It's quite rare for advertising to celebrate women's extra curves. Sure, Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty" uses a variety of women in their ads to show that different bodies can be beautiful. But as I mentioned in a previous post, their parent company, Unilever, contradicts itself with sexist Axe ads geared toward men. Olay's recent slogan was "Love the skin you're in," but their ads still photoshopped all of the pores, age spots, wrinkles, cellulite, and zits out of the skin their models were in.
In 1997, The Body Shop launched an ad campaign with the image below to inspire women to accept their bodies. I remember being excited as the store even handed out stickers with this image. Unfortunately, the ad soon disappeared after Mattel threatened to sue over the unauthorized use of Barbie's likeness. Unlike most companies that sell beauty products, The Body Shop hasn't relied on idealized images of women to sell their face creams, body butters, and lip gloss. They have a history of being a socially responsible company that supports humanitarian and environmental causes. Their ad was a refreshing break from all of the other media messages that pressure women to look perfect.
“It’s the image of the beauty business that’s damaging to women. When you damage, you take away her self-esteem, and self-esteem is not a wishy-washy subject. It is the route to revolution, it is a route to self-knowledge, self-worth, it is a route to political activism, it is a route to say, ‘Stand up and matter!’ and to say, ‘I take this personally.’ That should be the mantra [of every woman] – ‘I take it personally.’ I take what you say about us, I take how you interpret us, I take how you think you can sell to us – I take it personally.” --Anita Roddick (1942-2007), founder of The Body Shop
