Reminds me of the before-and-after photos Jamie Lee Curtis did for a magazine a few years ago.

Also check out this interactive magazine cover "retouching" feature.

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On Saturday mornings back in the early 90's they ran a commercial of a teen girl with a poster of a super model on her wall and when the little girl says "i wish i could look as pretty as her" the women in the poster walks into her bedroom. The girl doesn't recognize the women (because she looks a little homely), but the woman then shows her all the crap they do to her to make her look like the poster (including taping down her ears, giving her hair extensions, and taping up her boobs). Then the little girls says "whoa. i had no idea! I must be beautiful too!" or some other cheesy line.

dove totally ripped off that idea, but I

I'm depressed reading the comments and seeing so many people say "I wonder what they could do for me."

haha, Ahlana, i saw that too. i don't think they ripped the idea entirely, since photoshopping has become somewhat of a newer trend in making women feel uglier than the models they see, but i there are similarities. that commercial was cheesy but it always touched me. it's a common theme, though.

This is such a frusterating thing to watch because they are totally repackaging our politics and selling them back to us in the form of cellulite reductibn creams and volumizing shampoos. They and a multitude of other corporations (nike, secret, clairol, loreal etc.) have realized that there is a demographic of women who don't want to be made to feel like they aren't good enough... they want to feel "empowered" by the products they buy. The problem is that this is a false empowerment; a packaged empowerment... built the same rich, white, hetero, men who told us how fat and ugly we were last week. Its the same system in a slightly different costume. Is this still progressive?

Argh! No human's neck is as long as they made it with photoshop! Unless you put heavy bangles around your neck for months and months &c

Argh! No human's neck is as long as they made it with photoshop! Unless you put heavy bangles around your neck for months and months &c

Nina,

I completely agree with your assessment. My mother sent this video to me and I was torn between wanting to applaud and wanting to scream. It can be incredibly liberating to see the truth seperated from the fiction in an image. But, it's not liberating if that truth is only revealed in order to sell celulite creams and volumizing shampoo of dubious origin.

How ill informed must women be to believe that this revamped marketing is a path to liberation???

I see beautiful women everyday. They are all over the place. The idea that beauty is some impossible standard is laughable.

The idea that beauty is some impossible standard is laughable.

Sure, Dove isn't doing this out of some selfless impulse. But this campaign, and the one before it with size (gasp!) 6-and-up models, is certainly annoying all the right people. Antifeminists aren't looking at these ads and saying, "This is great, it'll get more women to buy cellulite creams." They're saying, "Yuck, why do I have to look at these fat chicks" and "Yawn, everyone already knows that models are Photoshopped, and besides, we shouldn't point it out because it might encourage women to feel better about themselves." When feminists get upset about an ad, it's probably sexist -- and vice versa.

That is a pretty rad video... and although I agree with the comments about how it's repackaging self-esteem to sell cellulite cream, to me that's just a by-product of living in our horribly corporation-driven society--and I'll take ads like this over the alternative any day.

Found this one also on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ytjTNX9cg0

It's a longer ad about preteen and teen girls and self-esteem. It was pretty rad, although it's message seemed to be that it is up to Moms to teach girls how to love themselves, and it has nothing to do with society. And then at the end, they mention that Dove has "mother-daughter" workshops? WEIRD.

noname: Of course beauty is not an impossible standard. I know beautiful people too (although in Iowa they are scarce). What I do not see are *perfect* people - even when I visit big cities.

I was a teen model. Most models are, in fact, pretty. But not perfect. When I modeled, I was very skinny with long legs and some boobs. Perfect, right? Nope! It was suggested to me that I get the bottom of my ribs removed so that my waist would appear longer too. I didn't do it, but they did edit my waist in photos. They edited *all* the models in photos, and quite a bit.

There are certainly people who are naturally pretty and skinny (I'm definitely the latter - I don't diet) but come on. Do you really think the glowing, shimmery skin you see on models is *natural*?

noname, that comment really chafes me.

So you see "beautiful" people pretty frequently? Good for you. Instead of appreciating that beauty, which is probably limited to a pretty damn narrow segment of society, you look around at all the "un-beautiful" people and wonder what they're doing wrong that they haven't attained the apparently *quite possible* goal of beauty.

I don't think the model looks beautiful after they're done with her. How dare you try to define beauty for the rest of us? I resent having women packaged for me and having some asshole tell me that it's possible, and worthwhile, to look like them.

I have been through hell and back with anorexia and general hatred of my body. In order to disguise or alter everything about my body that I hate, I work out several times a week, eat a strict vegan diet, wear makeup daily, paint and polish my finger and toenails, dye, cut and style my hair, purchase jewelry and fashionable clothes and you know what? I still feel ugly. Every now and again, some drunk frat boy will remind me that I *am* ugly. So yes, beauty is an impossible standard. As soon as you get their, they raise the bar. Or shift their dimensions.

Real human beings come in many shapes and sizes and have many different shades and textures of hair and skin. I would encourage you to investigate why beauty is so important to you, and why you think it's perfectly alright to alter images of perfectly attractive women in order to sell products. Why wouldn't we want to see a regular-ass woman selling us products? If George Foreman can sell grills then why the fuck can't Roseanne sell me my shoes? Or even Francis McDormand, for Chrissake?

I left a comment but it disappeared!

Anyway, the gyst of it was that noname's comment really chafed me.

I'm glad you see "beautiful" people all over the place. What you're referring to, I'm sure, is the standard of beauty put forth by the media which encompasses a very small minority of actual people. Well for me, noname, that kind of beauty is truly impossible. And after recovering from several bouts of anorexia, I have made it my life's work to reconcile the way that *I* look with the way that the women in magazines and on television and in movies look. It's been a long process--and dismissing some expectations as just plain unrealistic has been a big part of it.

I think I'm beautiful. But I will never, ever, look like the woman on the billboard. So don't tell me what's possible and what's not. Why don't you just go back to ogling the woman on the most recent cover of Marie Claire. I'll be dodging images like that like I've got blinders on, to avoid getting sucked in. And with the free time that I'll have *not* being obsessed with whether or not I'm bee-youtiful, I'll be trying to develop my intellect. You know, something useful.

"What you're referring to, I'm sure, is the standard of beauty put forth by the media which encompasses a very small minority of actual people." - Robyn Banks

That’s strange, because I see a lot of them. Maybe your standard of beauty is stricter than mine?

“Good for you. Instead of appreciating that beauty, which is probably limited to a pretty damn narrow segment of society, you look around at all the "un-beautiful" people and wonder what they're doing wrong that they haven't attained the apparently *quite possible* goal of beauty.� - Robyn Banks

Actually, no. I prefer to appreciate that beauty (hopefully without ogling). Where did I say otherwise?

“How dare you try to define beauty for the rest of us?� – Robyn Banks

When did I try to define beauty for you? It is almost as if you didn’t actually read my post.

“I resent having women packaged for me and having some asshole tell me that it's possible, and worthwhile, to look like them.� - Robyn Banks

First you make up things about me, then you insult me. Why? Just because I see lots of people I think are beautiful? Did I ever say that you could or should look like them? Why all the hostility?

“Real human beings come in many shapes and sizes and have many different shades and textures of hair and skin. I would encourage you to investigate why beauty is so important to you, and why you think it's perfectly alright to alter images of perfectly attractive women in order to sell products.� – Robyn Banks

When did I say it was so important to me? When did I deny the various shapes and sizes of “real human beings�?

I think image alterations are just dandy. An advertisement is not about the real model, it is about the image that company wishes to project. It is not a documentary, it is fantasy. Some model’s altered image does not change the fact that there are plenty of gorgeous women out there (even if you don’t find that possible).

“I have been through hell and back with anorexia and general hatred of my body. In order to disguise or alter everything about my body that I hate, I work out several times a week, eat a strict vegan diet, wear makeup daily, paint and polish my finger and toenails, dye, cut and style my hair, purchase jewelry and fashionable clothes and you know what? I still feel ugly. Every now and again, some drunk frat boy will remind me that I *am* ugly. So yes, beauty is an impossible standard.� - Robyn Banks

I am sorry you have had a tough time of it, and hope you get some help. None of your struggles, however, show that beauty is an impossible standard. Like I said, I see it every day (and one doesn’t have to starve one’s self to get there).

drumgurl – Anyone who expects perfection is delusional (sorry to any religious people, here). I am simply saying that beauty is not only possible in real life, but that it is actually quite common (depending, obviously, on what you are into and where you are).

"that comment really chafes me." - Robyn Banks

Try baby powder.

I think she was more beautiful before.

noname, I see what you are saying and I agree. But I think you are misinterpreting what others are saying. I seriously doubt the bloggers here are anti-beauty, since they are quite pretty themselves. But the beauty industry deserves to be criticized. Not censored - but criticized and exposed. You would be surprised at how many teens take the idea of perfection seriously. And no, I do *not* think it is right to pressure a teenager into having part of her ribs removed to make a buck. I think it should be legal (on free market principles), but I do not think it is right.

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