I had planned to write something to put the video in perspective and leave you with more than just a commercial to watch. But I just noticed the time and so writing will have to be for another time, for time won't give me time (this time)! :-)
Showing posts with label self-esteem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-esteem. Show all posts
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Hype, hip, and hope in real beauty
I remember one summer in the '80s when my parents spent about a month in the US, visiting relatives and friends, enjoying the sights, and experiencing what they could in that limited time from coast to coast.
When they came back to the Philippines, among the "treasures" in their suitcases were back issues of Seventeen magazine. Those were for me, they said -- a gift from one of my cousins who, I assumed, outgrew them already as she was several years my senior. I was in high school and it was just the sort of thing to give me a thrill!
As far as I remember, this heralded my entry into the world of fashion & beauty (as the commercially driven mainstream culture then knew it), and into the eye-candy-but-often-authenticity-empty world of products, looks, effects, allure, and everything else that has for its foundation a "look good, feel good" dictum. It's possible that there were, of course, articles or fashion layouts meant to enrich the soul or underscore the primacy of virtue in the grand scheme of things...but I must have missed them. To be sure, I did develop a reasonably okay sense of overall style thanks partly to the years of fashion magazine-flipping. But I developed much more than that. And I believe that a lot of grownup women now will agree with me when I say that looking through women's magazines habitually -- particularly those that revolve around the themes of fashion and beauty (treated the conventional way, of course) -- prompts a feeling of inadequacy in the reader. In fact, I've read somewhere that subtle feelings of inadequacy regarding one's physical features are felt by some women after going through a magazine of this nature only once. Now I can't remember if this slight blow to one's self-confidence is primarily caused by the ads (visuals and text combined), or by the ideas put forth by both the ads and editorial content, or only by the visuals encountered by the reader as she leafed through the mag.
Needless to say, anything that sees print and is presented well seems to achieve "pedestal-status." It tends to be more easily believed or given importance (ideas) or regarded as ... ahem, cool (or hot, hip, wicked, astig, etc., depending on the generation and the colloquial terms of the times) or as something to aspire for (images) -- especially where impressionable and sometimes-unthinking media consumers are concerned.
Was I delighted to come across a blog post about one mom's vigilance and humorous take on a clothing company's apparently desperate moves in order to increase sales. This is not fresh news but it does warrant publicity. Too bad the link to the post is gone, but here's an excerpt:
I love it :-)
Women at any age can feel this bombardment (whether explicit or more subtle) of messages from the media that they're either too fat, too skinny, too short, too old or maybe not smart enough, pretty enough, perky enough, white enough... or simply, not good enough. And teenage and tween girls are probably the most vulnerable when it comes to believing and accepting such messages. Here are two things to make you think and, hopefully, help you guide them to be happy, healthy and well-adjusted individuals. You may even find these a tad helpful for yourself if there's something that's keeping you from appreciating yourself and striving for genuine self-improvement.
The first is part of Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. The one that follows is the piece I wrote for the April 2009 issue's Editor's Notebook (bigger version here). I had blogged about that issue of Baby Magazine when it came out but decided to post the piece again for anyone who may find it helpful.
When they came back to the Philippines, among the "treasures" in their suitcases were back issues of Seventeen magazine. Those were for me, they said -- a gift from one of my cousins who, I assumed, outgrew them already as she was several years my senior. I was in high school and it was just the sort of thing to give me a thrill!
As far as I remember, this heralded my entry into the world of fashion & beauty (as the commercially driven mainstream culture then knew it), and into the eye-candy-but-often-authenticity-empty world of products, looks, effects, allure, and everything else that has for its foundation a "look good, feel good" dictum. It's possible that there were, of course, articles or fashion layouts meant to enrich the soul or underscore the primacy of virtue in the grand scheme of things...but I must have missed them. To be sure, I did develop a reasonably okay sense of overall style thanks partly to the years of fashion magazine-flipping. But I developed much more than that. And I believe that a lot of grownup women now will agree with me when I say that looking through women's magazines habitually -- particularly those that revolve around the themes of fashion and beauty (treated the conventional way, of course) -- prompts a feeling of inadequacy in the reader. In fact, I've read somewhere that subtle feelings of inadequacy regarding one's physical features are felt by some women after going through a magazine of this nature only once. Now I can't remember if this slight blow to one's self-confidence is primarily caused by the ads (visuals and text combined), or by the ideas put forth by both the ads and editorial content, or only by the visuals encountered by the reader as she leafed through the mag.
Needless to say, anything that sees print and is presented well seems to achieve "pedestal-status." It tends to be more easily believed or given importance (ideas) or regarded as ... ahem, cool (or hot, hip, wicked, astig, etc., depending on the generation and the colloquial terms of the times) or as something to aspire for (images) -- especially where impressionable and sometimes-unthinking media consumers are concerned.
Was I delighted to come across a blog post about one mom's vigilance and humorous take on a clothing company's apparently desperate moves in order to increase sales. This is not fresh news but it does warrant publicity. Too bad the link to the post is gone, but here's an excerpt:
...I'm not sure what led you to resurrect the old trashy t-shirt campaign, but I'm guessing it's a last ditch attempt to get back in the news. Perhaps you are relying on your once loyal market demographic: Young women with zero self-esteem and zero self-respect. You know, the kind of girls who are so desperate for attention that they're willing to settle for the wrong kind of attention. Because let's be honest, the only person who would wear one of the t-shirts above is someone who doesn't think they have anything else to offer other than well, their parts and services. But here's where your thinking is severely flawed: Girls have become much more adept at identifying the real M.O. behind marketing schemes such as yours.
I love it :-)
Women at any age can feel this bombardment (whether explicit or more subtle) of messages from the media that they're either too fat, too skinny, too short, too old or maybe not smart enough, pretty enough, perky enough, white enough... or simply, not good enough. And teenage and tween girls are probably the most vulnerable when it comes to believing and accepting such messages. Here are two things to make you think and, hopefully, help you guide them to be happy, healthy and well-adjusted individuals. You may even find these a tad helpful for yourself if there's something that's keeping you from appreciating yourself and striving for genuine self-improvement.
The first is part of Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. The one that follows is the piece I wrote for the April 2009 issue's Editor's Notebook (bigger version here). I had blogged about that issue of Baby Magazine when it came out but decided to post the piece again for anyone who may find it helpful.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Two comments, one sentiment
Really now, why do most people whom I get to talk to seem to regard dark skin as inferior to fair skin? It sure looks like it, based on the conversations I remember having in recent years. But then it could probably mean that I should meet more people from different parts of the world--those who may have a totally different viewpoint about the whole thing.
Two brief comments from two people in two conversations really had me wondering if I should just forget about it every time I encounter this all too obvious lack of appreciation of dark beauty--or of diversity in general.
The first conversation was over lunch, not too long ago. Talk was on Michael Jackson's sudden demise, the memorial tribute, and the expected scrutiny of other issues surrounding his death. I hadn't caught a glimpse of the singer's two sons and was wondering if they resembled their dad more than the daughter did.
"Do they have more African-American features?" I asked. "Wala!" was the reply I got, uttered with a bit of horror. "Guwapo sila, mga puti! (They're handsome, they're white!)"
"Oh," I said, too stunned (and a bit saddened) to say anything else.
The other chitchat I had was with a simple middle-aged woman who is in Manila to earn some money to help pay off some debts incurred back in her hometown. She is good-natured and, as mentioned, simple, which is why opinions she held would occasionally be revealed easily. I think she was looking at some photos of the family, then while gazing at a recent picture of one of my nieces, she remarked, "Maganda na siya ngayon, ano? Dati maitim..."
"Ikaw talaga!" I chided her with a smile, part of me finding her bias quite humorous (for reasons I didn't--and still don't--understand). "Bakit ba kung maitim ang tao, pangit agad para sa 'yo?!" and she broke into a smile, then laughed. She probably realized the implication of what she had just said, and remembered our casual conversations about the obsession of some people with turning their brown skin into ivory (she related more than once how quite a number of impoverished neighbors back home would spend whatever little money they had left on skin-whitening products even if it meant incurring debts for daily meals, fiesta celebrations or hospitalization expenses).
Well, what can I say? In this part of the planet at least, white skin is highly regarded. Aggressive marketing of products and services that promise this aspired-for whiteness don't help in any way to ingrain a love for one's own when it comes to the skin tone that's fit for the tropics.
It goes beyond skin-deep for me. The way I see it, the inability to appreciate one's own (be it our skin color, traditions, language, products...) is tantamount to being overly impressed by what's foreign. And this is partly what's responsible for our people's overly welcoming attitude toward principles, fashion trends, and even legislative measures that come from foreign shores--betraying an inability to hold on to what ought to be held dearly. Sometimes, it's not even a matter of holding on to one's own--culturally-speaking--but a question of holding on to what is true, good and beautiful, which is mirrored more closely by the various facets of our Filipino culture.
What's your take on this whole attitude about maputi-maitim?
This matter of skin color figured in the piece I wrote in Baby mag's summer issue this year. Click here for a look at Kayumangging kaligatan.
Two brief comments from two people in two conversations really had me wondering if I should just forget about it every time I encounter this all too obvious lack of appreciation of dark beauty--or of diversity in general.
The first conversation was over lunch, not too long ago. Talk was on Michael Jackson's sudden demise, the memorial tribute, and the expected scrutiny of other issues surrounding his death. I hadn't caught a glimpse of the singer's two sons and was wondering if they resembled their dad more than the daughter did.
"Do they have more African-American features?" I asked. "Wala!" was the reply I got, uttered with a bit of horror. "Guwapo sila, mga puti! (They're handsome, they're white!)"
"Oh," I said, too stunned (and a bit saddened) to say anything else.
The other chitchat I had was with a simple middle-aged woman who is in Manila to earn some money to help pay off some debts incurred back in her hometown. She is good-natured and, as mentioned, simple, which is why opinions she held would occasionally be revealed easily. I think she was looking at some photos of the family, then while gazing at a recent picture of one of my nieces, she remarked, "Maganda na siya ngayon, ano? Dati maitim..."
"Ikaw talaga!" I chided her with a smile, part of me finding her bias quite humorous (for reasons I didn't--and still don't--understand). "Bakit ba kung maitim ang tao, pangit agad para sa 'yo?!" and she broke into a smile, then laughed. She probably realized the implication of what she had just said, and remembered our casual conversations about the obsession of some people with turning their brown skin into ivory (she related more than once how quite a number of impoverished neighbors back home would spend whatever little money they had left on skin-whitening products even if it meant incurring debts for daily meals, fiesta celebrations or hospitalization expenses).
Well, what can I say? In this part of the planet at least, white skin is highly regarded. Aggressive marketing of products and services that promise this aspired-for whiteness don't help in any way to ingrain a love for one's own when it comes to the skin tone that's fit for the tropics.
It goes beyond skin-deep for me. The way I see it, the inability to appreciate one's own (be it our skin color, traditions, language, products...) is tantamount to being overly impressed by what's foreign. And this is partly what's responsible for our people's overly welcoming attitude toward principles, fashion trends, and even legislative measures that come from foreign shores--betraying an inability to hold on to what ought to be held dearly. Sometimes, it's not even a matter of holding on to one's own--culturally-speaking--but a question of holding on to what is true, good and beautiful, which is mirrored more closely by the various facets of our Filipino culture.
What's your take on this whole attitude about maputi-maitim?
This matter of skin color figured in the piece I wrote in Baby mag's summer issue this year. Click here for a look at Kayumangging kaligatan.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Simply tan-talizing
I like this issue!
For one thing, we have a cover shot that actually shows a lot of water (last year's summer issue had adorable Kiian gracing the cover, but he didn't like the water one bit; hence, all that got wet -- and by "wet" here I mean the wisik-wisik kind as this was all that the baby would permit -- were some of his curly locks). SM Star Baby contest winner Samantha Sayson, as photographed by Kristin Rodriguez at Edsa Shangri-La Hotel, loved the water and almost didn't want to get out of the pool when the photo shoot was over.
Also, there's much to be said about the current obsession that many Pinoys seem to have with skin color -- specifically, with whitening. Is brown complexion something to be ashamed of? Judging from billboards and other print ads, some marketers are working to brainwash Filipinos into making white skin the standard of beauty. (Our cover baby for this month was blindingly white when I first met her at the SM awarding ceremony; she's still fair-skinned on the cover, and pictorial and cover lineups notwithstanding, it would have been much better to put a brown cutie on this month's cover to make that "Ang itim-itim mo!" line really powerful , but anyway....)
I love the positive and concise manner in which writer Meg Murrf Trinidad tackled the issue in "Going beyond skin deep with your kids." Go and grab a copy of the April issue, if only for this wonderful and enlightening read.
I put down my 2 cents worth on this matter, and I'm posting it here (click on image to enlarge).
For one thing, we have a cover shot that actually shows a lot of water (last year's summer issue had adorable Kiian gracing the cover, but he didn't like the water one bit; hence, all that got wet -- and by "wet" here I mean the wisik-wisik kind as this was all that the baby would permit -- were some of his curly locks). SM Star Baby contest winner Samantha Sayson, as photographed by Kristin Rodriguez at Edsa Shangri-La Hotel, loved the water and almost didn't want to get out of the pool when the photo shoot was over.
Also, there's much to be said about the current obsession that many Pinoys seem to have with skin color -- specifically, with whitening. Is brown complexion something to be ashamed of? Judging from billboards and other print ads, some marketers are working to brainwash Filipinos into making white skin the standard of beauty. (Our cover baby for this month was blindingly white when I first met her at the SM awarding ceremony; she's still fair-skinned on the cover, and pictorial and cover lineups notwithstanding, it would have been much better to put a brown cutie on this month's cover to make that "Ang itim-itim mo!" line really powerful , but anyway....)
I love the positive and concise manner in which writer Meg Murrf Trinidad tackled the issue in "Going beyond skin deep with your kids." Go and grab a copy of the April issue, if only for this wonderful and enlightening read.
I put down my 2 cents worth on this matter, and I'm posting it here (click on image to enlarge).
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Weighty issues
It looks like some people in the fashion and health industries are getting serious about doing their part to battle eating disorders (even skinny mannequins in Spain's shop windows will be replaced with ones of size 10 and above).
"It is not reasonable for a modern and advanced society to establish stereotypes of beauty that are far removed from the social reality of a community. It is everyone's commitment that beauty and health go hand in hand," Health Minister Elena Salgado said at a signing ceremony Tuesday.The agreement follows last year's unprecedented decision by Spain's main fashion show, Madrid's Pasarela Cibeles, to ban some models from the catwalk on grounds they were too thin, saying this looked encouraged eating disorders among young people.
The Health Ministry's program aims to end a situation in which a woman who buys a size 40 dress from one designer may not fit in a size 40 garment from another designer. The ministry said the differences sometimes lead women to feel compelled to lose weight.
Read Spanish designers change women's sizes
Related news:
Spanish shop dummies to put on weight
Top British brand bars size zero models from fashion week
* * * * *
Addendum: Just in case that photo up there of the mannequins somehow ends up making thinness look glamorous and something to aspire for, maybe a photo of a real-live woman will bring home the point that maintaining a skeletal physique, even if you bask in the spotlights on a runway, is NOT a good thing when you are still alive in the first place.
They're not walking toothpicks
The fashion industry has to ask itself: Why do we want to be represented by a model who the average person would suspect is sick? Why shoot an advertising campaign using a model that women would pity rather than envy? The fashion industry likes to point out that a lot of these models are naturally super-skinny because of their metabolism, age or genetics. So what? Pear shapes are natural, too, but the industry has no trouble rejecting them.
The industry needs to think of models as women -- not as girls, mannequins, coat hangers or any of the other terms typically used to describe them. Think of them as women, and perhaps that's what they'll more often resemble.
Read They're Going, Going . . . Gaunt
The Washington Post
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Take your pick
News and features on a wide range of topics: a new movie, wars ending, hands-on parents, a book that's making waves, a different scholarship grant, and self-esteem. Just click on what you fancy!
Heaven sent: A life-loving box-office winner
BY Kathryn Jean Lopez
Peace is spreading: the troubling thing is, we don't really know why
BY Niall Ferguson
Fla. mom cracks down on school's sexually explicit required reading
BY Jim Brown
Riches from Botswana
BY Susan Reibel Moore
Peace scholarship looks to resourceful students
BY Kit Nagamura
Running out of self-esteem
BY Carolyn Moynihan
Heaven sent: A life-loving box-office winner
BY Kathryn Jean Lopez
Peace is spreading: the troubling thing is, we don't really know why
BY Niall Ferguson
Fla. mom cracks down on school's sexually explicit required reading
BY Jim Brown
Riches from Botswana
BY Susan Reibel Moore
Peace scholarship looks to resourceful students
BY Kit Nagamura
Running out of self-esteem
BY Carolyn Moynihan
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