Were Dove’s “Real Women” retouched?

I’m sure most of you are familiar with Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign, in which the soap company used women with natural body types instead of heavily airbrushed stick-thin models. The ads were lauded across the mommy blogosphere for helping promote realistic images of women’s bodies instead of an unrealistic ideal. Now, according to a profile on digital retouching master Pascal Dangin in The New Yorker, it turns out that these “real” women may not have been so real after all:
[R]etouchers tend to practice semi-clandestinely. “It is known that everybody does it, but they protest,” Dangin said recently. “The people who complain about retouching are the first to say, ‘Get this thing off my arm.’ ” I mentioned the Dove ad campaign that proudly featured lumpier-than-usual “real women” in their undergarments. It turned out that it was a Dangin job. “Do you know how much retouching was on that?” he asked. “But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone’s skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.”
Unilever, the company that owns the Dove brand, is denying doing anything above and beyond normal photo processing and color correction:
“The ‘real women’ ad referenced in recent media coverage was created and produced entirely by Ogilvy, the Dove brand’s advertising agency, from start to finish, and the women’s bodies were not digitally altered,” Unilever Senior Communications Marketing Manager Stacie Bright said in the statement, referring to the 2005 ad, which showed younger women in their underwear.
Ms. Bright and Mr. Dangin’s company, Box Studios, did not immediately respond to e-mail queries about precisely what the “color correction” entailed. But the [2007 Dove Pro-Age ads worked on by Dangin] were a later incarnation of the “Campaign for Real Beauty” than those apparently referenced in The New Yorker.
Whatever the truth is, it’s certain that Dove’s PR people are going to be working through the weekend.
Tags: dove ads retouched, dove real beauty retouching, pascal dangin, real beauty campaign, Social Issues
Scene: The Library
Kid: Dad, you can’t just leave Jared over there, he’s only 2.
Dad: Don’t worry, I’m watching him.
Jared runs out the door of the children’s section.
Kid: See?
Fin
Tag: Parenting
And I cried and cried
After watching this I immediately became 6 years old again, sitting on the shag carpet in the family room in front of the TV, eating a half box of Apple Jacks out of a big mixing bowl:
Why don’t they show little uplifting snippets like this between kid shows anymore? Now all we get is Miley Cyrus talking about the favorite thing in her bedroom.
Tags: oops i made a mistake, television, the most important person, tv
Penultimate fighting, maybe
In case you’re not familiar with ultimate fighting, it started off as a no holds barred event, which after people started throwing around labels of “human cockfighting”, further sanctions were put in place and now it is billed as “mixed martial arts”. The end result still involves beating the other guy to a pulp, however. Now, according to a report by the Associated Press, the violent sport is becoming popular with the younger set:
The bare-knuckle fights are now attracting competitors as young as 6 whose parents treat the sport as casually as wrestling, Little League or soccer.
The changes were evident on a recent evening in southwest Missouri, where a team of several young boys and one girl grappled on gym mats in a converted garage.
Two members of the group called the “Garage Boys Fight Crew” touched their thin martial-arts gloves in a flash of sportsmanship before beginning a relentless exchange of sucker punches, body blows and swift kicks.
No blood was shed. And both competitors wore protective gear. But the bout reflected the decidedly younger face of ultimate fighting. The trend alarms medical experts and sports officials who worry that young bodies can’t withstand the pounding.
I certainly have no problem with children being involved in traditional martial arts, I think it’s very good for their minds and bodies. But this is taking it to another level. Maybe I’m overreacting, but I’m just not too keen on enrolling my kid in a sport that has its roots as a “fight to the death”. How about you, would you allow your child to be involved in junior ultimate fighting?
Tags: children, extreme sports, fight club, Garage boys fight crew, junior ultimate fighting, mixed martial arts, ultimate fighting, violent sport
Happy Easter!
OH, BOY!
Side note, am I the only one that can’t stand the Tom and Jerry Rembrandt Films years? I couldn’t even watch them when I was kid. I really loathed this one:
It’s the Swing Wing!
One of these things is not like the other…

Three of these celebrities are brain dead freaks, but Miley Cyrus should know better. I mean, what self-respecting 15-year-old goes out in public WITHOUT MAKEUP! For shame…
Tags: celebrities with no makeup, hannah montana, miley cyrus, star magazine
American men bust out the Swiffer, get some
A new report has come out claiming that American men’s role in housework duty has increased by 15 - 30 percent since 1965 (no, I’m serious, that’s what it says — yes, I realize 15% of zero is still zero), while at the same time the amount of sexual activity between married partners has increased about the same rate. So, employing a bit of post hoc ergo propter hoc, we get guy vacuums = guy gets laid.
Shit, we’ve been trying to tell you guys that for years. Where’s our grant money? Paging Matthew Lesko!
[h/t]
Tags: housework, mominatrix, sex
The bastardization of Little Bunny Foo Foo
I just heard a new version of Little Bunny Foo Foo, wherein the wayward hare does not get scolded for “boppin’” field mice on the head (too violent), but rather the fairy admonishes Foo for “kissing” them. Apparently sexual harassment is serious business in the forest.
Is this the future of nursery rhymes?
Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down, got up, was perfectly fine,
And Jill came responsibly making her way after.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the Queen’s horses and all the Queen’s women and men,
Couldn’t put Humpty back together again,
But fortunately the kingdom had universal health care and Humpty has made a full recovery.
Three visually impaired mice,
Three visually impaired mice,
See how they run after properly warming up,
See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer’s wife,
Who happened to be a member of PETA
So she treated them as equals and got them all Lasik.
Imperfect Parents wanted
We’re looking for writers here at the Imperfect Parent blog. Or “bloggers” as you kids might say; folks that will do some “blogging”. But I’ll be having none of this newfangled noun into verb morphing around here. That goes for “texting”, “googling”, “tivoing”, “sledding” — you’re all dead to me… AND GET OFF MY LAWN!
Ahem.
ANYWAY, we’ve been focusing on growing other aspects of the site, and the blog is feeling a bit neglected like that house plant in the corner that you keep forgetting about. So we’re looking for some talent to water our blog for us. Could that be you?
I would detail the type of writer/writing that we are looking for, but I think it’s a fair prerequisite that you should already be familiar with the style/tone/attitude of this website. (Here’s a hint. Here’s another one.)
This is a (very, very, did I say very? moderately) paid gig. To not waste anyone’s time, let me be even more specific — if you’re looking mainly for an experience that will get your name and writing in front of a wider audience while collecting a sum of money that might buy you a couple bags of generic groceries every month, then you’ll be a happy camper. If you write to pay the heating bill, then either buy a warmer coat or take a pass, as this won’t do it.
If I’ve piqued your interest, give me a jingle and let me know why you would be a good fit, along with a writing sample or a few links to blog posts you’re proud of. I look forward to hearing from you.
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Posted
May 9, 2008 at
7:08 pm by


