In some cases, the title says it all. This article by Susie Orbach is certainly an example of that. In the paper titled “Fat is an Advertising Issue” she chronicles her journey to get the Dove campaign for real beauty put into action. These ads were created with the tough job of changing how beauty is seen in our media reach culture. Despite the success of this ad campaign, it has not majorly affected the way beauty is seen in our culture. This ad campaign was released about ten years ago and the vast majority of ads we see today still feature incredibly skinny girls and photoshopped images.
The models seen in most of today’s ads still share the same basic characteristics of the models seen ten years ago; they’re tall, beautiful, and skinny. While some women are able to manipulate themselves to fit this contorted view of beauty, many are unable to reach this goal. This can leave them with low self-esteem and a poor body image. You can’t really blame them either, when you look at every magazine cover you either see a model or a celebrity who has been digitally altered in some way. On the rare occasion that someone is willing to do a photoshoot sans digital alteration, it becomes a huge story for whatever publication it involves. If our image of true beauty hade indeed changed, a pictorial of a woman without her make up would not be a front cover story.
While Orbach did have the best intentions in mind, the ad campaign she helped create became nothing more then a small portion of the ads we are inundated with daily. The ads that do portray beauty the way it should be are certainly a step in the right direction, but until these ads are able to have the same effectiveness of the now stereotypical clothing or beauty ad they will remain an oddity of the marketing world.
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