Yes, the message behind the flower advertisement is:

"Women are childlike saps, of course they'll accept your trivialization of the issue by accepting flowers in place of a resolution."


And to insult men - a household repair service advertises the following in the Wash. Post:


"Unlike your husband, we actually know how to fix things."


So much of advertising is nothing more than an insult to people everywhere.

Terri

Mauvais, I'll meet you down there and we'll both march in TOGETHER!!! Cheez, that makes me so angry!!

Another thing that bothers me is the type of commercial that "compares" two similar products. (Like vacuum cleaners or oven cleaners.) First they use two women because the assumption is that we are the only ones who vacuum/clean. Then they have side by side screens showing the two women/products. On one side is a skinny woman who looks really pulled together in a nice house. On the other side is a slightly harried looking woman who is shorter and heavier than the first woman. Her house is a little cheesy looking. GUESS WHOSE PRODUCT WINS? Of course MY take on these ads is that i should buy "the other" product since I am short, fat, and adore cheesy stuff!!! (But since my hubby does most of the vacuuming I'll leave it up to him!!!)

You know that's a funny thing. I have this intense interest in old advertisements, but I hate most of the over bearing commercialism. My Mom once said since I like old ads so much I should go into it as a career, but I would never be a part of the monster that makes people think they need this product or that product whether they really do or not. I am more interested in old ads for the nostalgia of it, and also from a anthropologist aspect. I think you can tell a lot about a time period by the ads that were in magazines, and on TV. I am always interested in history, and pop culture. I found a cool site called Heartless *****es, I think you all might like it. I had to laugh at most of the email they get but some was maddening, and some was just scary. Anyway here is the site.

name of site heartless-*****es

I found this magazine (believe it or not) at Barnes and Noble. I've only seen it in their magazine racks once. The magazine is called: *****: Feminist Response to Pop Culture. The describe themselves as a magazine "devoted to incisive commentary on our media-driven world". Check out their website at:

*****magazine

Be sure to check out their " list". You will love it!

Wow Great site, thanks Sojo. I've seem the magazine at the book store, but never bought it. I will now though. I also like looking at the sexist ads in the back of Ms. magazine.

Guys the only way to do anything about this is to quit watching the advertisements... don't buy the magazines.... Don’t listen to the radio... I could go on forever....

But the mindset is there, they advertise to the sub-conscious part of us, from the time we are old enough to understand what is being said in the ad. It makes us wish that we were a perfect size 1 and that we can eat, drink and be merry doing that. I have had conflicting "crap" my whole life of you have to be thin but eat everything on your plate because there are starving people in Africa. Which make the two extremes of the eating disorders, those who don't eat- to be thin and those who can't stop eating- because they aren't thin.... Can we say viscious circle?

I am a recovering Bulimic, who is turning her child youngest child into an eating disorder waiting to happen, because I don't want her self esteem to be bashed to @&(#$(& from all of the little "snots" who only see the surface of a person and bash them to pieces because of that. My 9 year old weighs herself everyday, she sees these underweight models and has set her sights to be like that... and I can not bring myself to intervene because I can remember how hard it was being a "chubby" teen (5'8 and 130lbs).... How completely insane is that? Because loving yourself for what you are isn't enough to make you successful or popular. This is what we are dealing with in the media... and why? Because we let it happen....



Quote..
I also was listening to NPR, and they had this man on there who was saying that the poor people of this country were way over fed, because look at how fat they are. I always hear this when I don't have a phone available! Of course another panelist told him (quite tersley too) that the reason poor people in the U.S. are so fat is because all they can afford is high fat, and sugary foods. I know this is true because when I was selling plasma to eat, I could only afford pasta, margarine, canned tomatoes, and fatty hamburger. No wonder people get so fat! I have to stop now before I burst an artery! LOL!

This is so freaking true it is funny.... Trying to eat healthy is expensive... fresh vegetables, whole grain breads, lean meat... people on a budget can not afford this stuff... and the families with both parents working 40+ hours a week do not have time to cook this stuff so they are drawn into the "quick" and "easy" stuff with all the calories with twice the fat and salt added for you dining pleasure....


OKAY I will stop....

Well, I was jotting notes to respond to what each of you said, but the list got so damned long I'll just say this: I agree with everything ALL of you have said.
The ads are disgusting. It IS cheaper to eat crap (I lived on ramen for a few years). The food industry is totally cramming super-sized this or that down our throats and you'd think when shopping for clothes that you're the *only* person that doesn't have a perfect body...

The food portion sizes are insane. Just a few days ago I went to Safeway for chinese food. They have this HUGE "express" plate - where you get about 4+ cups of food (their smallest plate). Instead of that, I asked for a 1/2 large container of chow mein (a little more than a cup) and a 1/2 small container of kung pow chicken (bit more than 1/2 a cup). The lady's response? "You could save money just getting the express plate" - exactly, I'll save money, eat 3x the amount of food that I actually want (because it's there - and let's face it, if it's there I'm gonna eat it - remember all those starving kids in china we ate for when we were little). So, save money, get fat and unhealthy and end up spending $100,00 on triple bypass surgery. Spend more and eat right.... They don't make it easy for you. But hey, the Dr.'s are staying in business anyway... can't have starving Dr.'s...

I have a feeling of profound sadness when I see my girlfriend's daughters deal with their blossoming bodies. Their friends (who a little behind on the puberty ride) look at them as if they're freaks and the comments about weight gain are maddening. Somewhere, in a perfect place, children, ****, ALL people, would be educated that women are *supposed* to be round, soft and squishy in some places! What people see on TV and in the mags are *not* the norm. Maybe WE are the more enlightened ones because WE realize that??

Women are, and probably will always be, treated as if we're little fragile creatures that must be coddled by a man who "protects" them from all the (gasp!) meanies in the world... How do we change it? I don't know... I just wish that I could literally scoop out some of the wisdom I've learned in my 33 short years. To open the eyes of people so they too can see that hips, breasts and a *rounded* tummy are a beautiful, healthy, NATURAL thing.

Terri
(sounding quite like a femi-****)

I just read in some article that in Hollywood anyone over size 6 is fat, and size 6 is pushing it. What the **** is that?!?! Gahhh!!!! That makes me so mad!

My 17 y.o. niece is 5'10 and weighs like 110 which by my standards is pushing death.... She has taken classes for modeling and signed contracts with a pretty major firm where she lives.... Here is the clincher, they told her that she was at the top end of her weight and that to keep her contract she could not gain anything.....

She wears a size 3 maybe a 5 in some things, and doesn't have an ounce of fat on her body..... you explain that one?

That is just wrong!!! How sickening is that. I now work in a grocery store, and happened to be walking by these two teenage girls who were reading the calories on this product and discussing that it was so many calories taken with whole milk, "Oh okay, they said with skim milk it would be a lot less". These were young girls not yet grown and so worried about the calories and fat content. It is good to be aware I supose, but at there age they should not be concerned about such things and neither were heavy either. Kinda made me sad.
Virginia

I know, it's sick! I was always a thin child, I always had to get the slim fit clothes because I was so tiny. When I was 10 I got my tonsils out and then about two weeks after that I got pnuemonia, so I was bedridden for about three months, and I gained a little weight. Well, by the time I was 11 years old I was 5' tall, and I weighed 103 lbs. Now if I were an adult that would be perfect, but being a kid I was about 10-15 lbs. overweight. My Dad panicked, and ridiculed me mercilessly. I have a social phobia anyway, and so I was so self-concious about my appearance I just stayed inside all the time, and gained more weight. It's the way people are, they either starve themselve, or they eat too much for comfort. So sad we do this stuff to people. Why not just accept and love people as they are?

As for the fashion industry, they are so guilty of making people feel fat and ugly. I have heard more than one designer say that they want clothes racks so that their clothes hang just so. That's why these girls have to be so skinny. My opinion is that these designers (save a few like Betsey Johnson, Marc Jacobs, and some others) are just not talented enough to design for real people. It is up to us as a community to let these people know we won't tolerate this nonsense. We have to stand up for our own health and sanity.

It is terrible what is done to women in this culture, and DOUBLY terrible what is done to young women.