Thank you Dove, for reminding all of us that no matter how many carbohydrates we avoid or how much plastic surgery we desire, we will never be able to look like supermodels.
In fact, even supermodels can’t look like supermodels. That’s because the cover-girls and pin-up beauties many women envy aren’t even real. Those pictures of perfection don’t exist beyond the shiny pages of Vogue.
But who defines perfection, anyway? For decades it’s been fashion houses, glossy magazines and photo-shoot editors.
However, Dove is attempting to expel that impossible definition with their Campaign for Real Beauty. The company’s first advertisements featured “real” women with freckles, flaws and (gasp!) flab. This campaign caught the attention of women sick of seeing unrealistic models selling a product and proved that one doesn’t have to wear a size double-zero to be a model.
The ad was appealing to me, but I really didn’t think it was powerful enough to make a big difference in the way women compare themselves to models. At least not until Dove’s most recent video, titled “Evolution.”
This short video begins with a model who by no means looks like the glamorous women we see in the pages of our favorite fashion magazines. She quickly evolves with the help of make-up artists and hair stylists, who leave her looking stunning. This is when it gets good. With the magic of Photo Shop, this model takes “Nip/Tuck” to the next level. Without ever going under the knife, she receives a longer and narrower neck, eyebrow lift, changed bone structure and more shocking “improvements” that leave her looking nothing like, well, her.
I love this video because it really exposes the dirty work done after photo-shoots and proves to women and men that supermodels are only so super. The rest is up to the Photoshop transformation. Watch for yourself at campaignforrealbeauty.com.
I want to know why we even have models anymore. With the technologies that allow editors to airbrush, whiten and tighten, why can’t they create models right on the computer? Think of all the money advertisers and magazines would save not having to book models. No fussy photo-shoots or wardrobe changes. Just design your muse with the click of a mouse. Then we can all know that image of perfection is only the image of perfection according to the magazine.
It is not my intention to bash beautiful models. I want to exploit the digital work of editors that makes insecure women think they will never be beautiful too. So many girls and women are trying to achieve a mold of perfection that doesn’t exist.
Oprah recently featured girls as young a three years old with body image distortions. While insecurities are normal for adolescent girls, this toddler threw a different kind of tantrum. She was screaming and crying that she was “ugly” and begged her mother to let her wear make-up. Shouldn’t three-year-olds be worried about things such as dolls and naptime? This was one game of dress-up that was way too out of control.
We have to start teaching children as young as this toddler that the models they see in magazines often look nothing like the women who showed up to the photo-shoot. Otherwise we will all be living in some dream world trying to look like someone who doesn’t exist. Women need to stop worshipping the digitally designed and technologically enhanced figures smiling at them from magazine covers and billboards.
Because there is nothing real about those “beauties.”
About the writer:
Annalise Ghiz is a senior journalism major. She can be reached at [email protected].
