Women’s magazines have a complex relationship with body image and I’m a bit torn about this post. I am the first to applaud any attempts by anyone to raise awareness about issues of body image, digital lies and the way women are represented in the media. Our relationship with our looks is a complicated one, possibly the most complicated relationship in our lives.
So while I get frustrated by the tokenism inherent in glossy mags whose every image has been stretched, carved into and digitally altered to the point where it bears little resemblance to the real-life person portrayed, well, a token is better than nothing.
So.
South African Marie Claire has done a ‘Body Issue’. Stay with me and try to get beyond the fact that Victoria’s Secret model Candice Swanepoel is on the cover in an image that’s heavily altered. Are we beyond that fact? I’m not but I’m trying. There’s a point to all this.
Here’s what the magazine had to say in a media release about their November body issue:
The December cover
“What will it take for you to love your body? That’s the question we are asking readers this month,” says Aspasia Karras, editor of Marie Claire South Africa. “According to statistics, two out of every three women are unhappy with their bodies and weight. Most women wish they were skinnier. So often the media is accused of perpetuating the body-beautiful image, and this month we have decided to address this issue.”
…..we also asked six advertising agencies to conceptualize a poster campaign to communicate the concept of ‘Love Your Body’. The work speaks for itself and the message is clear: we don’t all have the same body type but, regardless of this, we are all perfect. So, what is it going to take for you to love your body?” concludes Karras.
Sigh. And also
AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
I hate it when mags wring their hands about how many women are unhappy with their bodies without addressing or even acknowledging the role they play in creating and nurturing that unhappiness.
Perhaps we’d all be a lot happier with our bodies if magazines like Marie Claire didn’t use photoshop to alter the faces and bodies of women who are recognised as being the most beautiful in the world.
And didn’t run stories like “Freeze your fat off!” and “Life after lipo!” and “21 Days To Get Bikini Ready”
Oh FFS.
Deep breath. Moving forward.
Have a look at these campaign images created by advertising agencies. See what you think. Do they speak to you?
The Jupiter Drawing Room.
This is by King James.
From Jupiter Drawing Room
This is from Ogilvy Cape Town
From Saatchi.
This is from TBWA
This is from Canvas Lifestyle
This is also TBWA
Which ad do you think is the most effective?
Comments
117 Comments so far
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THANKYOU! I couldnt even pick a favourite, but just experiencing each of those ads one after the other has left my close to tears with a realization of how much time i’ve been wasting wanting to change the un-changeable things about my body. these message are incredibly refreshing and encouraging, i feel filled with strength and positivity. i cant wait until my husband gets home now so i can strut around without hiding any bits and start putting these revelations into practise.
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The dead elderly woman: can’t get more in- your-face wake-up-to-yourself than that. I dislike the ‘you’re perfect’ type of ad as I think we can all strive to be better – healthier, kinder. ‘You’re perfect’ just breeds narcissism.
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LETS BE HONEST We all look at the pictures and its something we do all the time. Does it make us feel bad possibly but that doesn’t just happen when we look at magazines or watch a movie, we do it waiting for a bus, walking down the street and even in the lunch room at work. We admire other womens bodies often more than we do our own, and we enjoy admirning them too, we look at their bodies, hair, clothes makesup and shoes and so what.
And what is the message these ads are really sending out? That you should love yourself or that you now should feel guilty about not loving yourself and be grateful for your lot? More pressure on us to be a well rounded individual not just physically but we have to be mentally astute now too geez.
Do you know what I may not like my chubby thighs but thats ok they are my thighs afterall. And if I aspire to have legs that seem to go on forever like on the girl I saw this morning then thats what I’m going to do.
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The first and final ads are great…simple yet effective. Oh and I share your frustration Mia with media that says one thing, but does another!
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definitely the final one……
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Loved them all except the third ad, that was horried. The third ad seemed like it would add fuel to the fire of someone who has very low self esteem. The others made me think about how silly the thoughts of I wish I coul change ………………., or how silly it is to assume everyone would want to change what I do.
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think king james one the best
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As hard as these all tried, they were all doing the same thing; quietly supporting body hate by stating the obvious (i.e. I hate this, that, my bum, my arms, my tummy, my legs) and then putting a fancy way of saying ‘Why?’ afterwards. They gave you no feeling of comfort that No, you dont have to look this way. Just ‘It sucks that you all think you’re ugly. Why?’ I think this all might be because they put the slogan LOVE YOUR BODY next to a photoshopped supermodel. It’s like Kate Moss saying she loves her curves. Or a size 0 model telling us she’s finally accepted her huge bum. It leaves the rest of us feeling even MORE inadequate and perpetuating the hate even further. This would have been more effective if there was NO woman on the cover showing what you had to look like to either accept your body OR have problems with it.
Fashion magazines make me angry. End rant.
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None of these ads make me feel better about ME. Sure, I now know that feeling bad about my body is a common feeling among women today. And yes, I’ve now thought about how I look and what people who love me would change or not change. But what if they did want to change me? How would I know? Even the ad depicting the African American woman with a body type that is not normally photographed (the photo is great by the way and we need to see more images like this) supports the ideal body image because it normalizes body envy by saying that everyone does it.
I agree that our society needs to learn to love women’s bodies as they are, unaltered. But that includes the media! Until we see more diversity in age, body type, personality and even gender identity of women on mainstream media, the gap between how our culture tells us we should look and the way we actually are will continue to widen.
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I have thought long and hard about body image, both my own and what I see in media and all around me.
I have come to the conclusion that worrying about body image is a totally useless emotion.
As women we owe it to ourselves and our kids to stop letting this self imposed fear stop us from living life to the full. I look around at women of all shapes and sizes who use this rubbish as an excuse not to participate.
I am constantly amazed when I show up to sports events at school and there will be a crowd of Mums but none of them will jump in the pool, or run up and down the soccer field. Why are they there? Decoration perhaps?
I know it is intimidating, but if you take ownership of your own body image and get out and participate you will benefit and your kids will be less likely to hate their bodies too.
I spent most of my 20′s dealing with eating disorders, and now in my 40′s I am solidly of the belief that it is just a huge way of avoiding growing up and taking resposibility
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Mmm, please be careful with your tone in the last paragraph. There is a heft of research that is pointing to the direction the anorexia, bulimia and body dysmorphia are neuro-biological. Anorexia and bulimia are actually classified as mental illnesses. Please don’t insinuate that people with mental illnesses can someone “control” their illness or are trying to avoid “taking responsibility” for their lives or themselves, that is such a harmful idea that many people believe. It makes people’s lives so much harder.
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they all suck. the whole thing sucks. i hate advertisers and women’s magazines with every nerve and fibre. don’t like ‘em? don’t buy ‘em.
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You sound a lot like one of my colleagues who discovered she was female after 20 years of being a tomboy, haha.
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I think there is a danger in constantly reinforcing the idea that women are so obsessed with our own bodies, so keen to compare, so quick to judge ourselves. Certainly this may be true for some, even many, women, but why keep talking about it as though it is a universal truth? Why not focus on the positive things people are saying and doing, the body love that abounds. I am not saying body image is not an issue, but in constantly going on about how much women hate their own bodies there is surely a risk that it becomes a self-fulfilling, if not self-perpetuating, problem?
I disagree with the assertion that women’s relationship with our looks is possibly the most complicated relationship we have. Certainly any person’s relationship with themselves is complicated, but to single out our looks, and apply that to 51 % of the population, well that doesn’t work for me. It’s certainly a topic obsessed over by the media. But drawing constantly drawing attention to the glaringly obvious idiotic ‘bikini body’ stories, to me, is not newsworthy. How about looking a little deeper at the many nuanced ways women are made to feel lesser by the media and each other. The idea that some one can call some one else fat and the response ‘she’s only a size 14, hardly fat’ is ok. The idea that championing a weight-loss guru as a fountain of energy and motivational drive puts down all the people that weight-loss guru has called lazy and irresponsible despite not having a full grasp of the issues those people face on a daily basis. The idea that not all women want to wear the latest skyscraper heel or hide their purchases from their spouses or check out the latest look. It’s the idea of lumping all women in as one person that offends me the most.That your world view equates to ‘the woman’s’ world view.
As Tina Fey puts it, surely every one these days except maybe your 90-year-old grandma knows about photoshop and the way it is used to change an image.
I do find hypocritical magazines espousing body love whilst at the same time promoting the latest diet irksome, yes, but I also find articles blaming parents or ‘the fat people’ for the ‘obesity epidemic’ irksome. I also know that there are many larger, and more pervasive, issues that cause women to have low self-esteem than beauty magazines. I know lots of skinny typically gorgeous women with major insecurities, and just as many very ‘average’ women who are perfectly happy with themselves. It’s really got more to do with what’s going on inside – your circumstances, temperament, the way you were raised. And if you’re in a bad place the magazines don’t help, but they’re not the cause. The underhanded faux-supportive articles can be just as bad or worse. If we can create a community where we support all people on their journey without judgement or sensationalism, we’ll get further than decrying an idiotic, run-of-the-mill beauty magazine articles.
I’m not sure if this is the right forum for voicing these ideas, but there it is.
If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
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I think the one with the corpse is the most effective by far,to me,it really drives the message home.How sad it is to waste ones whole life with fretting about the own body.
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I love going to the gym and doing a Body Attack or Pump class with a room full of (mostly) women. Fit, healthy women of all different body shapes, the majority of whom are not barbie dolls, doing something to look after the body they’ve got, maintaining good health and enjoying their life. No doubt some are there ‘to lose weight’, but by-and-large most of them are already at their bodies’ ideal weight, so it’s more about maintaining fitness than ‘having a great body’ — even if the latter is a by-product of the former.
As for the ads above, I’m over body image even being an issue.There are bigger things to worry about. While I appreciate the damage done by magazines and photoshopping, etc, etc, this is well and truly a first world problem and it’s a self-indulgent one at that. And I say that as someone who had anorexia at from 16 – 18 years-of-age. I’m no stranger to the ‘desire to be thin’.
Really, you have two choices. If you don’t like your muffin top, then put down the Tim Tams and go for a run. Or, if you must, go for a run, then have a Tim Tam. Your health will still come out on top. Otherwise, learn to love your muffin top. Just personally, the correlation between exercise and liking/loving one’s body is not just about the way you look when you exercise regularly — it’s about how it makes me feel. Not exercising makes you feel sluggish, awful and depressed, which then turns into a loathing for your body. It’s hard to hate your body when it’s just delivered you a big endorphin rush from working it hard for an hour at the gym – even if the muffin top hasn’t magically disappeared (yet).
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Don’t say that that exercising makes “you” feel like this or that. Like its fact for everyone It’s how exercise makes YOU feel. I certainly don’t feel that way. Many others wouldn’t either. And this is from someone who does go to the gym regularly because I know that I have to in order to be healthy and not because I want to or because of body image. I’m currently sitting up in bed and avoiding going to the gym because THAT is making me feel better and not exercising is not making me feel sluggish, awful OR depressed.
Can you tell I’m angry about these comments?
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And I’m sure my comment is the source of all YOUR anger, too.
So don’t go to the gym — I’m not going either today because I don’t feel like it. Big deal. I’d suggest taking a chill pill though.
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Is it just me or does anyone else have a different idea of what ‘curvy’ is compared to the magazine idea of ‘curvy’. And slim or thin…
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YESSSS!!! Argh magazines say curvy is slim with big boobs and hips, who wouldnt be happy with that? And they keep pointing out the ladies of Mad Men and calling them “real women”… more like genetically blessed amazingly beautiful women!!
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The first one won me over in terms of key messages but I didn’t find it striking. If I saw it in a magazine I’d probably flick past it. Message = great, execution = beige.
Ever since I had my daughter I’ve had more confidence in my body. I had a baby, and that’s an amazing thing. How could I not love something that produced something as wonderful as a child?
My body is not the same as it was pre-motherhood. It’s nowhere near what it was when I was at the top of my sporting career. It’s certainly nothing like it was when I was 19!
But I’ve never been more confident. I’ve learned that a size is just a number, and the fact that it changes with every item of clothing just goes to show how irrelevant that number is.
I’m healthy. Perfectly in proportion. I’m almost 6ft tall. I’ll never weigh 50kg, or even 60kg. In fact, 70kg would probably require a bit more effort than I care to put in at the moment.
So suck on that, fashion world.
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I love this comment. Here, here.
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48 hours ago one of my life long and best friends was diagnosed with AML Leukaemia today she began the battle for her life. I don’t care what kind of body she lives in or I live in I just pray for her to have the strength to survive so that she can see her children grow up and we can be old women celebrating life together, with a glass or two of champagne and a lifetime of laughter.
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Beautifully said Helen. Love and thoughts to you, your friend and her family.
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None of these ads. Loving your body is not something someone else can teach you, it’s something you have to teach yourself, and something you have to want to learn. So many people simply don’t want to be happy with what they’ve got, and want the most glamorous things associated with the highest prestige and highest amount of money.
The picture I have uploaded is the most work safe one I could find that is still appropriate, because I figure the King James ad is around about as offensive as this one.
I had a moment of realization the other month after I began losing weight. I was considering exactly what I’m going to end up looking like at the end of my weight loss journey and what I *Want* to look like. Contrary to most women, I don’t want to be 60kg and a size 8 or 10. I don’t even want to be a size 12. By the time I’ve reached my weight loss goal, and i’m happy with my body, I will be 80-85kg, and probably around size 16/18. It’s partly that I’ve got a stocky bone structure and I’d look ridiculous at a lesser weight, and partly because I don’t *want* to be thin. I’m even as pale as a ghost, and have no desire to get a tan (in fact, this is something I actively avoid- I stay out of the sun and use a lot of sunscreen) so I’m pretty much the Anti!Fame of ideal images. I wouldn’t be adverse to my ideal bodyshape being on the front of a magazine, though.
My ideal body shape isn’t about being overly thin or simply being happy with a fat body, as a lot of ‘love your body’ campaigns seem to push. Loving your body isn’t about loving the fact that you’re medically obese, or loving the fact that you’re underweight.
Right now, I am a lot happier with my body than I was five months ago, but I’ve still got some ways to go until it’s the way I want it to be. I want hips that stop people dead and make them crash cars (okay, an exaggeration). A narrow waist, and I’m already top heavy so I’ve got that part worked out already. A dramatic hour glass. I’ll still have a belly and I’ll still be chubby, but that’s precisely the way I want to be. And you know what? This is obtainable without a knife. Corset training when I like wearing tightlacing corsets already isn’t like starving myself through a hardcore lettuce diet to maintain a small figure, and it isn’t hating myself until I finally look like the woman on the front cover of Marie Claire, vogue, cleo, cosmopolitan, etc. So many women hate themselves thin, and then hate themselves even more because of what they went through to get to that point.
It’s just me falling in love with me.
Women need to do more thinking about what they actually want to look like, what do YOU think an attractive woman looks like? or even better, what kind of woman would you want to date if you liked women? Screw what you think a man wants to look at, what do YOU want to look at in the mirror?
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I like the first and the last options. Especially the last one -imperfect I’m perfect – because (as Shannon said below) it can apply to so much more than just the physical. I also really needed to hear this message this week, and not for body issues, even though I do have them!
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I love the IMPERFECT I’M PERFECT one, very clever, very powerful & emotive & no use of imagery at all – smart & suitable for everyone.
The Barbie one is also kinda cool but I can’t read the notes… but I get the idea & like it/ think it’s effective for the goal.
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None of these advertisements really do anything for me. I have several body hang ups but they are mostly for things I can’t change and so I have learnt to accept them and make the most of what I’ve got (e.g. lopsided boobs so I wear good underwire bras). Something that really bothers me about these adds and magazines/media in general is that is all seems really insincere and many of the ‘catch phrases’ are soooooooooo over used. I hate the whole “you are perfect just the way you are” crap….. yes, we should all love and appreciate our bodies BUT the top causes of death in our country are lifestyle diseases……. as a nation we need to move more and eat less. We are not all “perfect” just the way we are!!! Some of us could use a kick up the bum to improve our overall health. Magazines focus so much on the stupid cliche’s of loving yourself as you are, right next to pages (and pages and pages) of stories on lipo, weight loss, photoshopped models… and advertisements for ice creams etc. I don’t know where I am going with this rant but the whole thing just really peeves me! The focus should not be on size but on health….. the messages not about crash diets but healthy eating, active lifestyles and improving self esteem. Love yourself and demonstrate that love by treating your body as the amazing machine it is and look after it… this means maintaining a healthy weight and an active lifestyle!
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Perfectly put! I’m also sick of the politically-correct calls of ‘love your body – you’re perfect just the way you are’ when the reality is that we are now the fattest nation on earth!! Most of us are far from ‘perfect’ body-wise, and could do with a good kick up the bum, as you say, B&boys. I am actually disturbed by how often I am seeing overweight men and women in advertisements, on TV and in magazines these days – yes, really! We are starting to normalise the idea of being unhealthily overweight, and it is just as dangerous as glamourising very underweight models and celebrities. AS CR says below, we should be looking to women who are fit, strong and healthy as our role models – not fragile, twig-like models, but not overweight couch potatoes either (who we for some reason we love to refer to as ‘real women’, as though slim women are no longer considered ‘real’, even if they’re healthier than their heavier counterparts)…
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One of my biggest gripes with these “love-your-body” articles is the politically-correct denial that obesity is a major contributor to the burden of disease and disability in the developed world. I’m not going to sneer at people in the street or burn them at the stake if they are overweight – but I’m certainly not going to CELEBRATE unhealthy body compositions, whether they are underweight OR overweight.
My favourite “love-your-body” campaigns have come from Nike (e.g. google nike campaign “my butt is big”), mainly because these are strong, fit, healthy women. As someone who has been involved in sports and exercise my whole life – body confidence for me is saying to myself that my body looks the way it does because it is strong and because I have lived but most of all because it is FUNCTIONAL.
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I like thBut I am not dead lady one. It is my etho’s. I don’t love my body- I could lose 10kg. I would look better and be healthier.
But I don’t judge myself as a person because I don’t look as good as I can. I really have much more to offer. and I expect others to judge me as a person not a picture.
It is not about loving being fat or pretending I am beautiful. I am not. It is about knowing and valuing your self as a person.
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The last one. Imperfect. I’m perfect.
I needed that today. And it applies to so much more than body image.
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I like the Barbie one. It gives the message that all those things we see as ‘imperfections’ are actually signs of a life well lived.
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They forgot to add stretch marks, tough — especially from pregnancy. My best battle scars, yet.
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I love reading these comments and many of the articles, unfortunately i haven’t bought a fashion/cook mag in 30 years.
I nearly didn’t read this lot. i struggle with weight only because I love food, hate exercise but realize I need to be healthy to have a quality of life. So I watch the type of food I eat (most of the time), I exercise at least half an hour a day but at least 3 times a week i do a 2 hour workout.
But we need to give girls the courage to be healthy even if this means they aren’t skinny.
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Working in this very industry I have many thoughts on which of these campaigns touch or don’t touch me. And that’s the thing!
You see, everyone everyone has a bum! And everyone has an opinion! And no one’s bum (or opinions) are ever going to be exactly the same. Each will strike a chord (or not) depending on your own “stuff”. None are wrong or right. They are just different. Just like our bodies.
I’ve never met a bum I couldn’t dress, and I’ve never met a bum that was exactly the same as anyone else’s. I’m just glad we’re talking about it. Once upon a time, say 20 years ago, you rarely saw articles (or ad campaigns) such as this. Keep the dialogue flowing. If it gets just one impressionable teen thinking instead of judging/hating then it’s been worth the conversation, don’t you think?
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While I like some of these ads, in particular the first one because it forces me, via question to realise body image is a waste of time, I don’t think any of them would make me feel any better about myself. It’s abit like the post on MM a few weeks ago, asking us to list our most favourite body part. It just makes me think about what I’m not happy with, whereas leaving the subject quiet makes me, well, not think about it at all. As long as I’m not reminded that I need to worry about my body, I’m quite content.
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The problem with most magazines are that this type of ‘body love’ is so tokenistic.
It’s not just about the photoshopping and how the models look that is the issue though, it’s about the constant talking about a woman’s body so that readers start thinking about their bodies and can’t turn it off.
So many magazines have an article about how curves are back and loving your body which is great but its nestled in between the editors letter where she talks about putting on weight during the christmas season and the horror, and an article that talks about whether Jessica Simpson is pregnant cause you know her tops are loose and another article that has a picture of a celebrity eating a burger and the snarky comment will comment on her ‘healthy figure’. Then suddenly all those ‘body love’ messages are not meaningful anymore!!
I see this all the time in the magazines I read and I don’t know if its it just something with magazine writers/editors that they are so entrenched in their ways they can’t see what it damaging anymore, or they just ignore it.
We don’t need motivational messages once in a while, we need magazines to represent people of all size (bigger, smaller, medium), colour and age, not make a big deal everytime. or ever!
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“the constant talking about a woman’s body so that readers start thinking about their bodies and can’t turn it off.”
YES!
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Yes again! AM, you neatly summed up what it is that drives me nuts about this issue.
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The first and last.
The other ones border on insulting and condescending!
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I agree!
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I like the first, second and last ads.
I dont know if they would truly be effective though.
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Looking at these ads, and coming from a marketing background, I can’t help but wonder. What WAS the brief to these agencies and also – these ads REEK of agencies pandering and PLEASING a CLIENT.
Reason? Because none of these ads actually attribute, recognise, nor even doff their cap to the fact that they’re contained within a publication that contributes to an industry that causes body dysmorphia.
If the agencies involved here actually looked to suffice a message to the consumer, there’d be a lot more messages like “think the model on the covers perfect? – look in the MIRROR” You are who you are. Love the body you’re in – with a nice bit of spot UV in silver to imitate a mirror with a funky frame around it.
Well, that’s what I’d have done – but then again, Marie Clare aren’t paying me to make an ad for their magazine.
Message: too many cooks spoil the broth. And, too many agendas in a marketing campaign diloutte and dismantle the message into something staid (and rather boring).
That being said, the corpse one probably landed the message the most for me.
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I think it’s funny even for the standard of these “loving yourself” images, the only acceptable fat roll is ALWAYS on a black woman, usually with an afro.
Look at the top left corner of picture 1, and the whole of picture 2. No other fat rolls.
It’s that sort of exoticised way of being larger is more socially acceptable when it’s on an ethnically acceptable body shape, such as an African-ethnicity body.
There aren’t many dimply pimply pink bottoms on these shots! It’s as if those shots are still too ‘obscene’ , where as among western countries, african looking women are still viewed with that exotic view ( the same idea that makes it okay to show topless african women on television in an ‘ethnic’ setting, but obscene to show a topless white woman) and it’s easier to ‘digest’ a black women with the (rather yummy looking) rolls of fat.
The Dove campaign, below, for example.
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Agree, agree, agree. Have ALWAYS thought this!
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So true. And then it becomes racist as well as demeaning.. like “black women are allowed to be chubby, but not precious white women” or some junk.
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If you see someone jump off a bridge, do you follow? My grandpa used to tell me that just about everytime he saw me.
If you see a photo of someone in a magazine do you want to be that person?
Its pretty simple and perhaps people need to either like who they are or do something about it. You can’t blame others for how you decide to feel about yourself. I don’t love everything about me but I’m OK, no better than that I’m pretty good.
Start being fab, you know you can!
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Love your comment – and your Grandpa’s wise words. SO so true.
We beat up on the media (me included) every day…we beat up on ourselves (me included) every day. We just need to cut us all some slack. To see that what the media is doing is “their job”…sigh…”smoke and mirrors” and all that. I know. I still work for them in a way. And to see that it’s up to us to decide what we want to be like, and how much work it really may take in order to achieve that goal. And are we prepared to put in that work? If we’re not, that’s fine. If we choose to, that’s just fine too!
Live and let live, I say. Be the best you can/want to be. Leave the other BS up to everyone else…cest la vie!
Big Al
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The only one that really moved me was the corpse one. It does put things into perspective doesn’t it!
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I would have liked to see an ad make the point about how frivolous it is to worry about the size of your thighs when people in wheelchairs would love to have ones they could use. How trivial it is to wish for different coloured eyes/longer, thicker lashes/different shape when so many people are blind. Enjoy your breasts – you would miss them even if they were imperfect should the dreaded Cancer take them away….
The issue of body image is really scary, not just for all the reasons Mia has stated many times over, but for the scary possibility that it suggests that when a civilisation solves problems like food shortage, lack of education, adequate medical care etc, we manage to invent new problems for ourselves as a society….
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I really like the first one. I know I’m so much more critical of my body than those around me. My wonderful partner tells me I’m beautiful just the way I am and I know he means it. I’m slowly learning to see myself the way he sees me.
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I like the Barbie one.
I once had an eating disorder. At this point in time I was also buying every beauty/fashion/women’s mag on the newstand each month. Consciously, I ended up giving up buying the mags, and funnily enough, the attitude I had towards my body totally changed. Over time, I wasn’t comparing myself to other women. I tried on clothes and makeup I liked rather than what was the ‘hottest new thing’. I felt good about myself and what I was wearing. I know if I ever have a daughter, I will not be encouraging her to read these magazines at all. I will show her what utter nonsense they are.
I recovered from my eating disorder many years ago and have since started reading magazines again – but now I understand more of what they can do, and the power they have.
Give ‘em up girls – you will feel so much better for it.
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My self-esteem and body-image improved after I stopped reading magazines and viewing pictures of runway shows. It was sort of unconscious, but after a few years, I realised how much better I felt about myself, and how much I didn’t miss those magazines!!!
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I like the first one, it rung quite true for me.
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As someone who struggles with body issues (always have, hopefully won’t always) I felt like the dead woman hit home with me.
I always think to myself, “When I’m thin I’ll…” or “When I lose weight I will…”
And I know I’m wasting away my life. I’m working on the self-love.
I’d hate to think that I never get there.
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I hear you so clearly…
Somewhere I once read that instead of thinking “i’ll be happy when…” just start being happy. it made me think. I mean if I was 15kg lighter would I be happier, or would I just want to be 5kg lighter? I am breastfeeding my second child and I am carrying 15kg more than my normal “happy weight”, when I was that lighter weight I wasn’t happier than I am now with two gorgeous kids so I think they’re right, just be happy now. It’s hard when you get dressed and nothing fits, or what does fit you can’t breastfeed in but at least every day I can do something towards a long term goal of losing that 15 kilos and in the meantime, every day I get to hang out with my two beautiful girls and fool myself into believing that maybe this time breastfeeding will help me lose weight!! (I’m not one of those lucky women who does, I only lose minimal weight when I stop).
I thought all those ads were great but when they’re on the pages of magazines sandwiched between pictures of Miranda and other supermodels I wonder how effective they are. Still, I am lucky that I look at magazines occasionally and know that they are photoshopped and that supermodels make up a small percentage of the population, as a teenager I was not so worldly and I remember wishing I was Erica Baxter (now Erica Packer) or Alison Brahe (now Alison Daddo). It’s nice to get to 33 and just be happy with your lot, who I am even with a caesarean scar, stretch marks all over my stomach, saggy boobs and too much facial hair! I still think my husband is hotter than James Packer!!!
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Whenever these stories come up I feel like I must be a member of a very small club. I love my body. I really do. I am by no means perfect nor come close to the ‘ideal’ portrayed in magazines, but I’m fit and healthy and look after myself. I don’t want to change a thing.
The thing is, I don’t compare myself to the images in magazines. I know they’re not real. I don’t expect magazines to be responsible for the way I feel about my body.
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Hi Nat, I’m an author (www.kaseyedwards.com) and I’m currently writing a book about body image. I am looking for people to interview who belong to the ‘very small club’ of having a positive body image. They are hard to find. If you would be happy to speak to me (or anybody else reading this) can you please email me at kasey@kaseyedwards.com. Thank you! Kasey
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I’m getting tired of this tirade (!) against magazines. I love magazines. I accept that some people don’t and think they are a total waste. I accept that some people think they are selling an illusion.
I read marie claire, madison, shop till you drop and some cooking magazines and reading magazines (for you readers out there, good reading is the best ever!) every month. I have subscriptions to most that I get as a gift for birthday/christmas, but I love them.
I know the photos are altered. I know the models are paid to look the way they do. The only illusions I have from them, are that I cannot afford 90% of the stuff in them (except in Shop, yay Juzzy Cullen).
I also know that if my size 12 pants feel tight, it’s because I eat a row of chocolate pretty much every day and work in an office, at a desk for 10-12 hours a day.
I never ever feel bad about myself looking at those magazines and I can’t fathom how looking at one could ever make me feel bad about myself.
Everyone’s self esteem is different and I recall someone commenting awhile ago that kids are impressionable so tend to look at those magazines as what their ideals are. Yes, I accept that, and I also accept that everyone’s experience is different. Mine is simply that I don’t think that the photoshopping and unrealistic looking models in them impact on me or my self esteem. I read magazines from a young age and never once looked at a model and though “wow better put that row of chocolate down”.
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To be honest I am over the whole topic! I have decided that I have far more important things in my life to worry about than comparing my looks with other women etc.
As long as I am fit and healthy and my loved ones still love me I am a happy woman.
Rather than reading tokenistic articles about self worth, self esteem and body image in magazines, I just make a concerted effort to laugh, love and live in the moment every day. I wasted too much time in my teens and twenties worrying about this rubbish and I refuse to give it any power in my life anymore!
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I don’t buy women’s magazine as being plus size I can never fit into the clothes they endorse. Real beauty in fashion is clothes for all sizes and shapes featured regularly rather than in one off’s….
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None of these ads did a thing for me. I’m 50, and it worries me greatly to see the images portrayed to young girls (and guys) in the media. It’s not enough for us to all know about photoshopping. We all know mags do it but then they are hypocritical enough to run these ads? Where are their ethics! I don’t buy many magazines anymore, I see enough on the coffee table at work. I do buy a cooking magazine without fail – no photoshopped people in them! As for what they portray on covers or the kinds of women they talk about – how about someone like me – 50, short, could lose probably 5kgs, and I work in the Early Childhood Field. Oh my god shock horror! Don’t think I would be breaking any sales records
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I know it’s not the point but even those food shots will all be photoshopped to make your frosting abilities feel inferior.
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Totally agree. Made a slice from masterchef magazine last month and though it tasted f-ing amazing, it was falling apart all over the place – nothing like the photo in the magazine!!
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Don’t buy that one Whippersnapper, my daughter is a Chef and I’ve had so many lectures about the show hahaha! No the one I like is ‘Feast’ – god can I say that??? And Jenna, not even photoshopping could make my frosting look good – I leave that to my daughter! My cooking looks pretty darn good though even if I say so myself…
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Soooooooooooooooooooo bored to death by the talk of being ‘real’ and ‘loving ourselves the way we are’ when magazines don’t really follow through with these ideal 100%of the time, let alone 20%. Ironically I do like the one of the dead woman.
Im also sick of them portraying particular lifestyles > high-end luxury fashion, casual sex, only particular careers (fashion eds, PA’s, those is the music industry or those in HR- everytime they have articles on woman and carreers its in one of these fields- dont get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with these jobs, BUT THERE’S MORE OUT THERE), luxury holidays, diets and fads. Nothing about different lifestyles, people who have strong beliefs and values in SOMETHING. *Sigh. I’m not an old closed minded female, but come on, how much can you repeat these things over and over?!? So I dont buy magazines anymore, unless its for a particular section/article.
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Don’t you love it when the article quotes “a woman with a satisfying career in publishing” and you know it’s the author’s mate sitting at the next desk!
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Oh I so agree, I remember reading Cleo and Cosmo when I was younger and everyone that was mentioned in those magazines only ever worked in publishing, marketing or fashion. Meanwhile, I still to this day don’t know a single person who works in publishing, and always used to wonder why they don’t acknowledge any other occupations in their stories. I remember they included this woman that runs a publishing company called Sweaty Betty (or something similar) pretty much in every single issue.
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I can’t remember the last time I bought a magazine. I have, on occasion, bought Marie Claire or Madison, but only because there’s been a particularly interesting feature article I want to read (that is, nothing to do with fashion, beauty, body image or better orgasms). When I do pick up the odd New Weekly or Cleo or whatever at the hairdressers or in doctors surgery, I am reminded why I don’t buy magazines – they are soooo boring, so repetitive and so vacuous. And what’s with all the articles that assume everyone works in a bloody office, FFS…
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I like the Barbie add – it makes the point, among others, that Barbie hasn’t lived, laughed and loved. Her body tells a sad sad story, whereas real bodies tell real stories of joy, sadness, love, pain….. I love that concept.
I also like the Ogilvy Cape Town ad (with the measuring tape). I like it pointing out that there are many yardsticks by which we can measure body image / self image. I also like the invitation to action – ‘join the conversation’. Makes me feel a sense of agency and responsibility.
Thanks for running these.
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Love your comment so much I just had to say so!
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I don’t buy women’s magazines. I find them obsessed by how we look and what we pwn, eat, wear and how to lose weight, etc. Some time ago I decided to start buying National Geographic or Australian Geographic on the odd occasions when I’m stuck in an airport with nothing to read. The photographs are stunning, the ‘models’ amazing and I feel better after reading them, rather than worse.
The other magazines I read are the ones that come with the papers – “Good Weekend” in the SMH and the magazines in the Sunday Telegraph and Herald. Great stories. Again I self censor – anything related to a celebrity I refuse to read. I’m far more interested in the extraordinary stories of ‘ordinary’ people.
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I loved the first one but I am frustrated by the photoshopped woman on the front cover. Is it not good enough for her to already be pretty? The other thing that gets me is clothing. I have size 10 to size 16 shirts in my wardrobe that all fit. So what size am I? Today my shirt is 12, but tomorrow it might be the size 16!
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oh yes – vanity sizing. My wardrobe is full of size 8s, because that’s what I am. How many have to be taken in, or don’t get bought in the first place, because like the skirt I tried on this week they literally fall off me. Size 8 skirt didn’t even stop on my hips, fell right off me – that probably should be a size 14.