10/03/2007

what are we teaching our daughters?

This vid is making the rounds of the blogworld right now, but if you haven't seen it already, do take a moment.

7 comments:

John White said...

That's so messed up. I don't understand why we as a society tolerate it. So what's the equivalent message to our sons?

jana said...

I think a similar vid for boys would be about violence and power. Lots of men holding guns and being 'manly.' It would be just as painful to watch, IMO.

sarah k. said...

I hadn't seen it yet. I think the video is awesome, and I wish I could undo the damage done to me. I can only try to not let it get to my little girl.

Anonymous said...

All that contradictory advertising is always out there in front of you. You just need to put on your B.S. glasses and you will see it pop up. For instance. Watch a few hours of uniterrupted t.v. at peak hours (not late night like most people think) and you will see back to back ads for Heartburn blockers, Food, Weight-Loss, more food, some other drug, more food, gas-guzzling cars,loans, drugs, food, weight-loss, debt-consolidation.. You get the idea.
And that is just the Ads inbetween all the shows ahich are now huge ads themselves. They tell you what not to wear, they tell you how to cook food, and how to loose weight. It's a non-stop onslaught of crap.
They beauty industry highlighted on that one clip is just the tip.

pm

jana said...

pm:
Because I don't have a TV and I rarely watch movies (2-3x/yr), read mainstream magazines (we subscribe to pubs like SciAm and MoJoNews) or subscribe to a newspaper, I feel fairly insulated from advertising. But omigosh--I couldn't help but feel like my body was lacking even from those brief glimpses in the Dove clip. And then to contrast that with the group of absolutely gorgeous-just-as-they-are group of girls really drove home the message....

What sometimes discourages me so much about working on a college campus isn't that the girls are scantily clad or anything like that, it just breaks my heart that they are trying so hard to look like some imaginary Britney-Paris ideal instead of seeing how beautiful and unique they all are...

Anonymous said...

The clip is good at showing the damage ads can do, But the film is
from Dove. A super huge company that must have a new mission, to not
make money?
This I must say is just a new marketing ploy designed to
make tons of money. Its a niche market preying on the insecure. And the insecure have now been labled RealBeauty
by the Dove Corporation.

pm

btw:nice blog

Janell said...

It's some good editing with a good message. A "go to our website and download information [and look at more advertising]" message is insufficient at the end of the commercial. I think their "campaign" would be much improved by a second, adjacent ad of showing positive instances and reinforcement. Teach to teach by example. "This is the message not to give. This is the message to give."