American Beauty

It's Monday everyone - pop quiz time!

Tell me what you think of the woman in this ad (NOTE: potentially NSFW but no nudity) and then I'll tell you what the advertisers WANT you to think.

Talk soon,
Les

Comments

Wow - you might to want to mark that link NSFW! I wouldn't call it obscene but I definitely wouldn't want my coworkers to see that pop up!!

As for what I think of her? I think she's gorgeous. I wish I could look that confident in the buff. That said, I personally wouldn't want to be that heavy (not healthy, probably - but who know what her personal situation is? I'm not hating.) I'm guessing the ad, since it looks like it's for yogurt, is promoting weight loss of some sort though??

Thanks, Charlotte - I'll add the NSFW tag now. Wasn't even thinking!

I thought that the model was gorgeous and confident. I'd much rather see a curvy normal girl then one of those models where you can count their ribs. But then I noticed the add was for yogurt and I couldn't decide if it promoting weight loss, or just healthy eating.
I'll go with healthy eating, and think that there ads were along the line of the Dove ads. I think people need to be more exposed to normal proportions on people. I think we are overexposed to the bobble head types.
I stuggled with weight issues until the day my personal trainer said "Enough!" and made me do a complete work up with the Gem thing, and told me that if I was nothing but bones and muscle (and I'd be dead if that were the case) I'd still weigh 115 lbs, and that 140 was my happy weight, that I finally shut up my negative self talk.
Sometimes it just takes a figurative smack upside the head. :)

I thought that the model was gorgeous and confident. I'd much rather see a curvy normal girl then one of those models where you can count their ribs. But then I noticed the add was for yogurt and I couldn't decide if it promoting weight loss, or just healthy eating.
I'll go with healthy eating, and think that there ads were along the line of the Dove ads. I think people need to be more exposed to normal proportions on people. I think we are overexposed to the bobble head types.
I stuggled with weight issues until the day my personal trainer said "Enough!" and made me do a complete work up with the Gem thing, and told me that if I was nothing but bones and muscle (and I'd be dead if that were the case) I'd still weigh 115 lbs, and that 140 was my happy weight, that I finally shut up my negative self talk.
Sometimes it just takes a figurative smack upside the head. :)

Yikes! Posted twice. Sorry, everyone!

I think it's great to see more women who aren't stick figures used in advertising.
BTW, does anyone watch America's Got Talent? Last week, a group of 4 plus-size women were performing and they were great. The Hoff called them Plus-Size Pussy Cat Dolls. They sang and danced and were dressed in corsets and fishnets and tall boots. It was really refreshing to see women who are comfortable enough to do that and be proud. But I think some people might view them as if they're endorsing obesity and other weight-related health problems. And you know what, some people are perfectly healthy but may have some extra weight on their bones. And that's okay.
As far as advertising goes, I used to shop from the Victoria's Secret catalog sometime (cute stuff) but now when I see it in the mail, it gets toseed out. I can't fit in those clothes, but nevertheless, I can't relate to those women selling it. I can't see myself in the models. We have nothing in common. Yogurt? I'm down with the yog'!

Honestly, I don't reallly get it. While she is beautiful, she is clearly over-weight. Do the yogurt people want us to aspire to look like her? Most food ads choose beautiful thin models enjoying their food, trying to trick us into thinking that if we eat this, we'll look like them. Is the ad saying that if we eat this, we'll be over-weight? Don't get me wrong, I do think she looks fantastic and confident...just a thought.

I haven't practiced a foreign language in a long time, but if my translation is semi-correct, then I think this ad appears to be one thing, but it's really another. On the surface, it looks like the ad is promoting body acceptance and sexiness regardless of size. However, if my weak translation is correct, the ad is REALLY saying that curvy is NOT beautiful, and that if you are at all overweight or above the ideal body norm, a man will never want you . .. no matter how beautiful or sexy you are.

I really hope I am wrong.

"While she is beautiful, she is clearly over-weight."

How do you know? Are you privy to her BMI? Do you know her doctor?
The whole point of my post is that she might right at her happy weight. That is like saying that all of those uber-skinny models is healthy. I barely qualify as being in my BMI range for "healthy weight" but that's the way it is. My cholestrol is so low that my doctor requires me to eat red meat.
I think people should aspire to be healthy and happy, regardless of what a tag in a pair of pants says.
I hope I don't offend you. I just wish people could just be beautiful, not beautiful, but....aren't there enough conditional things in life?

Having already been informed of the translation, I can say that I am terribly disappointed in this ad campaign. However, I love that photograph! It embodies so much confidence and sensual joy. The other ads in the same series make a much better example of their fucked up message.

Just like skinny models, she's obviously been retouched. Still beautiful, looks very happy. First thought was, CURVES!!

I would think this ad was promoting yogurt as a healthy option regardless of weight loss. What's it really saying?

I hope you're wrong, Bridget. The thought went through my mind, but I dismissed it.

And of course she's been airbrushed, too. Companies pay a lot of money for ads and they might as well look their best. But as we all know, controversy and sex SELL.

On a different note, myself being a bit of a nerd, I was watching a preview for a show on G4 and they were going to talk about sex in video games and whether there's too much sexy imagery there. I have to say, seeing some of these games and modifications that come out (some mods allow you to see the characters in the nude) is really too much. Do we really want our youth to be exposed to sex when they're playing a game, too? Isn't there too much skin being shown on TV (let's not even talk about online porn)? Again, I understand that sex sells and most gamers are male, but it's just overwhelming. Any mothers out there that have an opinion on this?

Didn't anyone else notice the 'American Beauty' reference here?

Clearly, she is much heavier than Mena Suvari http://images.macdesktops.com/images/640x1024/DKAmericanBeauty640x1024.jpg

I know what this ad campaign is all about. It has 2 others just like it. I mean, she's pretty and all, but clearly airbrushed. It just doesn't look natural.

The woman is absolutely stunning. I suppose the American Beauty theme is saying that this curvaceous woman is also an American beauty (along the lines of the dove campagain). She may be heavier than most but she eats healthy (their yogurt)

I can't believe people think that the ad is saying if you eat that brand of yogurt, you too will be overweight, or they're promoting being overweight. (on another blog) That is so off the mark.

Believe it or not, some people who carry extra pounds do work out and eat healthy. We're too caught up with the numbers on the scale. She looks fab(obviously airbrushed) but I like the pix. I have not seen the ads.

I think that’s she's way too fat to be in that AD.

I mean why not have the skinny models? we all know they look better, I mean come’ on. I'd rather see someone like me who weighs 107 and in 5'8 and not that fat cow... sorry but its true and you are all in denial of it!!!

Kate,
you obviously don't get the point of this website and your negative comments aren't appreciated. It's because of people like you that women have to have a place like this where we can get together and share uplifting and positive ideas on how to live a healthy life and feel better about ourselves because of our backwards society. Please don't post your hateful and cruel words here. This is not the place for that.

I think the ad is saying that she is an american beauty who eats HEALTHY. I am 220 lbs and I eat way more healthy and go to the gym much more than all of my size 8 friends who eat pizza get drunk and sleep half the day away, yet I am percieved as lazy and an over eater. I wear a size 16 and I am very beautifull like her, I would do the ad un airbrushed.

I think that this yogurt company is trying to appeal to a greater demographic of women.
By putting this model in the same setting as the American Beauty picture, I think it conveys the message that this model is also an "American Beauty", which will probably appeal to a lot of women who aren't very thin but prefer to eat healthy. I think some women may be "turned off" by an advertisement, dissuaded from buying a product, if they cannot relate to the person selling it. Like the Victoria's Secret models... Last time I saw one of their commercials, I wondered what woman could relate to these tiny little women, squirming around in high heels - are they trying to sell to 16 year old boys or to women??
I think this is an interesting change in advertising. Health is more important than weight..thin doesn't automatically mean healthy and a size 16 doesn't mean you're a lazy pig with a bon-bon habit.
I think this ad is saying, you're a beautiful woman, eat some delicious yogurt and be fit! :)

personally this ad is so sexualized and objectifying i have a hard time thinking this ad could at all be empowering and suggestive of a confident self image. while she seems happy and comfortable in her body, she is still in a passive pose and the whole thing is about the audience looking at her. knowing that most models in ads are much thinner, it seems pretty obvious that the reason this model was chosen to represent the image was because her relatively thicker frame, and that her weight is the primary thing for the audience to acknowledge. as for it being an ad for yogurt, i didnt expect that. looking at this ad, i would assume i am supposed to say: "if i eat this yogurt i'll be heavier (if we are suposed to identify as the model, and most models being ultra-thin) and happy about it?" i'm all for healthy living, eating and body acceptance, but i wouldnt eat yogurt hoping to to be that weight. but if it promised me healthy shiny hair, nails and skin like her, you can bet your boots i would eat a lot more dairy.

I am not sure what to say; part of me thinks that they are being offensive to the young lady by noting that she is obviously over weight. Granted she can lose a few pounds, but she also looks healthy and happy. Also what does this say to women, that you are a joke if you are overweight..maybe she is not overweight; no one looks good in that position! I am also sad that instead of saying something like, Stay Healthy with our Product, they are using her to illustrate, that yes she is not mina suvari and needs to lose weight. At first I thought it was just a reflection of the culture it is targeting, who tend to enjoy the more voulumputous figure.

I think this woman is gorgeous and looks happy. What I think the advertiser wants women to think? That they imagine themselves to feel 'plump' and overweight compared to actresses on film/tv, and therefore need this product. It's a play on body image: whether we're 5 pounds or 50 pounds over our healthy weight, we feel much more than that. This woman represents this distortion, and our potential to feel slimmer after eating the product, as if it's a Before/After shot ("after" implied by the actress's figure from American Beauty). Also, I think the ad is appealing to that part of women in latina culture who want to look like the thin "American" Beauty. Whether it's a joke about the "American ideal" - blonde, thin, young - or an appeal to part of us who want to look that way, I cannot say. Maybe both!

Oh, she is gorgeous! It'd be so much better to hug and hold her than it would be to hold a 107-pound bag of bones.

i won't lie. i know this add is sopposed to empower women and make them more accpeting. but looking at it i'd rather die than be that big