Surprise! We do not live in a perfect world. This world is filled with the less-than-wonderful or totally broken. Things that don’t fit together well and opportunities that don’t work out the way we planned. Screws fall out all the time.
But advertisers would like you to believe that if you use their product, birds will sing, the sun will shine brightly and all the world will be a glorious place. The pillows on your bed will all be fluffed just right and your mother-in-law won’t see a speck of dust when she visits.The shirt you pull out of your closet won’t have a solitary wrinkle and will still smell summer-fresh.
But it doesn’t work that way. And does anyone believe those commercials any more? They are full of smoke and mirrors and parlor tricks. Follow the yellow brick road and don’t look at the man behind the curtain. So why do advertisers keep shoving them down our throats?
The standards for beauty have changed throughout the years. In ancient Greece, unibrows were desired. In the 1800’s in France, a slight double-chin was a mark of beauty. In the 1960’s, the “look” was unisex and skinny, with Twiggy being the standard. No curves allowed.
I’ll be the first to admit I’m an advertiser’s nightmare. I can’t remember the last time I bought something based on an ad. But I know that young people are more susceptible to the images that surround them. I’m that crazy lady that will tell young teens that they don’t need to go on a diet when I overhear them talking about it in the grocery store. Or that the jeans they wear don’t need to cost some extravagant amount of money to look nice.
Besides, I’m not perfect. Not by a long shot. And you know what? I think if I saw someone “real” in a commercial, I might actually stop and watch it. Someone who’s hair didn’t fall neatly back into place after the wind caught it. Someone who’s bra strap slipped off their shoulder when they weren’t paying attention. Or they accidentally wore mismatched socks.
Because I don’t want to know what the clothes will look like on a perfect body, I want to know what they will look like on me, with all my bulges. I don’t care what your food looks like under camera, I want to know how it actually tastes.
The world’s an imperfect place and we should celebrate all those loose screws.
Let’s check in with how the other authors feel.
March 12, 2018 – In years gone by, clothing stores, makeup manufacturers and the like have only used models with those perfect bodies and skin to show us their products. How do you feel about this? Would you like to see “real” people in ads?
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