In case you haven’t heard, advertising is changing. Advertising for the body image of women has increasingly gotten worse. Over the past few years, the ideal body for a woman has gotten skinnier and taller. Advertising has made the perfect body unachievable, but 100 percent desirable (which is evil). Recently, several companies have stepped forward to break the mold and create a new standard for women.
Most recently and most reported on has been Aerie. They have created the Untouched campaign where all of their models look normal and aren’t Photoshopped. Aerie has received a lot of praise for this, and rightfully so. They have made it easier in stores and online for women to shop for intimates and swimwear. Think of yourself walking into a store where there are pictures all over the walls of women who are perfectly thin, always have their hair and makeup done, and don’t have a single flaw. It’s a little overbearing considering you don’t think of yourself as perfect looking, as these women are.
Even shopping online is hard, because you think that the image you see is what you’re going to get. You find out real quick that when you try on that swimsuit or bra that you don’t look quite the same as the model on the screen. The average bra size in America has increased from a size B to a DD in the past 20 years. I mean, honestly, how are women supposed to find a bra to fit a size DD breast when the model looks like she has an A cup size?
Aerie has found a wonderful solution to this problem: to take photos of women who look a little more like me and you and post them online and in stores so you can see what the bra or swimsuit or whatever you purchase is going to look like when you buy it.
The best part about Aerie’s campaign is that these beautiful women aren’t Photoshopped. Other companies just can’t seem to keep their hands away from Photoshopping models. Aerie has made several things clear in their campaign: everyone has rolls when they sit down, your tattoo doesn’t disappear just because you’re a model, your boobs will not always look perfect, and you are beautiful no matter what position you’re in.
It’s sad that we now live in a world where a company is outstandingly praised for using normal looking models, and for not editing their photos. When did it become okay to make people feel like they need to look a certain way to be beautiful or to be handsome? And when did we become a society that became okay with this?
We were each uniquely and individually made to look the way we do; it’s not cool that our society is telling us that we all need to look the same. We have to stand together and tell society no, we refuse to look perfect. Compliment more people on the little things, stop judging others for the way they look, and don’t worry about fitting a certain mold.
Remember ladies, you are sexy. Your body is perfect and only looks good on you. Though you may look at some of your bodily features and think of them as plain or a nuisance, someone else is looking at it wishing they had it. So hold your head high and love your body. So many companies, nowadays, try to come up with a “new beautiful” campaign. No. Beautiful is not new. Beautiful is you.
