The last few months I have been paging through my home magazines like BHG or CountryLiving that I get. I started to take notice that every feature house/room that they did feature included the perfect shaped family in body shape. Most were trim, attractive etc. I guess what I don't understand is do people who have issues w/weight not have well decorated homes? Enjoy designing their nests so that they could be featured? I don't get it.
I've worked in the print industry, sorry, rooms featuring pretty and trim families do not sell a magazine. But why do most magazines ever only feature people who are what the world would call acceptable in size? Rarely, and I mean rarely do you see someone who is heavier. I am sorry, but not all of us cringe when a camera is nearby though we may ask you to take shots that are complimentary (but who doesn't ask this?) and then when there is an article that may have someone of heavier nature it's related to food?
I understand that there is a problem with weight in this country. I have my own to loose, but geez, I have met many a fine person who is heavy that has a lovely spirit, a wonderful house, many an idea or a fab business etc. that should and could be featured in magazines. I don't mean to say there is a bias, but frankly somedays, it seems that way. Why can't all body shapes be featured in feature stories? Young, old, skinny, heavy etc - we are all the population and the demographic you go out to.
Am I the only one that notices this? Sorry, but it's just something I have been noticing more and more. Interested to see if others see this at all in their daily perusal either online or in print. What are your thoughts?
Of course you're not the only person to realize this. We've been talking about this stuff here forever, it's a constant topic of conversation. The media is cruel, especially to women.
I can definitely see why they feature trim families in a magazine home furnishings. Because they're not selling just furniture, they're selling a fantasy lifestyle. They want you to think "if I buy that expensive white sofa I'll be just as happy and beautiful as the family in this ad." When we stop responding to this form of advertising is when it will cease to be relevant.
I hadn't found recent threads and I am new here so sorry if this topic has been over discussed. I understand why the glam fam is featured to help w/product placement but I am getting tired of seeing this over and over again, in fact it makes me not interested in their product . I guess its something that of late has just been rubbing me the wrong way when I look at magazines. I know fashion ones are geared to a general small sized group but you'd think home magazines would be a bit more open to a diverse world of size just as they are beginning to with cultures/lifestyles etc. Sorry, I guess I sound like I am venting as we all come in different shapes and packages, I had hoped that media would look beyond and make changes as well.
No, it hasn't been overdiscussed, that's not what I mean. I'm always up for discussing how unfair the media is towards women and especially larger women. I only meant that you are not the only one to notice this. You could always write a letter to the editor to express your concerns. If enough of us do this then there has to be a response, right?
My favorite is when they use fit people to advertise things that would not lead to being fit. Like all the healthy body weight people on McD's commercials...
I worked in the industry - letters to the editor were always a pain in the butt and rarely taken seriously. Sad to say, they don't care. Or at least the ones I worked with never did.
How about the clothing ads for plus size ladies featuring a gal who is not plus sized? I have never understood that and a gal who is tall and a size 12 is not plus sized! The other thing that gripes me is how they dress the heavier people. It usually isn't flattering and then they layer them up - with scarves or lots of bulk near the face. Whats up with that? Aren't there flattering clothes out there that they can style with?
Oh and my newest gripe is that darn thigh gap! Do you know how sad that is? Even my little girl is aware of such, she wants to know why her legs are close together when the high school girls aren't - she's under 8! Her cousins high school girlfriend is all of 90lbs and sports that so she's aware of her own little legs. In fact I was somewhere where there was a gal in her 20s walking in front of me and I could have sworn she had wrapped each thigh w/an ace bandage to get into her skinny jeans and have a slight thigh gap (as there was bulky lines from the butt area to the knees, it did not appear to be compression hose - I've worn those things and she didn't have the tell tale colors at feet/ankles). Is this what we have come to? Having to wrap our legs so we can be acceptable because someone famous has this? Sadness.
I think if the world accepts that heavy people aren't slobs and lazy, that they can be healthy w/size and that we aren't any different except in shape maybe we could see a change. I was reading on that gal who has the reality show (she has PCOS) and she's working with what she's got and trying her best. Peoples comments to the story were horrible. I just don't understand why people find it so easy to be nasty about weight.
I watch ProjectRunway and I remember the challenges when they had to design for the contestants mothers and some of them were plus and all they could come up were baggy nasty looking articles of clothing. They were stymied by the measurements and couldn't get past that. Maybe even designers need to change their mindset too and start thinking beyond the dress form thats a size 6 or smaller.
I just wish the world would be as accepting of people in all shapes and sizes as they are with other things and perhaps the industries like magazines/print could help lead the change and begin including people of all shapes/sizes as their feature articles.
Perhaps the more it's mentioned maybe we will see changes, it's needed in this day and age.
I love ProjectRunway and was very disappointed with that episode too. If a designer can't design for a woman's figure, a woman with a BMI over 13, and make it flattering, they aren't a very good designer. I always feel bad for the girls that get a designer that hates anyone over a size 2. At least the judges haven't felt that that attitude was acceptable. Although, with this new season, a designer just showed an entire line of plus-sized clothes!
And the thigh gap trend can't pass by any day now. Ugh!
Home Magazines: THIN why is it that the featured
