I have to speak out about this, it has been bugging me for the longest time, there is currently uproar about an ad. Yes, an advertisement. Victoria’s Secret posted an ad that said The Perfect “Body”; please note they put the word body in quotation marks. The reason being, they were talking about their lingerie line called Body by Victoria, I know this because I buy from that line.
Everyone blasted them saying oh you’re giving girls a self-esteem issue, number one, why are young girls looking at this, it is an ad aimed at adult women. B) It is their line; it was not a comment on women making themselves thinner. And lastly, really, with all of the things that are going on in this country this is what you choose to get upset about?
I find no fault in their advertisement, it did not make me want to binge and purge or become anorexic to fit into the body size of the ad. It did not make me want to slit my wrists because I am not that size and do not look like the women in the photo. It did remind me it is time to go in and get fitted for new bras, as I love that particular line they sell.
As an adult, if your self-esteem is so low that a simple ad makes you feel bad, you seriously need to seek help. Not sarcasm, not a joke, get some help, there are other things that need to make you lose sleep and feel bad. Children starving in our own country is one, a government that foists things upon the public that are not constitutional is another, these are just two things.
I am shocked that so much vitriol was thrown at Victoria’s Secret over this; did no one see the quotation marks? Does no one know about the different lines they carry and the names of them? This is like the time everyone was on the whole make Barbie fat bandwagon.
Everyone knows Victoria’s Secret models are thin, and busty and beautiful, and air brushed to the heavens in ads. They starve themselves for the runway show; they do whatever they have to do to maintain weight that is their choice in their chosen field of employment. Oh wait, what was the key word there, choice, these girls and women have made a choice, to be models. Not only models, but Victoria’s Secret models, that takes it to a whole new level because you will be modeling things that leave the majority of your body seen. Seen to be taken apart bit by bit by the public, and if these models were not flawless, heaven help them, because the backlash would be worse than the one for that simple ad.
People love to spew hate, and with the advent of the Internet, that hate is rampant due to the face that people believe they are anonymous. They spout whatever they can to get attention, it is insanity.
Leave the models alone, leave Victoria’s Secret alone, learn to read an ad, and leave Barbie alone. I for one, do not base my self-esteem on the images of others, if you are truly worried about your daughters, teach them to read, to think, to explore their world. That will give them self-esteem, self-awareness and a thought process that goes beyond the superficial.
Angie World 