Curve my enthusiasm

[jack_babalon]

Well by now, thanks to the efforts of Shakesville and a few others, a lot of you have seen this ad for Fit Light Dairy by the Brazilian advertising agency Salles Chemistri. The tag line reads Forget about it. Men's preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt". Here's the one spoofing American Beauty.



The problem with the ad is that it's wrong. But not just because the above image induces a wonderful chemical cocktail of testosterone & Oxytocin that makes me want to take my Woman and go skinny dipping in a pool of rose petals, but because the assumption behind the line "Men's preference will never change" is simply, in my opinion, a bunch of bullshit!

Look, i'm not an expert in Body Image issues, Psychology, Art History or Post Colonial Feminist Critiques of the Western World. I'm simply a guy who likes imagery that stirs the imagination and the female form in general. However it doesn't take much research to find that the 'ideal' images of women weren't always the anatomically impropable or the legions of airbrushed starvation skeletons, with their disproportiante boob jobs slapped on their chests and their silicone injected lips, that seem to comprise much of what I see in television, movies, comicbooks, advertising and yes my porn!

In fact once upon a time men were stirred by women who looked like... well women.


Venus with a Mirror
Titian, 1555


The Union of Earth and Water
Peter Paul Rubens 1618


The Venus of Wilendorf

So anyway, I don't know why or when that all changed. You can tell me it's a series of Patriarchial induced values placed upon society in order to objectify 52% of the planet into believing they can either be biological fuck-toys or Mommy-Madonna's while the rest are to be marginalized into a state of social invisiblity. You can tell me it's Leary-esque neuro-imprinting and that most young men who experience their first orgasm via porn imagery. You can tell me "that's just the way it is" with a shrug. Fine. Whatever.

But don't tell me what I, as a man, prefer and don't prefer!

Comments

[daucus-carota.livejournal.com]

Reason #716 that I'm glad I don't have tv... Fit Light Yogurt commercials! I looked at the other ads on the webs. One is a spoof of the Marilyn Monroe image in the white halter dress standing over the subway vents with her dress blowing up. I hate to be the one to correct the good folk at "Fit Light" but Marilyn Monroe in today's sizes would have worn a size 14 dress... not exactly American Beauty's Mena Suvari size 2!

If you'd like to express your displeasure with the ad campaign:
http://www.itambe.com.br/Cmi/pagina.aspx?1285

Thanks for the feather ruffling for the day!
xxx

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I was waiting for this to come up on your radar... You've hit the mark, I think. My theory: Beauty standards often have more to do with displaying power than anything else -- when power is expressed by the ability to eat well and poverty is expressed by starvation, the beautiful women are large and curvy. When power is expressed by time to go to the gym and poverty is expressed by having to work all the damn time, the beautiful women have sculpted abs.

Also, I would buy more porn if the women in it looked like the rose petal woman. I know I don't count and all, because my penis is made of silicone, but hey.

[poisongirl.livejournal.com]

Wow.
I am so glad that you are one of the guys that forms your own opinion and that you have an appreciation for those of us shaped like women should be. Thank you for that.

[ednaismygod.livejournal.com]

agreed. and the idea that the ad isn't hot is ridiculous (which is the implication of the text, right?). and the idea that men aren't attracted to women who look like her is equally ridiculous.

[entropic-om.livejournal.com]

Excellent to know they haven't brain-washed you! :D

In one of the ad groups I occasionally lurk in someone had this to say, which makes an additional and valid point about this type of ad: "It's very insulting I think. The idea is very very very bad and so easy. Nothing intelligent or what so-ever. These kind of ads are the reason why people start hating advertising. A disgrace towards people who are trying to make good, honest and selling work."

[mindcontrol23.livejournal.com]

I think the woman in the ad is hot. As a professional graphics designer I am glad that I have completely dropped out of the whole advertising side of things and just work for big tobacco and pharmaceutical defense attorney's.

[aumonae.livejournal.com]

I saw the ad thing from another site and thought that it was a joke. I agree that obesity is not a good thing... but a woman is not obese or fat because she has curves! The rose petal woman is a shape that is sensuous, easy on the eye, comforting, and just plain old hot!

I would enjoy porn more if the stars weren't skeletal thin, high or drunk, and had their own body parts.

Why is it that cars are only considered "sleek" and "sexy" if they have curves, but a woman isn't? I think that some people are looking at things a little skewed and need to try re-aligning their perspective... unless they are repressing a part of themselves that is attracted to males... since they seem to be trying to make women look like young men... (and this was meant to be snarky... not literal or directed at anyone!).

[eve-a-licious.livejournal.com]

thank you for this post, I can't tell you how much I needed to read this today. It's men like you that make women feel like women.

[gaeasdaughter.livejournal.com]

Je suis fier de vous!

[gaeasdaughter.livejournal.com]

Followed the url lead and posted the following:

Think about the woman who bore you. Think about her when you were younger than you are. Think of her beauty in your eyes. Think about what she thinks about herself. Now. Then. Can't you see the insult of your impertinence? Do you think MEN get more attractive as they age? Well, they don't, in case your own mother didn't tell you. We fall in love, we feel the heat, we bear children, then we age ... together. You can play "marketing" all you want. EVERY WOMAN AGES as does EVERY MAN, Your marketing campaign is stupid and insulting to your own mothers.

[gaeasdaughter.livejournal.com]

Sorry ... that was because FAT is usually this "old lady" thing I encounter with my "youngers."

[piratebecky.livejournal.com]

As a Venus of Willendorf myself, I can say for certain that men's preferences have a pretty broad spectrum. (Look! I made a pun!) In fact, men have been "prefering" me since I opened for business, lo these many years ago.

As a designer who does some advertising, I can say for sure that's a bad ad campaign, because it alienates their target audience. What a dumb thing to do.

Big girls are hot,advertising lies!

[destructodeluxo.livejournal.com]

Who fucking buys this shite??
Weak ass pussy non men craving pussy they will never see,
Lusting after Ideals best set on the figure of 12 year old boys.
And folks.....thats some sick shit!
Vote with your $$$s.
Whats even worse? that "Lolita whore thing" in preteen fashions 2 years ago.
Why nobody got strung up by their balls on that shit is a mystery and
reason why I hate your average consumer.
Nation of the blind,and easily lead.

Re: Big girls are hot,advertising lies!

[jackbabalon23.livejournal.com]

"Lusting after Ideals best set on the figure of 12 year old boys" - AMEN BROTHER!

funny bad

[vesperi.livejournal.com]

funny thing is, she is quite proportionate and has a great smile, great skin and tone, and looks like a whole lotta giggly fun in a bed of roses (happy to be there is a big turn on for guys, right?). i dont understand the "Men's preference will never change" if that is the caption. i looked at it and thought, wow, thats what dairy does!
they should have had la chappele shoot it if they wanted her to look obese.

i buy this yogurt, but i dont think about men whn i eat it. not sure if lesbian status has anything to do with it or not.