via Jezebel:
Did Vanity Fair whitewash Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto in the March issue? If only India didn’t have a history of skin bleaching.
I have recently received the following message from the CCFC (Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood) newsletter:
For many of us, Scholastic’s book clubs played an important role in our childhood by providing the opportunity to purchase low-cost, high-quality literature in schools. We remember the excitement of thumbing through the monthly flyers to make our selections and the thrill when our orders arrived.
But something has changed. Scholastic’s book clubs have become a Trojan horse for marketing toys, trinkets, and electronic media-many of which promote popular brands. A review by CCFC of Scholastic’s elementary and middle school book clubs found that one-third of the items for sale are either not books or are books packaged with other items such as jewelry and toys.
Tell Scholastic: Put the book back in book clubs.
CCFC reviewed every item in Scholastic’s 2008 monthly Lucky (for grades 2-3) and Arrow (grades 4-6) book club flyers. Of the items advertised, 14% were not books, including the M&M’s Kart Racing Wii videogame; a remote control car; the American Idol event planner; (“Track this season of American Idol“); the Princess Room Alarm (“A princess needs her privacy!”); a wireless controller for the PS2 gaming system; a make-your-own flip flops kit (“hang out at the pool in style”); and the Monopoly® SpongeBob SquarePants™ Edition computer game. An additional 19% of the items were books that were marketed with additional toys, gadgets, or jewelry. For example, the book Get Rich Quick is sold with a dollar-shaped money clip (“to hold all your new cash!”); the Friends 4 Ever Style Pack consists of a book and two lip gloss rings; and Hannah Montana: Seeing Green comes with a guitar pick bracelet.
The opportunity to sell directly to children in schools is not a right. It’s a privilege – and an extremely profitable one at that. Last year, Scholastic’s book clubs generated $336.7 million in revenue.
It’s bad enough that so many of the books sold by Scholastic are de-facto promotions for media properties like High School Musical and SpongeBob. But there’s no justification for marketing an M&M videogame or lip gloss in elementary schools. Teachers should not be enlisted as sales agents for products that have little or no educational value and compete with books for children’s attention and families’ limited resources. If Scholastic wants to maintain their unique commercial access to young students, they need to do better.
We know that Scholastic listens to your concerns. When 5,000 of you wrote them to demand that they stop promoting the highly sexualized Bratz brand in schools, they discontinued their Bratz line. So please visit http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/621/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26599 to let Scholastic know it’s time to return to selling books – and only books – through their in-school book clubs.
-The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
www.commercialfreechildhood.org
From the site:
The Body Image Project is an online project searching for women and girls of all ages to share their individual experiences and feelings about their own body image perceptions. The goal of the project is to have women and girls take the brave step of sharing their story, break the hold these perceptions have and ultimately reveal to those who share and those who read the thoughts of others – you are not alone. It is a rare opportunity to share without fear of judgment – share in a healthy manner. We ask that individuals share their age so the reader witnesses the wide-range of ages and the wide-range of issues women and girls are facing (often silently).
Share your story. Keep it short and simple – the impact will be huge.
To share your story, simply email your words to bodyprojectsubmission@gmail.com.
http://thebodyimageproject.blogspot.com/
From Arabianbusiness.com : “Middle East beauty industry to hit $2.9bn in 2009″
Excerpt:
According to official statistics, the sales of cosmetics and perfumes across the Middle East touched $2.1 billion last year.
The sector enjoys the highest per capita consumption in the region with an average purchase of around $334 (AED1,227) per person.
The largest market is Saudi Arabia estimated to be worth more than AED7.3 billion, while the industry is expected to exceed AED3.3billion in the UAE by the end of next year, according to EPOC Messe Frankfurt, organisers of the Beauty World Middle East.
UAE = United Arab Emirates.
It’s too bad that the article does not mention specifics about best selling products. A close friend, who is now living in Dubai, tells me about the incredible popularity of skin whitening creams – perceived to give darker skinned women a boost in their careers and love life, just like in India.
Also, plastic surgery is rampant in the Middle East, amongst wealthy, upper crust women: the most popular procedure? Rhinoplasty (nose jobs) to give them a more “Western” appearance. Botox and liposuction are also on high demand.
Watch the commercial from Fair & Lovely for their Middle Eastern market:
(Remember: Fair & Lovely is owned by Unilever, the parent company of Dove and its “Real Beauty” products. For more on Dove’s hypocrisy and duplicity, check out this older post.)
The Learning Channel (TLC), owned by Discovery Commmunications, has a new reality TV series called “Toddlers & Tiaras” about little girls and boys competing in beauty pageants.
The show’s description, from its official site:
On any given weekend, on stages across the country, little girls and boys parade around wearing makeup, false eyelashes, spray tans and fake hair to be judged on their beauty, personality and costumes. Toddlers and Tiaras follows families on their quest for sparkly crowns, big titles, and lots of cash.
The preparation is intense as it gets down to the final week before the pageant. From hair and nail appointments, to finishing touches on gowns and suits, to numerous coaching sessions or rehearsals, each child preps for their performance. But once at the pageant, it’s all up to the judges and drama ensues when every parent wants to prove that their child is beautiful.
(Emphasis mine)
WTF????!!!????
For more jaw-dropping, check out the photo gallery with the before-and-after photos of the children (needless to say, they looked so much better BEFORE):
There are no words.
via @amberlrhea
From Denmark, here is an ad/featurette promoting a web site selling discounted surplus merchandise (in short: a Danish overstock.com)
It has to be one of the most degrading, objectifying ads I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
Oh and it is MOST DEFINITELY NSFW (lots of silicone-enhanced breasts on display).
via PlanetWaves.
From the blog Ten apples and a flat sponge.
The image above (left) comes from the catalog of the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen, which is selling resin models of “Venus with Apple” and Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus.” Not actual 100% faithful reproductions, but rather, reinterpreted ones. Read: slimmed down.
The blog author weighs in:
Can you BELIEVE this? The catalog is full of these, the “Three Graces”, Rodin’s women, and a poor “Hebe, Cupbearer of the Gods” who looks like she’s been given silicon breast implants.
This is hilarious: it’s revisionist art history, as done by the Photoshop-happy editors of Vogue.
Full post here.
via the F-Word blog.
While filing old articles into their appropriate folders on my computer, I stumbled upon a 1998 TIME magazine essay by Ginia Bellafante, about the “death of feminism.”
So many things rang true, some 10 years later. Indeed, publishing date and Ally McBeal references aside, the article could have been written today. Which is quite sad.
Most poignant quotes:
If feminism of the ’60s and ’70s was steeped in research and obsessed with social change, feminism today is wed to the culture of celebrity and self-obsession.
And:
You’ll have better luck becoming a darling of feminist circles if you chronicle your adventures in cybersex than if you churn out a tome on the glass ceiling.
Sigh.
Full article here.
