Products in the Marketplace
I remember sitting on a large tree stump (Washington fire hydrant) with a friend named Hannah when we were 9 years old. Hot topic of conversation: Ariel’s shell bra (from Disney’s The Little Mermaid). It was a hot summer day and we were munching on egg salad sandwiches, idly watching the bumble bees skating over the lawn, discussing Ariel’s perfect breasts, stunning red mane of hair, and tiny waist. We greatly admired transformed Ariel’s delicate, slender human legs. (Now there’s a great lesson to teach little girls: just change your whole body and give up your life and you’ll get a prince!) Then, there was a quiet moment where we both looked down at our own legs, dangling side by side. Hannah poked my leg; I poked hers back. “Eww, my leg is so fat!” I moaned. She commiserated. We couldn’t have been more than 70 pounds a piece.
Thus it began. I remember spending the first month of fifth grade sucking in my nonexistent “stomach” in the hopes of having the most whittled waist possible (my mom soon put a stop to that nonsense). To this day I still wish it were smaller, though I’d like to think it’s not Ariel influencing this fantasy. The pressure to look perfect is intense. I have one drop-dead gorgeous friend who - at 27 - is seriously considering cosmetic procedures to deal with her “wrinkles”. Another friend and I have been discussing liposuction since we were 17. I try to catch myself before engaging with the perfection spiral, but it’s hard not to get sucked in to the pursuit of every-inch-must-be-orgasm-on-a-platter.
I’m not sure about Dove and this campaign, although it’s a compelling video. Dove is owned by Lever, which owns and markets teen-boy-directed Axe, which in addition to being mildly annoying clearly aims to decimate any proximate adult’s remaining sense of smell. At the very least, Lever cannot claim a consistent stance on beauty.
I’m also curious to know what sort of physical insecurities men deal with. I suppose it’s easy to stereotype and say that men get away with pot bellies and bad hair and no one cares. But I think increasingly we’re all expected to be airbrushed.
HT: Steve
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POSTED IN: Beauty, Boys & Girls, Misc.
11 opinions for Products in the Marketplace
sasha
Oct 12, 2007 at 5:35 pm
scroll down and see the image used for the laft/right brain test
case. point.
Shaping Youth
Oct 13, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Sara, your verbiage is SO compelling and strikes to the heart of the problem that we’re filming here at Shaping Youth in our K-5 documentary called “Body Blitz: Media, Shaping Youth” Would you mind if I posted your comments on our blog and a link to your site?
This is absolutely spot on topic. (and yes, as you can see, we also hemmed and hawed over the disconnect of Unilever’s multinational brand here: http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=666
in our post…)
That said, my gut tells me that rather than vilify Dove for bringing awareness into the game, I’d rather focus on Axe and what seems to be passing for “parody” among my industry peers (male particularly) They see Axe as ‘over the top satire’…sadly, the K-8 girls I work with see it as “aspirational”—as in ’someday my prince will come if I just act like this’ mode…
Danger Will Robinson! (oh, I forgot, you’re too young for that media reference ;-) heehe
Anyway, great pithy prose. Keep up the good work!
Shaping Youth
Oct 13, 2007 at 3:17 pm
p.s. I’ll add that men (and boys) are undergoing similar pressure of appearance-based cues (from balding to the ‘buffed boy’ syndrome of video game icons/steroid use-muscle men and increasing body dysmorphia to the point of an escalation in eating disorders…we’re doing research on it right now.
In fact, our advisory board team at Packaging Girlhood.com is coming out with “Packaging Boyhood” in 2009 and are eager to hear from boys 3-18 or so to add to their book research. Any of your readers can submit input to them…more about that on our post/links to the survey, research, etc. in our article called “Corporate pirates raid boys’ souls” about the new ‘cologne’ for tots, boys aged 4-11 from Disney. so yes, in short, it’s a universal “argh!”
Here’s the link: http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=655
steve
Oct 15, 2007 at 10:37 am
Cologne for 4 - 11 year old boys? That’s wretched. They’re training us young to be avid consumers, before we even have a chance to know better. If I hadn’t smelled like dirt every day when I was that age, then I felt disappointed. I didn’t like to bathe, let alone smell “like grown-ups.”
Nowadays (at the age of 30), I’m more conscious of my general health rather than my physical appearance. However, I do take note of any possibility of anything resembling a ‘beer gut.’ Most of my anxieties stem from that region of the body; I suppose it’s because I grew up with some relatively out-of-shape male role models (who incidentally died of cancer well before their mid-50’s…I linked the two phenomenae in my brain somehow, and I can’t shake it). I use their past history as a guideline as to what NOT to do, and it keeps me in decent shape, but that’s about it. I realize I don’t have the time or money to compete with movie stars and athletes who have the resources available to take on personal trainers and home gyms. And I don’t watch television, which is a MAJOR vessel for a lot of consumerist, predatory marketing tactics. So although there’s room to grow, I’m in a fairly decent place, fortunately.
Glad the link was useful, Sara! :)
jorn
Oct 21, 2007 at 10:33 am
As one of the “boys” who reads your website, I thought I’d comment.
I turned 37 yesterday. I’ve actually been looking forward to doing so all summer. Why? Because i look ~ 10 years younger today than I did 3 years ago. Long-story-made-short: I was fat and sick. Changed my diet; got some exercise. Better now.
Anyway. Boys feel pressure. Men feel pressure. I don’t want a belly or love handles AT ALL. And I think I have a pretty decent grasp over my self esteem. We not only feel very similar pressure to look good, but our bodies had also better perform certain tasks well, too.
So, yeah. Human beings feel this kind of pressure.
Shaping Youth
Oct 21, 2007 at 10:46 am
To Jorn who commented above, I’d love to interview you from a male perspective for Shaping Youth, as I feel you’re absolutely spot on correct, which is why we’re the only nonprofit I know of that’s focusing on BOYS pressures as well…
I hope you checked out the link I left above on my ‘cologne’ article, but here’s one that goes directly to the survey for boys from the authors of “Packaging Boyhood” who have their book in development right now. http://tinyurl.com/2akt9b
Do you have sons? I’d like to to hear from you regardless, kids or not, because the male population is being just as trivialized and stressed out from all this ‘buffed boy/6-pack abs’ bit.
Big part of the puzzle that needs unearthed…Ping me on our blog (link above)? Your comments are VERY well taken on the performance-based bit too, and impt. from a ‘normalcy’ vs. ’self-esteem issues’ perspective too.
You’re the ‘mainstream’ man sound bite that perfectly conveys the majority of what’s transpired in appearance-based cultural cues.
Sara, great job here, btw…
Shaping Youth
Oct 21, 2007 at 10:48 am
Oh…and Steve? You too!
jorn
Oct 21, 2007 at 11:10 am
Amy, reach out to me. I’ll help any way I can.
Shaping Youth
Oct 21, 2007 at 11:18 am
Excellent! I plan on putting together a few ‘e-questions’ via interview for you and Steve and will shoot them to you so you can ponder/respond at your leisure…No rush, after all, ’stress’ is unhealthy too! ;-) Thanks for the ping. Gotcha logged in now…woohoo! In fact I’m about to leave a comment on your ’sleep’ posting w/some new data on an article I’m doing.
Sara, thanks for being the conduit to these sharp gents…
Sara
Oct 22, 2007 at 10:33 pm
@ everyone: great conversation! Thanks so much, everyone. I hope something cool comes out of this. Amy, keep me posted. :)
Shaping Youth
Oct 23, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I’ve tried to log into Jorn’s site to no avail, a WP.org glitch w/like-minded servers, so if Steve and Jorn could send me their e-mails offline, I’m amy at shapingyouth dot org —okay? I’m at the She’s Geeky Unconference in Mtn. View right now, and in Dallas tmrw., so hopefully will catch up w/you all within the next week or so. Thanks for the patience…
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