Don't Believe The Hype

Make it a hype-free holiday!

Dudes.. It's christmas... My family is here... and I'm gonna take a few days off from blogging.

Stay well, and have a hype-free holiday one and all!

Audrey

Photoshop also used to make models appear healthier....

Women's Wear Daily ran a piece yesterday stating that some models are so skinny and unhealthy looking, that magazines are using photoshop to beef them up a bit before printing their images.

From the article:

"Several editors have been quietly ordering the retouching of gaunt model shots to make them look, well, a little fatter. "A model shows up and you realize she's too thin and has lost weight since the booking, but the show must go on," said Allure editor in chief Linda Wells. "When the film comes to me, I realize I don't want to see hip bones and ribs in the magazine."

Of course, "healthy" and "fat" are the important words here...because those definitions aren't fixed.... as evidenced by a quote from Lucky editor in chief, Kim France:

"It's never something where you made the girl look heavy," said France . "It's just a quiet, small change."

Well, I don't think anyone wants models to look FAT or unhealthy... so maybe those are the wrong words.  Maybe we should be talking about "authentic" and "realistic"... Interesting stuff either way...

Any thoughts?

Marketing to kids causes dip in self esteem

OK... first let me point that that this image is from a book that exists on Amazon that TEACHES PEOPLE HOW TO MARKET TO KIDS.  That's totally horrific to me.... especially given this new information that's out:

Today, Media Life magazine reports on a new British study that asserts marketing messages are contributing to children's feelings of being unable to keep up, as well as to stress and anxiety. Among boys, the report cites record levels of mental health problems, along with bullying and fighting. 

Among girls, it contends the slim, leggy, clear-complexioned women portrayed favorably by marketers are leading to lower self-esteem.

 

A few interesting quotes:

“I think for us the thing that came out of the research that we did was the vast scope and intensity of marketing to children,” says Zoe Williams, campaigns officer at Compass [the org that led the study].

“Our concern is the effect it is having on children’s physical and mental health and how it is affecting their aspirations,” she says. “Children are more interested in having the right gear than in wanting to do something a bit more productive.”

*****

Hmmm... sounds a LOT like the arguments I've made against celebrity hype... that it's not fame and glamour and modeling and stardom that are inherently bad.  It's that our cultural focus on them is too intense, and as a result it's really easy to get derailed from one's own interests and ideas etc.....

Cosmo magazine and skinny models

"At Cosmo, we don't Photoshop models to fill them out because it only perpetuates using girls that are too thin. What we like to do instead is start at the front end and use the healthiest-looking models we can find."

--Kate White, editor in chief , Cosmopolitan

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Having worked in magazines, I don't believe it.  But it's a nice quote.....

A play about teen issues, starring teens

There's a new play in NYC called Spring Awakening... (Think of it as "Rent" but grittier, cooler, and younger) 

It's been getting AMAZING reviews because it deals with teen issues....and stars actual teenagers...and I'm DYING to see it.  If anyone does before I do, please email me and tell me about it!

Fashionistas comment on the skinny model debate

From a New York Times article titled "US, Italy Addressing The Health of Models," December 7th, 2006

"From what I can tell, there is a growing insight among designers, or people are beginning to see the negative effects of what dangerously think young women are going through."

--Steven Kolb, Executive Director of the Council of  Fashion Designers of America.

Ummm.. yeah.  And they are just beginning to realize this NOW?  After years and years of cultural obsession with models and thinness and an exploding diet industry and reports of teen deaths from extreme diets and pro ana websites and shows like The Swan etc?  I'm shocked and appalled, I tell you.

"As far as I know, no casting manager or any agency positioned in Paris has ever transgressed their moral obligations [of putting forth positive, healthy role models and images].  We think our system has controls.  To regulate is not as effcient at this point as informing."

--Didier Grumbach, president, Chambre Syndicale, the organization that puts on Paris' fashion shows.

Mais non, Didier.  S'il vous plait.....  Stop talking trash, ok?  That's just absurd.   Because if that's the case.  The God's honest truth... then WTF was this model doing on the runway earlier in the fall?

Turn Beauty Inside Out 2007

For those of you who don't know, Turn Beauty Inside Out is an awesome 4 day leadership retreat that happens every year for teens (boys and girls) plus parents, chaperones, mentors, professionals who work with adolescents etc...

It's put on by the non-profit called Mind on the Media (full disclosure: I sit on the Mind on the Media board of directors), and the event is with interesting speakers, activities, field trips, workshops etc.

The 2007 dates/location have just been announced: June 27-30 in midtown Manhattan.... AND already confirmed as speakers: reps from Olgilvy and Mather, the top ad agency that created the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.  THAT'S HUGE.

Registration is now open at the Mind on the Media website...and there's a special discount for all those who register before DECEMBER 31st...

Hope to see you there!

Fashion designer Diane Von Furstenburg gets involved in the skinny model debate

Don't mess with Diane V.F..

Not only does she make fierce wrap dresses, she's also the president of the Council of Fashion Designers... and wrote a letter to mag eds and others about trying to create a healthier image:

"As designers, we cannot ignore the impact fashion has on body image. We share a responsibility to protect women, and very young girls in particular, within the industry, sending the message that health is beauty. It is undeniable that the fashion industry has a huge impact on young women, so it is very important that we encourage and promote good health as beauty, and empower these women to want to take care of themselves. The entire industry has to remain sensitive and aware of this issue, but should not discriminate."

FINALLY someone in the fashion industry who cops to the fact that the images and ideals they create DO have some sort of impact on the world.  I'm not saying it's as easy as they use skinny models, the world gets an eating disorder... but there are SO MANY fashionistas who say things like "Oh, everyone realizes that this is just for fun.. or that it's not real... it's just dress up."  And THAT is one big case of DENIAL.

So I'm pleased to see someone on the inside issue such direct, firm statement.

Almost makes me want to go invest in one of her dresses...

Girls Gone Wild... justice is served!

As I've prolly made clear in at least a dozen posts, I'm not a fan of the whole Girls Gone Wild-/Get in touch with your inner stipper defition of pop feminism today. I've got NOTHING against sexiness, fun etc, but I absolutely DO NOT feel that these images/trends, which are increasingly prevalent in pop culture are true incarnations of female liberation.  Rather, I believe that they just perpetuate the same old crap and don't help women break any new ground.

So imagine my personal glee when my colleague Elaine (Hey there!) forwarded me an AP news report about the founder of Girls Gone Wild, Mr. Joe Francis, being sentenced to community service for failing to monitor the ages of the women in its videos. 

He's also agreed to pay one-point-six million dollars in fines for using drunken 17-year-olds in videos it filmed on Panama City Beach during spring break.

But here's the part I like best:  The company must also issue a news release about its federal
offenses and publish it in five newspapers, including The News Herald of Panama City . The judge says he added the community service because it did not appear a fine would be a meaningful punishment.

THAT is cool.  That the judge realizes that asking Joe Francis to throw some money around in more fines isn't going to create cultural change.  The fact that he has to admit that what he did was "wrong" (depending on your point of view, of course)... well... that's pretty interesting. 

If ANYONE comes across one of these ads that he has to take out... PLEASE PLEASE let me know about it, or let me get you my mailing address or something.  I'm DYING to see how he frames everything!

Vogue magazine and skinny models

ACK!  I missed a day posting... my apologies.  I spent too long at the post office yesterday getting gifts out....

Two days ago, The New York Post reported that Vogue editor Anna Wintour held a symposium with eds, model agencies, photogs and others to discuss the whole skinny model prob and try to come up with a solution.  (Uhhh, how about starting with making it seem beautiful on the pages of magazines to have a real body?  Just a thought!)

The news article reads:  "Besides the beauties' health, the fashion honchos fear they'll be blamed for promoting unhealthy body images for generations of teenage girls."

Um... are they just starting to worry about that?  Now?  Like, it hasn't crossed their minds over the past 20 years?  Wow, they're slower on the uptake than I thought....