Yahoo! carries adverts that encourage eating disorders and promote “size zero” sexism
Posted by Jim Gardner on November 6, 2009
How good is that?
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jimsmuse said
On behalf of all the ‘before’ girls in the world, thanks for this post, Jim! And by the way, it’s nice to be back on wordpress – I’ve missed ya!
Jim Gardner said
You should NEVER have to thank someone for being natural
jimsmuse said
Being natural instead of being ruled by imaginary fears invented by the advertising industry is rare enough that I felt it warranted recognition.
Maybe I should just thank you for being a free thinker in a world of lemmings headed over the cliff?
Michael said
I’ve seen this advert around and I think that girl looks great. Seriously, how can you say she looks better before?
There is a pretty huge difference between something like this and a large corporation such as Polo Ralph Lauren photoshopping a model to the point that her head is wider than her hips no?
Kaybee said
Michael,
The girl on the right looks emaciated skinny, and yes, she does look photoshopped. The before girl looks healthy, not fat. The after girl looks sickly thin.
Its less the photos that irritate me than the catch phrase — OBEY. Yes, that’s it… because girls have problems with their weight because they’re just not obedient enough. It couldn’t be a lack of self-esteem, the push to be on some guy’s arm as candy, or the prevalence of disgusting ads like this as ‘the norm’.
Jim Gardner said
The thing about the girl “after” is that she doesn’t actually suite being thin. Some women are naturally petite and they carry it well, because it’s natural for them to look that way. Whereas the girl “before” actually suites being the size she is. But the ad is literally saying you should feel bad for not obeying some cosmic law that deems skinny to be healthy and to avoid looking natural and curvy as if this is one step away from morbidly obese.
It is exactly these kinds of misleading signals as to what is sexy and what is “normal” that play havoc with impressionable girls, who have enough to contend with at a certain age as it is, without adding into the mix an entirely false notion of what they would look like if they weren’t greedy and disobedient. The self-loathing this ad induces on so many levels is despicable and wrong.
I find these kinds of ads particularly offensive as a man, because they tacitly imply that the only kind of women men find attractive are emaciated brain donors with a face like a Chiuaua liking piss off a nettle. If the magazine-ready look of a well manicured glorified clothes peg is your idea of sexy then lots of luck, but I personally like a woman who isn’t going to snap at the first sign of anything heavier than a home-cooked dinner and a stiff drink inside her—if you catch my poorly concealed euphemism?
Jim Gardner said
*SLAPS FACE IN AMAZEMENT*
http://imgur.com/SrW5N.jpg
They’re MANIPULATING YOU!!
jimsmuse said
Silly me for not paying more attention to the media!
I thought all I had to do was be a good person, pay attention to other people, take a shower every day, and be my witty self in order to ‘be popular’. Now I’m not sure if I need to gain weight, lose weight, or just spend my savings on plastic surgery…
chuck said
It powers of Ads.