SLBTM: Unilever/Dove’s ‘real beauty’***
You’ve probably seen this advertisement, brought to you by good global citizen Unilever, maker of Dove products and mastermind behind the Campaign for Real Beauty, which launched in September 2004. Not only did ads show not-size-2 models to inspire positive self-image in women, they were supposed to “support a wider definition of beauty.” The campaign started a program with the Girl Scouts of the USA to “foster self-esteem among girls ages 8 to 17.” And, oh yeah, the ads were supposed to sell skin-firming cream. Hence, the slogan, “Stand Firm and Celebrate Your Curves.” Stand firm. Get it?
Then came the viral video Evolution that Unilever placed on YouTube. Then there was Pro-age. Now we have Onslaught, which warns, “Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does.” Yeah. Or before Unilever does. Watch Onslaught carefully. It will look familiar in a minute.
Unilever has your cake and eats it too
Apparently for boys ages 8 to 17 (and beyond), however, Unilever uses the “Axe Effect” — complete with V.I.X.E.N.S. (Very Interactive Xtremely Entertaining Naughty Supermodels). After watching the introduction by the naughty maid, who spanked herself with a spatula for being bad (oh, and I can make her spank herself again … and again … and again …), I tried to download the interactive video game, which comes with voice recognition so you can “command” the V.I.X.E.N.S. to do what you want. Either they can tell I’m not a 12-year-old boy or every 12-year-old boy in the world is trying to download it at the same time.
I moan
I did get to the point of getting the application on my computer, when “Naomi” and friends chatted with me for a bit.
“Hi, I’m Naomi. And you know what that spells backwards.” (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.)
But to make up for not getting the video game, I was able to enjoy the Bom Chicka Wah Wahs, who don’t need no stinkin’ self-affirming firming cream because they’re already a size 2. They don’t need no stinkin’ Campaign for Real Beauty because they’ve already perfected the “O” face while pole dancing, shaking the tassels on their lingerie and crawling like cats. Meow.
Hat tip: Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
***SLBTM = Smells Like Bullshit To Me
Updated to add: Bob Garfield wrote a review in the Oct. 8, 2007, Advertising Age, “‘Onslaught’ is a triumph — if you don’t count the hypocrisy.” That’s the headline in the magazine. Online it’s “Dove’s New ‘Onslaught’ Ad a Triumph.” He sings the praises of the ad, saying that it “should get an Oscar,” and “Standing ovation here.”
A worthy cause, a brilliant strategy, a flawless video. It all amounts to something very close to perfection. So, yes, absolutely, four stars.
Just when I started squirming, he dropped this bomb.
Damn, if it just weren’t for the nagging hypocrisy of it all.
He went on to explain that Dove is a brand from Unilever, which also manufactures and markets the Axe/Lynx brand and Slim-Fast. As for the public-relations firm that produced the video, Ogilvy & Mather, “in a bit of horrifying/delicious irony,” he said, is the U.S. agency for the Barbie doll (Mattel).
(Originally posted Oct. 11, 2007)
Posted by Becky @
3:00 pm |
What Working Mother magazine won’t tell you: Employers offer ‘soft’ benefits
Here’s a nice little primer for understanding the Working Mother magazine “100 best” list. The Wall Street Journal published an article, “Employers Offer Help On College Admissions,” on Oct. 4, 2007, saying that companies offer seminars and advice about the admissions process. That’s great, but here’s the point.
Such programs, which are offered free to employees, come at a time when health-care premiums are rising and employers are cutting back many benefits. To compensate, companies are adding more “soft” benefits — from group discounts on gym memberships to pet insurance — that cost them very little, if anything. … As companies increase their employees’ out-of-pocket costs, they are looking for “touchy-feely” benefits that can soften the blow, [according to a benefits expert].
Posted by Becky @
8:21 am |
Hello, old friends, I’ve missed you
Had I known a heat wave would follow me to D.C., I’d have taken you instead of my wool sweater and turtlenecks. This was not just any old heat wave. It was a week of record-high temperatures — oh, say, 90-something degrees — that started the minute I landed at the airport and ended the minute my departing plane left the ground. I think I even heard on the radio, “… we will have hellishly hot weather this week, and we expect a cold front to move in when — and only when — Becky leaves town.”
But back to you, dear sandals. I have three sets of blisters all over my feet from each of the three pairs of other shoes I took with me. Yes, even my tennis shoes. Maybe they’re just mad at me for not wearing them unless I leave the state. Whatever the case, my feet have never been happier to see you.
Posted by Becky @
5:19 pm |
Meeting the peeps in D.C.
Devra and Rhonda
Tracy Thompson, me, Devra, Ann Crittenden ~ I have three autographed copies of Tracy’s book, The Ghost in the House. Now I just have to come up with some clever Blogland Games so you can win your very own copy. (Thanks, Tracy!)
PunditMom stops by for a visit with Sarah, her Goon Squad and me (photo by: PunditGirl)
Mommy at Work, Devra, Mamma Loves, me, Sarah, Lumpyhead’s Mom ~ As they say in the weekly hometown newspapers in the Big Square State I come from, “A good time was had by all.”
Oh, yeah. I also attended a conference while I was there. I’ll write more about that later.
Posted by Becky @
11:06 am |
Seeing the sights in D.C.
Posted by Becky @
9:09 am |
Back from D.C.
October 10, 2007 | Traveling
I just got back from my trip. I’ve got lots of pictures to go through and will post some soon. Stay tuned.
Posted by Becky @
10:36 pm |
What … no tasers?
A 25-year-old security guard at a high school in California forced a 16-year-old girl face down on a table, broke her wrist and then had her arrested. He then got hold of the 14-year-old boy who recorded the incident on his cell phone and had him arrested. Then he broke the wrist of another 16-year-old girl and had her arrested. The first girl’s mother was arrested, charged with assault and suspended from her job without pay. The security guard, whose name has not been released, was suspended with pay.
This is almost completely a “new media” story. It’s been covered by only four news outlets: 1) BET, 2) a local FOX station, 3) a local NBC station and 4) the LA Daily News, here and here.
Bloggers, however, have picked it up and run with it:
What’s Going On? My apologies to Marvin Gaye, but maybe his line, “Simply because our hair is long,” should instead say, “Simply because our hair is nappy.” (The white security guard apparently called the black girl “nappy head.”)
Hat tip: ThinkGirl.net
Posted by Becky @
10:53 am |
Hello … is anybody out there?
Just leave a comment if you can hear me.
Oh, yeah. It’s Delurking Day.
I know these things vary. I’ve seen them in January and November. But I found this one through Magpie Musing.
Posted by Becky @
8:14 am |
Blackwater testifies before House committee
Blackwater USA founder and owner Erik Prince testifies today before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, starting at 10 a.m. (streaming live here).
I still want to know: Who were the U.S. diplomats being guarded by Blackwater employees on Sept. 16, 2007, and will they be required to testify before the committee?
Posted by Becky @
11:00 am |
Working Mother “100 best” company is R-O-C-K-in-the-USA
Or you might say … it “loves me like a rock.”
Who do …
Who do you think you’re fooling?
Magpie Musing got it in the mail. Go see what she has to say about it.
…
Sorry. Can’t leave the “rock” song thing alone. Then there’s Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me). If you forgot the tune, check this out. Then … sing away. (Just pretend it rhymes and has clever, witty lines to break things up. Or add your own.) Whee!
Abbott Accenture AEP Allstate Arnold & Porter AstraZeneca Bank of America Baptist Health South Florida Bayer BlueCross BlueShield Bon Secours Richmond Health System Booz Allen Hamilton Bristol-Myers Squibb Bronson Capital One Cardinal Health Carlson Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Children’s Memorial Hospital Chrysler Cisco Systems Citi CJW Medical Center Colgate-Palmolive Cornell University Covington & Burling Credit Suisse Daszkal Bolton Deloitte Discovery Communications Dow Chemical Dow Corning DuPont Eli Lilly Ernst & Young FannieMae First Horizon National First National Bank of Omaha Ford Motor Co. Genentech General Electric General Mills GlaxoSmithKline GoldmanSachs Grant Thornton Harvard University Hewlett-Packard IBM Inova Health Systems Intel Johnson & Johnson JPMorgan Chase Katten Muchin Rosenman KPMG Kraft Foods Lehman Brothers Marriott International Massachusetts General Hospital MassMutual The McGraw-Hill Companies McKinsey & Company Merck Mercy Health System Merrill Lynch MetLife Microsoft Morgan Stanley Northern Michigan Regional Health System Northern Trust Northwestern Memorial Healthcare Novartis Patagonia Pearson Pfizer Phoenix Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman Pitt County Memorial Hospital PNC PricewaterhouseCoopers Principal Financial Prudential Financial Rodale RSM McGladrey SC Johnson Sanofi-Aventis Shering-Plough Scripps Health Texas Instruments Timberland TriHealth Turner Broadcasting UBS University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Verizon Wireless VCU Health System Wachovia West Virginia University Hospitals Wyeth Yale-New Haven Hospital
Hat tip: Chewy
Posted by Becky @
7:37 pm |
