What time is it, Readers?
You guessed it...time for another Media Rant by Whitney.
On the menu this time, my own beloved Vicky S. Let me start off by saying I LOVE Victoria's Secret. I really, truly do. I love their bras. I love their lingerie. I love their body creams. What I can do without is their recent hypocrisy. VS has launched a mini-line, titled 'Love Your Body' within their best-selling Body line. At first I was sort of thrilled to hear this. I envisioned ads containing women of all shapes and sizes a la Dove's Real Beauty Campaign. Ya know: young, old, short, tall, curvy, boyish, etc. Come to find out...mmmm, not so much. In fact, the ads contain nothing more then a line up of, you guessed it, perfectly proportioned models.
So, whose body exactly am I supposed to be loving? I can tell ya right now I'm not loving looking at stick-thin models with legs up to here, yet still magically having D-size boobs. Yeah, not in love with that at all, actually.
To top it off, the campaign includes a video of the models discussing all the different parts of a man's body they love. Again, how is this supposed to help me love my body? Watching a panty-clad model lounge about discussing how much she loves a man's tummy (while pointing out her own amazingly toned abs for inspection), does not make me LOVE my very own post-baby body. So, next time you attempt to help women around the world love THEIR bodies, why don't you start by actually loving THEIR bodies yourself? Sorry VS, but you reeeeally missed the mark this time.
For those who are interested...
The 'What do you love about a man's body' Video:
The 'Love Your Body' Commercial:
My husband had to disagree. He told me, "I love their bodies..." :) I, however, do agree. Especially after today. Unfortunately I got a oh-so-appealing sight of myself in a large mirror at church today. I'm not fat, but a lovely size 12...blehh. I know I'm not huge, and that is considered the actual average size of women in the US, but post-baby bodies are the pits, no matter what size you are. Things sag, jiggle and ugly marks are here, there, everywhere! I think many women have major issues with self-esteem and body concepts from a young age and seeing fabulous looking models everywhere doesn't help. I can't fault VS for using their gorgeous girls for their regular lines, but come on! In a line titled like that, I too, expected a little more.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I really love Dove's advertising movement. We need more of that. Healthy bodies should be the goal, not just fabulosity in underwear!
PS-My sweetie is worried he is coming across like an awful male pig...he's not. Crazy enough, he still finds me extremely sexy, no matter my size! ;)
Ok, so funny thing about the Love Your Body campaign, my husband and I saw the life-size ads at the mall the other day and started discussing how big their... LIPS are! Seriously, the lips are gross. And oddly enough my husband doesn't find these particular models all that attractive...
ReplyDeleteI agree, they missed the mark. But then again, the whole point of VS is to make you feel sexy, so they get "sexy" women to model their underwear. But I think they are disgustingly skinny, it's just gross.
I agree with you! It's hard to actually love your stretch marked somewhat flabby body when you are comparing it to those models. Lucky for me my husband is always telling me I look good and that I don't need to change anything. (I still seem to feel differently though...sigh) I have another grudge against VS as well, I went to get a new bra (very much needed) and they no longer make my favorite one :( I bought a different and I just don't like it as well. Whats a girl to do?
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