American Beauty? *Updated*
Posted yesterday, these ads have already garnered 276 308 comments over at Shakesville.
The Brazilian campaign for Fit Light Yogurt replaces thin women with fat women in well-known film scenes. The campaign boasts the tagline "Forget about it. Men’s preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt."
Go read Melissa’s post, check out the rest of the ads, browse the encyclopedia of comments, and then come back here and toss me your thoughts. I’d be interested to hear how the industry reacts to these ads in comparison to the reactions on a Feminist site.
*Updated 6/20: AdAge has picked up the topic as well.
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It ain’t over ’till the fat lady sings…
Mag je seksistisch zijn om buzz te genereren? Het is een discussie die in ons land al was opgelaaid naar aanleiding van Emakina’s Rent-a-Wife (een kwestie die nu beslecht is met een boete van 12.000 euro). Nu is het de beurt aan de VS, dankzij ee…
I read some of those comments on Shakesville and they were discussing how "hot" this chick is or how "beautiful" she is. How you view her is objective, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say most men would agree with the tag line. Call me a pig, a stereotyping ass, or what have you, but what’s wrong with wanting a woman who is healthy? I most def. wouldn’t call that woman healthy. Regardless of what the "norm" or "average" size is for a woman, it isn’t justification for being unhealthy.
I had to stop reading the comments there as I found myself getting dumber by the read.
now that overboard pc-itis has taken away everyone’s favorite toy - i.e. rabid bigotry - "healthy" become the new "pass" that allows folks to still have their daily superiority fix.
you can no longer look down on folks do to their skin color, ethnicity, religion, inhibited mental or physical capacities or sexual orientation with impunity. what a bore! what you CAN do, though, is take someone with appendages larger than a twizzler and - tsk! tsk! - create your bottom feeder de jour.
i mean, she’s "unhealthy" so that makes her less <fill in the word> than me!
Well, I do think the women in those ads are gorgeous… And clearly not everyone thinks women who are not skinny are automatically repulsive because there are at least some men out there who choose to date and marry non-skinny women. My husband, for one.
“you can no longer look down on folks do to their skin color…”
How about their spelling?
Frankly, I don’t care what people find attractive or repulsive. Whatever floats your boat. But it’s interesting that we roundly condemn advertisers for showing us anorexic women (thus promoting one unhealthy body type), and then we tell those with obesity that they are “beautiful” just the way they are…ignoring the very real dangers of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, etc.
That girl’s a lot healthier than Mena Survari.
"…How about their spelling?…"
Multitasking is sometimes not my friend. So sue me! I missprelled "vegetable" in a 4th grade spelling bee, too. Maybe I should be prohibited from posting comments at all….?
Who’s ignoring anything? If anything, the health issues that over-skinny models contend with have been made public enough by the two recent deaths in the business.
What’s game for the goose….paté and all…and all that!