Saturday, October 27, 2007

hey women, don't fall for the media circus!

Wasn't planning to blog about this but a (male) friend of mine told me about this:

According About-Face, "Studies have shown that exposure to idealized images of women result in lowered levels of self-esteem and body satisfaction in women." The organization regularly draws up the top 10 offenders and the top 10 winners. A popular offender is SKYY Vodka which is the top offender in the latest 'Gallery of Offenders'. Others 'Offender Brands' include Levi's, Sisley, Guess, Calvin Klein, Dior and Louis Vuitton. Ads. in the offenders include idealized (or stereotype) images of women.

Apart from the offenders, there are the winners. Winners include Keds, Aasics, Eileen Fisher, Nike and Fruit of the Loom. One particular ad. for clothing brand Eileen Fisher, which constantly features in the 'Top Winners List', says, "I've developed an eye for what's real in people and things". In all the 'Winner Brands', there is a sense of warmth, 'group' and most of all include real people, not idealized supermodels.

And here I recall what branding-guru Tom Peters and Martha Barletta tried to convey in 'Trends', one of the Tom Peters Essentials Series: "People-ize your Communications!" Whilst us man like to stand out and be the winners, women are warmer and more emotional. As 'Trends' clearly points out, "women want to feel warmer toward others, by finding points of commonality".

Dove is definitely thinking 'group' and 'real beauty'. I was very surprised not to see Dove in the winners' lists. I should point out though that Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty does feature on the organization's site. Through its culture of embracing real beauty, Dove has also gone a step further by setting up 'The Dove Self-Esteem Fund'.

At the end of this post I have one dilemma. If women agree that certain images offend, that their idea of beauty has been distorted by ads. which big brands such as CK, Guess and Sisley continuously splash in their face, why is Glamour, BRITAIN'S No1 WOMEN'S MAGAZINE? Not allowing the 'Offender Brands' to advertise in this magazine would definitely threaten the feasibility of the project and send out a clear message to the offenders!

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