All hail the Mill Road Feminist.
Anyone got a pic of that? Might even do a follow up post ;)
“For Girls Who Want More” is irksome. THEY ARE FLAKES. WHEAT FLAKES. FLAKES OF WHEAT! GOD DAMMIT! SURELY MEN ALSO ENJOY OR DETEST THEM IN RELATIVELY EQUAL MEASURE. HOW CAN YOU GENDER A WHEAT FLAKE. *froths incredulously*
The Mill Road Feminist makes me smile, though.
]]>Interesting.
What I was really struck by is the way the advertising has become much more about feminine beauty and it’s relationship with ideas about preferred ‘healthy’ shapes. In a way I’m less bothered about how “real” the models are and more about the conflation of weight loss with beauty, specifically female beauty, as this component (and female focus) is absent from the earlier ads.
But if that’s true, good to know!
]]>If that’s what the writer MEANT, then that’s what she(/he?) should have SAID instead of wording it in such a personal and abusive way, which is the only issue I have with it.
Going back to the original poster (which is actually advertising a diet website, not a cereal), all it actually is is a picture of a woman who looks to be a perfectly healthy weight with the rather bland slogan “shine this summer”. There’s nothing bullying about it; it’s not telling anybody to do anything, it’s simply offering a choice. There is a lot of truly loathesome advertising out there presenting warped views of women – but I really don’t think this is an example.
]]>I don’t think the graffiti artist is judging the motivations of the actual woman in the poster at all. I think they’re making a statement against what the poster DOES and is FOR, which is “to tell women they should be thin (and our cereal can do that)”. The model might just be doing a job, but when the artist says “Special K lady” they’re talking to image which is making them feel insecure, the brand and the message of the poster, not the individual human.
]]>I think that you, like the graffiti artist, are ascribing motivations and intentions to this woman which you can’t possibly know. Don’t you think it’s possible she simply turned up to have her photo taken because that’s her job? For all you know she might be just as insecure about her body as any other woman. (In discussions around body image it’s rarely acknowledged that slim women can have negative thoughts about their bodies too.)
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