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Advertising & the Obsession With Thinness…
Advertising & the Obsession With Thinness…
Testing Comment Luv by Andy Bailey at http://www.fiddyp.co.uk/
Sharon’s last blog post..Meet Jewish Singles For Free
I found this an interesting clip, but don’t think the speaker should have harped on smoking. Power is the real issue, IMHO when it comes to women being encouraged to be unnaturally thin. The power to be happy with yourself limits how much you can be influenced by all sorts of pressures to conform, and accept conditions that leave you at a disadvantage.
I think the speaker needed to go in that direction.
SageMother, I actually agree with you on this one. I was looking for a youtube copy that didn’t have the smoking side of it, but this is the best cut I could find.
I think she’s gone on the deep end with that one also.
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These days people use any excuse to talk about not smoking, beyond reason. Soon they will say it causes blue eyes or something!
SageMother, most definitely!
Imaginary Diva’s last blog post..Why He is Looking Right Past You – 5 Tips to Get His Love Back
I agree with Sagemother on this one as well. Peer pressure is terrible with issues like this.
The power to be happy with oneself? One can still be unhappy and not be swayed by opinion. Advertising can’t “make” anyone do anything, much less persuade a highly rational thinker. people need to assume responsibility for their own decisions, learn to think critically and make better life choices THEN happiness will follow.
my .02 ¢
jon’s last blog post..Chimeric Day Dreams
This is my first “comment” on this site and I don’t want to push any buttons, but I thought the presenter was spot-on about everything! Having taught young girls for years, they learn by imitation and by what they believe their elders admire.
I actually find a lot of the magazines in Australia depressing, because of their consistent, unnatural stereotyping of women. And then the smoking angle makes me think of the famous model stereotype, where their diet consists of cigarettes, champagne, nicotine and cocaine…
I think it is also important to note that 60 years after feminism the most famous women in the world are models and actresses…famous for contributing how exactly???
Thanks for a great clip.
SimoneM’s last blog post..How to Make Change Last Longer than Your Lipstick
3Plus3, I don’t know what’s happened to today’s society, but it just gets younger and younger. I remember I didn’t cave in to wearing *makeup* until I hit Grade 10. I think some of the girls in my school started younger than that. And now, when I walk around the streets, wow, some of these 12 year olds can pass for 17 year olds.
Imaginary Diva’s last blog post..Why He is Looking Right Past You – 5 Tips to Get His Love Back
Jon, so true, advertising can only influence what we do. However, advertising’s been a big bully when it comes to generating peer pressure.
What would the world be if we were all happy and contented?
Imaginary Diva’s last blog post..Why He is Looking Right Past You – 5 Tips to Get His Love Back
SimoneM, I take it that 60 years of feminism and the ideologies still hasn’t changed.
We are slowly changing the world and how it perceives women, but it does seem that it’s going to be a long struggle.
Young girls don’t HAVE to learn through imitation if there is someone providing another way to develop, ie. teaching ownership of one’s self as The Primary duty to one’s self.
SageMother, I think that is easily said and done. Children and teens generally look at outside sources for inspiration. It’s part of growing up.
I agree that advertising cannot make someone a certain way when you are an adult. But when you are growing up and still have a lot to learn kids buy into all these ads.
I don’t think it’s something that can be changed, to be honest. Younger children and teens are naturally easily influenced, it’s part of the self exploration of growing up.
They do look outside but balance can be provided. One has to think outside the box. As I said, provide another way to learn.
I have always suggested that young women read books, like Rebecca and Jane Eyre where the heroine is an outcast of some sort and has to choose to shun the pressures to conform to someone else’s idea of who she is or should be. These types of books are not provided often enough, IMHO, so there are no examples of solitary perseverance being provided these days.
SageMother, and sadly enough, the school system today is so different from during our time.
Especially now with the age of technology, some of the emphasis we used to have, like reading books on our spare time, or even picking up a book to do an essay on is not necessarily needed anymore. Surfing the web to pick up information is a teenager’s way of recreation.
Tater03, it’s so true. Just look at how much celebrities sell for clothing companies just by wearing them.
I remember when low rise jeans were so in at the same time as skimpy thongs. And you can see these 12 year old girls wearing them at the mall. It’s actually so sad to see how much advertising influences today’s generation.
Ninikins, especially if you are a girl. There’s just too much pressure to be beautiful and sometimes that media portrayal of what beauty means today is a very hard measure to hold up to.
I totally agree with everything this woman said… but was a bit disappointed when she went off on a rant about cigarettes. They can suppress appetite and actually have a wealth of other benefits… but generally speaking, they’re an expensive habit (both to your pocket book and to your health).
I tell people all the time, advertising companies, the fashion/makeup industries, all make money by making people feel bad about themselves. Their message is “you are not good enough… but you’ll get a bit closer if you purchase our products.”
It’s really unfortunate. I actually wrote an article about this point titled “fat bottom girls” where I pretty much state that the majority of women are beautiful, even if they can’t see it. That and just because the ad agencies want you to think that guys like the thin girls doesn’t make it true. In fact, all the guys I know prefer curves to angles any day.
I applaud you for posting this… in fact, I may repost this video on my site.
Nathaniel’s last blog post..Fat Bottom Girls
Nathaniel, thanks for the link. It’s showing up under CommentLuv.
That is such a *grown up, well beyond the years* understanding that us women never get to realize even if we live to the age of 150 years old.
Sometimes, purchasing these products give me big warts.
The fun part is that it’s so difficult to go against the media. People have this idea that “If it’s on TV, it must be true” and I actually expect people to think me the exception as opposed to the rule of men. It’s an uphill battle to say the least.
Nathaniel’s last blog post..Fat Bottom Girls
What really bothers me is that the media is obsessed with both obesity and thinness. If you are too thin, it’s an issue. If you are too obese, it’s an issue. When can we just be accepted for who we are? Sure, it’s unhealthy to be either too thin or too overweight, but I think all the hype only makes it worse. I just don’t see anybody really doing anything about it.
The hype definitely makes it worse. I’m currently “watching” someone in hospice slipping away more every day from an eating disorder that lasted for years. It shut down her organs one by one.
The kicker is that she finally decided that she didn’t want to continue with the anorexia and pulled herself out of that pit… THAT is when the heart and other organs started going bad. It’s not always an immediate thing and these girls can’t see what damage is being done, so they think they’re in control. But they’re not.
Nathaniel, you’re wife snagged a rare one…..
Jewel, it’s really all about the hype. About who can yell the loudest, and damn if you are too thin, and damn if you are obese.
Sometimes we just down have a good middle ground to work on. And the media just makes it a lot more harder on what should be considered *socially acceptable*.
Katharina, I actually did research on an article some time ago and I found out the same thing.
Sometimes, regret and change comes too late. I hope she recovers.
It was an interesting clip, but I didn’t agree with some of the thngs that were said. People, especially young people need to learn to be comfortable with their appearence. If they feel confident about their appearence, they will not feel pressured to become excessively thin
justontime, I think women in general, no matter how old they are, will always be insecure about the way they look.
It might not be an obsession, but we are only human after all and if we are faced with all these superficial perfection…. it is hard not to get pressured to go the salon and get a facial, get our nails done, or even join the latest fad diet.
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