Some people are saying HOT! As in 818 + comments HOT! This picture in Glamour Magazine of 20 year old Lizzie Miller, a very curvy and very “skinny dippin’ ready” model created a tidal wave of approval from female readers. (See the 818 comments here) From the young 13 year old girl who is a size 6 to the mother of two who has stretch marks, this picture somehow liberates them. They say that they feel “validated” and “accepted” and they even say that, “magazines have it all wrong…if I saw more models who looked like me I would have the confidence to buy the clothes they advertise.”
20 year old, Lizzie Miller
I find these comments quite interesting. I’m not sure if it is common knowledge to the avid magazine reader, but I’ll give you the insider scoop (since I did an internship at a magazine in Los Angeles. That is until they made me file in a back room with no one to chit chat with. Cruel and unusual punishment is not my idea of “on the job experience” ) Anyway, so magazines have a marketing and advertising plan towards women that promotes women to “aspire” to their “optimum” self by viewing the images and purchasing the products seen in the magazine (A.K.A. giving woman a impossibly high standard of beauty that will have them spending $250 at the MAC counter trying to make themselves look like their “optimum self.” And when they don’t attain said beauty, they feel like crap and cover their feelings with the Twinkies they saw advertised on page 109.) This is the format that has been used to market to women. But according to these 818 + women they would like to see something other than a unattainable image. They would like to see something more like ….themselves.
Now is this hot or not? Lets pose a question: “What if not all, but just half the models in the magazines were a size 12 or 14? Like what if you opened up Vogue and saw a ad for Dolce and Gabanna and it featured a size 12 chick sprawled out on fur with the dramatic makeup they’re known for holding a purse. Would you dig it? Would you still purchase the brand? Is acceptance, real body sizes and authentic photographs HOT? Or are you stickin’ to the classic stick thin model? No judment. Just your answer please.
Honestly, I think that if I saw half of the models in Vogue as size 12 to 14 I would be a tad shocked. At first I’d be like, “Whats going on here?” I don’t read Vogue religiously or anything, but I do think that my eyes would take some adjusting to the new images, but like the human species I am apart of I would ADJUST. If I saw it in a magazine repeatedly, on billboards, on TV I would eventually get used to it and still purchase items from the companies I like. I think I would actually be more likely to purchase items from a company that is promoting a good cause, like TOM’S shoes or To Write Love on Her Arms. If there was a company that openly featured all kinds of women in their advertising I think I would dig it because it meant they stood for something more than fashion, they stood for acceptance and love and at the end of the day, thats what all women and men are really looking for and why they purchase those clothes in the first place.
But, thats my opinion. Whats yours? Would you still purchase clothes from your favorite brand even if they featured full figured women and men in their ads? Would it change the brand for you? Be honest…it won’t kill you. (After all, I’m still here.)
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