Thoughts on Media Images

I noticed some discussions of the Dove advertising campaign. I think the ads started this summer, and although I haven't really seen them around in my city, I've heard more about the reactions to them.

I am surprised by how upset some people got because of the models. One was Roeper, from Ebert & Roeper, and the others seemed to be mostly male journalists. They were largely disgusted by the models, and said they were fat and promoted obesity. For one thing, I don’t know what his definition of obesity is; it must include everyone except those extremely thin models. Also, I’m surprised by how angry some of the reactions are, with people spray painting insults on billboards of the models. I didn’t think people took these ad campaigns so seriously. I would think everyone is so sick of seeing models and all the airbrushed media people, that they would be glad to see something slightly different for a change. For me, all those people start to blur together, and are so airbrushed and perfected, that they don’t even seem beautiful anymore. They seem like what they are, fake-looking products used to promote other products. So I was surprised that people, mainly men, seem outraged that the women aren’t ultra thin airbrushed models of perfection. They can’t seem to let go of the idea of women as the ultimate commodities. If a woman isn’t absolutely perfect, she must be worthless, because she has only her looks to compete with and the men can have the highest standards possible. I’m sure most of the men complaining were nowhere near as good looking as the women they claim are ugly. If they, mainly Roeper, were solely judged on looks, they’d never get a date with any of the “obese” women, much less with some supermodel.

Another thing about the campaign from the other side, that is the women who support seeing larger models, is that having normal size models is just another way to sell the product. Even though they claim it’s groundbreaking, it just shows how the industry changes based only on what sells. If everyone were suddenly attracted to models who weighed 250 pounds, that’s who would sell the product. They use super thin beautiful women because both men and women respond to them the most. Women have a template they can aspire to be like, and men are attracted to them. The company is uses women’s insecurities against them to sell products, and in this case, makes it seem like a campaign for the good of society. I assumed no one really believes that Dove has any other reason for the ads, except to sell products. But so many people acted like the ads infringed on their rights to see unnaturally thin, beautiful women, that I thought they must really like ads, and like the negative affect they have on our society.

I think the all of the ads are insidious, because they turn our desires and fears against us, and brainwash us into the corporate culture. The journalists complaining about the ads, and the women supporting them, are announcing that they are completely dominated by the ad culture. After all, most everyone in the media has to be, or they couldn’t be there. Roeper and the journalists make their living responding to the media, which is basically driven by the advertising industry. I, for one, would prefer to see plain, ugly, or fat people than any model. I’m so sick of having the image of the perfected beautiful woman, or man, forced into my mind in every media outlet. Even the overly perfected men are obnoxious. The media holds the standards of beauty so strictly, that the people don’t even seem perfect anymore, and start to just look weird, because they all look the same. I think it’s that syndrome where if you meet a good looking person who you start to dislike, they seem less and less attractive. And a plain person with a much better personality starts to look better to you. That’s a big part of the problem, that the models and media people mostly have really annoying personalities. Even the models, because you know their only purpose in ads is to either make you feel bad about yourself, or tease you into buying some product.