a BMI (body mass index) lower than 18. Even further then banning ads and waif like models, Spain is doing a study to calculate the average size female body in Spain and creating mannequins who represent those dimensions.

So what effect will this have on youth as well as the advertising and fashion industry? Are we finally to a point that we are tired of the pressures to have to be perfect, to not age, to not eat? I think we are now left wondering what body image do we look to now? We are tired of the over processed, fake, bean pole, but we are also growing tired of the over indulging, overweight community we have spawned as well. The answer seems obvious to me. Showcase natural people who live HEALTHY lifestyles.

Highlight naturally beautiful women who have aged and are still beautiful, women who range in all body shapes, women who can go grab a cheeseburger but at the same time understands that leading a balanced healthy life means getting to the gym that week if they do devour a cheeseburger or slice of pizza every now and then.

I'm happy to see people, companies, and governments taking a stand against both ends of the unhealthy lifestyles spectrum, but we need to do more than talk about it and take further action. After hearing that model Kate Moss has been voted Teenagers' Top Role Model in a new London poll, (Sixty-eight percent of the 1,032 16-year-olds, who were quizzed, chose the supermodel in the intotheblue.co.uk poll) I look forward to the day when our youth can look to a healthy, beautiful and intelligent role model such as; Michelle Obama, Princess Diana, Natalie Portman or Queen Latifah.

What Message Are You Sending?

After meeting with a friend last week she almost exploded with the news that she had to show me a picture of a Barbie she saw. While I thought that was a bit odd since she is 24, I went with it. After seeing the picture she showed me it was no wonder she almost exploded.

The "Back to Basics" Barbie line, while for the most part is not overly shocking, there is one doll in the line who crosses the line. This corporate meets down on the corner Barbie, makes you wonder what kind of message are we promoting and to whom?

As those in the industry who are in charge of sending a message and making sure that our target market not only receives that message but that, that message is ingrained in them, I just have to ask what is our responsibility as advertisers? Should we lose our morals in order to make a buck? I know this has been a dilemma since the dawn of advertising, but it has really made me think.

Now don't get me wrong, while I know the proportions of Barbies are off kilter I don't think all Barbies are bad. I am that little girl who owned just about every Barbie thing imaginable, including the three story house equipped with working lights and elevator. And I was never compelled by the Barbie I played with that I should have her proportions. The clothes however were a different story. I wanted a beautiful red gown or pretty high heels just like Barbie. So now for me to see little girls take their half naked, corporate cleavage Barbie out of the box is appalling to me.

This isn't the first time that Barbie has found herself in the light of controversy and she also isn't the only one receiving flak. Dove's campaign to showcase just how much the media skews advertising images is a very powerful one combating the advertising message of "This is what beautiful looks like". So why not take a note from Dove and as advertising professionals take the responsibility of spreading the message that normal people are beautiful too, and live extraordinary lives.

Its never been so evident to me that our choices make a difference than by hearing my four year old family friend say "Well Barbie likes those clothes she's always smiling"