What is Beauty?

10 to 25

lindsfauch — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:53:41 +0000

This past weekend my ten year old cousin and her cheerleading team went to Disney World to compete in a National championship. Through the duration of the past few months my I have come to see these young girls go from plain to glitz and glamour. In order to participate they needed to wear their hair pieces (which cost approx. $90-115) along with certain makeup, done a certain way in order for each girl to look like the other. While not in their cheer uniforms they were asked to all wear the same outfits and look their best .. at all times. My cousin is a dancer, and competes throughout CT. She is used to dressing up, loading on makeup and performing in front of large audiences. The cheerleading almost took it to far. It seems as if these young impressionable girls were trapped by the feeling that they HAD to look gorgeous. Not to say that little girls dont love being dressed up and decked out … because trust me a lot of us did, and still love to! But why the need to make these 10 year olds look like 25 year olds?

lindsfauch — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:45:03 +0000

Depression and young girls

lindsfauch — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:44:20 +0000

Meghan Meir was like any typical 13 year old girl. She worried about what people thought of her, she wanted to be the best at sports, the cutest girl, the coolest friend, etc. However a terrbile hoax through a failed Myspace romance made her hurt turn into death. The parents of a 13-year-old Missouri girl, Meghan found her hanging from her closet. News articles tell us that Megan had suffered from depression and ADD (attention deficit disorder). She had been talking to ”Josh” for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was a cruel friend.

So is this what society has come to? Women of all ages are dumped all the time by men, and vice versa. A thirteen year old girl was so hurt over this that she truely felt the rest of her years weren’t worth living? Depression is very common and affects as many as 1 in 8 people in their teen years. Depression is effecting more younger people of every color, race, economic status, or age; however, studies have proven time and time again that depression effects more girls than guys. There are many reasons for this, however one main reason is how the media is portraying women and telling everyday teens what they are supposed to dress like, the food they are to put into their mouths, the cars they should be driving, the way to treat their men, etc. Essentially the media is telling these girls how to live.

Why not jump into bed with the Axe guy?!

lindsfauch — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:39:01 +0000

The campaign for real beauty is based on individualism and values. The ads suggest that it’s time for the beauty product industry to respond to the needs of these real women. Dove’s web site claims that the days of rigid beauty standards are over. In this 2007 campaign Dove is listening to the women who for so many years have been complaining about sexual stereotypes. However, they are still posting women wearing next to nothing on the sides of buses all over major cities. Forcing one to ask the question of how far have we really come, does the de-sexualized, practical-looking, white underwear of women flaunting their “real curves” represent a step forward just because the women aren’t giving you a “come and get me grin” or posing like they’re about to jump into bed with the guy from Axe’s advertisements.

lindsfauch — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:34:26 +0000

lindsfauch — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:33:14 +0000

Tyra Banks hosts a talk show on the WB and today she did an episode called “Guess My Weight”. What an eye opener for women of all ages. It was the most truthful and inspirational talk show I have seen on television in a very long time. I am not one to watch much TV, and if I do, I’m the last person you will hear saying its anything even close to life changing. Tonight, however, the show touched on some very real issues. Tyra speaks with a jean-designer and celebrity trainer to expose the truth behind sizing and how weight may have nothing to do with a healthy lifestyle. They had two women who were asked to try on clothes in which the show had switched the size tags. Showing just how important us women think the number matters.

American Truth

lindsfauch — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:36:18 +0000

When I see this commercial I see the truth staring the American population in the face. The reason I like this commercial so much is not only because it states the truth, but also because the girls are real, with real self-conscious issues. Dove is doing the opposite of what all other advertising companies do. Instead of showing that beauty comes with being 100 pounds or less, or flat mid drifts, and gigantic breasts are signs of beauty, their supporting real beauty. Beauty within, beauty you’re bought with. Simply put beauty without a price tag.

lindsfauch — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:56:50 +0000

The Dove campaign for real beauty is trying to educate women of all ages that beauty comes in a wide variety of shapes and colors. They are currently running an advertisement that shows a young red haired, freckled little girl standing in front of what looks like a department store window with manikins dressed in lingerie, all of a sudden the music begins and this little girl becomes literally, sucked into a world of advertisements. We see these ad’s through her eyes; words such as “diet”, “transform”, “tighter”, “softer”, etc. and all the while images of beautiful women appear in front of you while the background music lyrics ring out “… here it comes, here it comes” over and over.

lindsfauch — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:50:59 +0000

Dove is sponsering a new campaign. It is called “Campaign for Real Beauty” and it touches upon young girls self esteem and how the media is such an influence. Dove’s new advertising embarks on a global integrated-marketing campaign that undermines the basic proposition of decades of beauty-care advertising by telling women – and young girls – they’re beautiful just the way they are.

It seems like all this talk of fashion, dieting, and more has distorted womens views of beauty. Research has shown that Ninety percent of women in the U.S. say their looks are average or above. This is a fact that was proved by study done by Dove. According to Doves website; “The study was developed to truly understand American women’s attitudes and beliefs about beauty – and it immediately became the inspiration behind the Campaign for Real Beauty.”

How the media advertises to young girls …

lindsfauch — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:30:25 +0000

Consuming media, it seems, has far outstripped reading storybooks or playing dress-up as the average American child’s favorite pastime. Now with the help of the media children are developing in a while new way.
A child’s body image develops as the result of many influences:

A newborn begins immediately to explore what her body feels like and can do. This process continues her whole life.
A child’s body image is influenced by how people around her react to her body and how she looks.
A pre-adolescent becomes increasingly aware of what society’s standards are for the “ideal body.”

I was with my nine year old cousin this weekend and she was flipping through a Limited Too magazine (http://www.limitedtoo.com/). This magazine sells children’s clothing, and its not what they sell that I have a problem with. Its the fact that every girl on both the pages of the magazine as well as the on the website is that not one of these girls has glasses, or short, let alone a little on the chubby side.My little cousin, and her girlfriends included, are tall, and lean and into all kinds of sports, dancing, cheerleading, etc. This is great for kids to be healthy and outgoing, but what about the less fortunate? All I’m saying is I don’t feel that the company targets girls with low self esteem and or possibly those that are handicapped. What happened to a wide variety of advertising?