Comments for A B O U T - F A C E --- blog

Comment on Our face falls: Positive Dove ads retouched to high heaven? [updated] by Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 12 May 2008 01:27:20 +0000

Yep, I saw the follow-up, and updated the article according to it.

And to asd — unfortunately we don’t have the ability to discern what’s real and what’s not, as you can learn by clicking here. So we keep measuring ourselves against these ideals.

Jennifer
About-Face

Comment on Dairy Queen helps little girls stay flirty and dependent. by Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 12 May 2008 01:23:34 +0000

I really like that you offered your perspective, Jim, and were also open to our point of view. And it’s interesting that you have such a positive opinion of women that you understand that we want something more than “a guy with a paycheck.” Lots of people I know have more cynical views of women… including most of our media, I’m sorry to say.

The ad definitely shows the boy as an easy mark, but it also shows the little girl as a manipulative coquette. And that’s the issues I have. Girls don’t need to learn this behavior from an ad, and boys also don’t need to learn about their expected reaction this way. We need to evolve.

Jennifer
About-Face

Comment on Our face falls: Positive Dove ads retouched to high heaven? [updated] by jim

jim — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:08:02 +0000

There’s an interesting follow-up article on Ad Age.

Quote:

In the joint statement Mr. Dangin said, “The recent article published by The New Yorker incorrectly implies that I retouched the images in connection with the [2005] Dove ‘real women’ ad. I only worked on the [2007 Dove Pro-Age] campaign taken by Annie Leibovitz and was directed only to remove dust and do color correction — both the integrity of the photographs and the women’s natural beauty were maintained.”

Comment on Dairy Queen helps little girls stay flirty and dependent. by Jim

Jim — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:27:55 +0000

I’ve only seen this ad once, and from my point of view (51-year-old male) I chuckled, because I was thinking the little boy was more like a fish on a line being reeled in by a savvy angler. “Like shooting fish in a barrel,” she says.
I didn’t think of it as her being dependent on him for a sundae, as much as getting him to spend his money for what she wanted. I thought the little girl was completely in control, actually.
It made me smile to think that that little boy is just beginning on the fool’s journey so many men head out on, thinking that buying women things will win their hearts. Boy, is he in for a shock when he finds out that women want more than just a guy with a paycheck…ANYBODY can buy things.
But that’s me. If you were offended and felt the wrong message was being sent, then that’s the way it is. As I said, I’m looking at it through male eyes, and I can’t tell people what to be offended by. I mean, I could have been offended because it makes the boy look like an easy mark, but I wasn’t because that’s the way guys are — willing to do anything if it’ll get you to smile at us.

Comment on Do light-skinned black women have life easier than dark-skinned black women? by Maggie

Maggie — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:18:57 +0000

Several years ago when I was in my teens my sister married an Indian guy. I became very interested in Indian culture and read all I could about it. I was surprised to learn how in ancient Indian literature fair skin is praised and prized. This preference was prevalent in Asian countries ever before Europeans had dominance. In olden days Japanese women blackened their teeth in order to make their skin look whiter. Even today geishas paint their faces white. I think preference for pale skin is to do with class more than any negative influence from Europeans. The poor in all countries worked outside and therefore would be sunburnt and darker skinned than their rich overlords. Pale skin was a symbol of wealth and therefore something to be desired. This thinking has become so ingrained that it continues to this day, senseless though it is. Not every problem in the world can be laid at the feet of whitey.

Comment on Dove Does It Again with Pro-Age Ads by A B O U T - F A C E — blog » Our face falls: Positive Dove ads retouched to high heaven? [updated]

Fri, 09 May 2008 18:25:03 +0000

[…] out that he did work on the Dove Pro-Age ads, which were photographed by Annie Leibovitz. Per the AdAge article mentioned above: In her […]

Comment on Our face falls: Positive Dove ads retouched to high heaven? [updated] by asd

asd — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:35:11 +0000

Surely the problem is that our standard of ‘beauty’ is inhuman? The media celebrates extremes of (x qualitty) that can never be achieved in actual people, as a mechanism for creating insecurity about self image, and hence, consumption.

Comment on Our face falls: Positive Dove ads retouched to high heaven? [updated] by PlanningQueen

PlanningQueen — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:05:11 +0000

Greenpeace are also running a campaign about Dove. ” Unilever, the makers of Dove beauty products, are buying palm oil from suppliers who destroy Indonesia’s rainforests.” Check out their website for more details.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/forests/asia-pacific/dove-palmoil-action

Comment on Do light-skinned black women have life easier than dark-skinned black women? by Samantha

Samantha — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:43:57 +0000

I am caucasian and I was born in Brazil. My ancestors were dark skinned (my grandfather was a product of a ‘interracial’ marriage). I am very white, it is impossible to believe that some of my ancestors came from Africa.
Well, I see that in Brazil some afro-brazilians like to marry caucasian women (and vice versa) in order to have children with light skin. This is so ridiculous and sad. I think it was what happenned in my family, that’s the reason why I have a pale skin. Some families even try to hide the african ancestors (thanks God it is not the case of my family, I always had a wonderful relationship with my grandfather and we are only apart now, because he passed away).
People must learn multiculturality, must respect the differences nature make… there are so many kinds of beauty! From Oprah Winfrey (she is a diva for me) to Gisele Bundchen (this one will never represent brazilian women, because only a little part of us look like her).

One thing I’d like to commed is about the hair. The media created a pattern, where all women must have a blond hair and not dark or curly, or african. This is so sad. I see beautiful african descendant woman dying their hair in blond and removing all the curly. Why do Beyoncee have to make that with her hair? Tyra Banks too…

I think everybody is free to do what they want to with their appearance, but in my opinion, natural beauty should be more valored.

Sorry my english mistakes.

Comment on Do light-skinned black women have life easier than dark-skinned black women? by Delia

Delia — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:37:24 +0000

I grew up in Nigeria (Africa) and being dark skinned, i noticed that some people there still refer to light skinned girls as being “beautiful” , “hot” etc while the dark skinned ones are not all that.
However, some other people hold the opinion that the dark skinned ones are the true beauties.
Now that i live in the US, it seems to be more of an issue here than in Africa. So it is not just the mentality after slavery, but really is a result of what the media promotes all over the world.
What i believe is people can be beautiful no matter what color they are. It’s about your self esteem. There are obstacles no matter your color and people are entitled to their preferences.
I like dark and light skinned brothers, and admire both dark or light skinned girls, depending on their style.