W to the T to the F?

[trinityvixen]

Been a bit of a stir up over this ad campaign. Rightly so. Anything that actively advertises "loose weight, you fat ugly female sows but not for you or your health--do it for the man that you so desperately need in your pathetic, overweight excuse for a life" is disgusting.

It's also completely undermined as a message--men only dig bony chicks--when you
a) pick a famous image that was never sexy because the woman in it was so skinny you couldn't see her tits because her ribs were bigger
and
b) pick a healthy-sized larger woman who is by no means fat but is instead quite beautiful and curvy in very sexy ways

Seriously, this chick is buxom and smiling happily and beautiful. Mena Suvari looks like they put a pretty girl's head on the body of a concentration camp survivor. I mean, one rose petal covers Mena's naughty parts; one rose petal doesn't ever cover the nipple action of the model in the ad campaign. It's like Jill at feministe says, though: which is worse? Telling women they have to be skinny in order to get a man or telling them that this woman is to be considered a hideous blubber beast?

Fuck that, man.

Comments

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

...What the hell? The woman in the linked flikr photo is a hottie.

Maybe I'm just too distracted by the nakedness to notice I shouldn't find her attractive.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

She is attractive. That's the first thing I thought when I saw it. You don't have to compare her to the original photo with Mena Suvari to think so, but you'll be firmer of your opinion if you do.

She's healthy looking, curvy, and she looks very happy/naughty playful, and sexiness is all about attitude. So to look at that beautiful woman with her obviously gorgeous figure (it's about proportion and natural arcs, and, apparently, a ration of waist to hip size that determines the overall appeal of the figure, so sayeth social psychology) and go "DEAR GOD, WHAT IS THAT THING AND CAN I EAT YOGURT SO I NEVER END UP LIKE THAT?" makes no sense at all.

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Now that I've taken a better look at the ad, I completely agree with Chuckro. The Flickr photo is hot, and way hotter than the original image.

Which makes it a disgusting ad campaign, because it's targeting the delusional women with no self-esteem who are already primed for an eating disorder. Any chance some well-meaning public interest group with cash could sponsor an ad campaign showing the photo with the caption: "95% of men find this women very attractive. Don't kill yourself through starvation."

I don't have a problem with the general idea that people will respond more to a weight loss ad targeted at attracting the opposite sex than to an ad targeted at health. It's a much stronger human motivator.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I don't have a problem with the general idea that people will respond more to a weight loss ad targeted at attracting the opposite sex than to an ad targeted at health. It's a much stronger human motivator.

You don't have a problem with them actively supporting negative body images to sell their product? That's entirely the problem I have with this ad and advertising in general. They're telling you that in order to win sexual favors, you have to use their crap or else you're doomed to celibacy. Besides which it's been shown many, many times over that the people who most often succeed at losing weight and keeping it off are those who do it for themselves. So, not only is it basically a lie that losing weight for other people will make them like you better, it's morally repugnant to suggest that the only reason anyone needs to lose weight or live a healthier lifestyle is for the pleasure of a mate.

Note, this is SPECIFICALLY attacking women, too, and was approved because it's perfectly okay to assume that pleasuring a mate is all they're good for.

[negativeq.livejournal.com]

So, if I DON'T eat Light n Fit yogurt, I will look like this curvaceous, healthy, happy-looking woman.

Good to know.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Must find out the company that makes it and be sure never to buy their shit in this country.

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Also, there was an interesting recent study that when looking at a naked woman, a typical man's attention goes first to the face, not any other part. This has a ring of truth to me, and it means that for a healthily curvy woman like those shown in the ads, the face makes a lot of difference. The one in the American Beauty scene is hot, in significant part because she has a very pretty face and is smiling. The Marilyn Monroe one is revolting, but because some makeup artist butchered her face. And the Sharon Stone one isn't that attractive, but more because her dress is very unflattering.

All 3 of these women could have been made to look quite sexy. That they didn't isn't the fault of their weight, but their photographers and makeup artists.

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Will comment later, probably agreeing with you, but...

Some of us are still at work at 6 on a Friday. When the link is to a nearly naked woman, please put an NSFW tag on it?

[viridian.livejournal.com]

I don't think something that's an ad in a women's magazine that you can pick up and read in any grocery store counts as NSFW, dude.

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Generally, no. But that's naked enough that I could draw odd looks.

[wellgull.livejournal.com]

See, the thing about NSFW tags to me is -- isn't LJ not safe for work? I mean, it isn't working...

I know some places are pickier about seeing skin than just goofing off on company time, tho...

[viridian.livejournal.com]

And yet, here's the fucked up thing. How many of us women read that ad and went "yeah, she's hot, but I'm still too fat?" I'd like to compare how many will mouth all the right words about how those women look awesome, and how many will actually think it? Obviously there's no way to do that, but well...

I don't know. Pretend I wrote something of more coherence, here. I just think that while people may know to say all the right things in protest of these ads, what the majority of people actually think is something vastly different.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

And yet, here's the fucked up thing. How many of us women read that ad and went "yeah, she's hot, but I'm still too fat?"

That is sad--'cause probably a lot. I actually was more like, "See? She's beautiful even if she's heavier than your average model. If she can be beautiful, so can I." I am very arrogant, however, since I know I'm am A BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY. (note: sarcasm).

I actually think I believe most people who've been saying, "But she's really pretty!" The other two images that went with the campaign were less flattering than this one, specifically because they picked ugly images and made sure to light them/apply makeup to models to make them look terrible.

[hslayer.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, does this post have the "feminism" tag? And am I agreeing with you? Holy crap, stop the presses. We don't have presses, it's a blog. Well, stop the Internet, then.

Yeah, whoever cooked up this ad is as dumb as a dumbbell on a dumbwaiter with a dunce cap that got kicked in the head not five minutes ago.

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

Wow. I hope I can look like her someday.

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

God, that is such a nasty, insulting ad.

I fear, though, that many women are filled with enough self-loathing to find it compelling. There are too many Anna Wintour-types (as well as stick-figure-loving men) who feed into that. (I'd argue that the former are a far more responsible for it than the latter, but that's another issue.)