True Beauty isn't Photoshopped

Women are constantly told that they must look, act, and feel a certain way in order to be considered beautiful. They must all look like sexy bikini models, models that the actual models wished they looked like. Advertisement is a powerful tool that can be used to create or destroy. It’s a fact, we all come in  different shapes and sizes but the media still advocates that one look, total perfection. No one is prefect and flaws are what preserves an individuals humanity. Women are constantly told ridiculous things, eat less and you will feel beautiful and sexy.It’s quite interesting how things have shifted, women that were once though to be beautiful and sexy were actually natural plump women. Bordo states a great observation “In the mid-nineteenth century, hotels and bares were adorned with Bouguereau-inspired paintings of voluptuous female nudes.” (Bordo 102) We have entered the modern world in which we can generate the perfect women with a computer. This idea of thinness is a construction that was created through the use of the mass media. “The argument that the media causes eating disorders assumes not merely that media representation misrepresent but that they also inscribe. directing women to “train, shape, and modify their bodies to conform to what very clearly, are impossible ideals.”(Gunther 206) These are not real women and we have seen that some advertisers are pushing towards this real-women idea but I feel that it’s always going to be about money. Granted it’s more acceptable to display a women that is natural vs. photoshopped. We have seen advertisers like Dove and Fila embrace this image of using real women. Fila fall of 2011 unveiled their body toning collection ad campaign, which featured six real women from across the United States wearing the fitness apparel line. The company wanted to portray this image of an everyday women who can inspire and relate to the real women. All of the models used for their ad are non- professional models that are all successful women with careers and natural bodies. In Body messages and body meaning, it makes an point. “The subtle implication is like food and be like  your mother, or reject food and be sexy, successful and maybe even a star.”(Gunther 213) She then concludes that this obsession of diet and looking a particular way is also associated with how celebrities look. Often they use celebrities to sell diet products that often don't work. This is a link to the Fila site and information about their real women ad campaign. Click Here

Lillian Russell was the most photographed
women in America and was praised for her
natural look. 

We need more ad campaigns that aspire to project the real image of women like Fila and Drove are trying to do.