Is something wrong?

Recently in class we saw a video of two reporters talking about a new product from Dove. What is this new product? Deodorant that makes your armpits prettier. Yes. According to this article from the Wall Street Journal, Dove is now advertising deodorant that has specialized moisturizers to help women achieve prettier armpits in just 5 days. Yes only 5. Amazing. Personally I had never even thought that armpits were something that could be considered pretty or ugly. I just thought they were a body part. But now it seems like Dove wants us to feel like we need "pretty" armpits when ironically they've always advertised that women should feel comfortable in their own skin. They even made an ad revealing the photo shopping used to create a standard ad in the hopes of informing viewers of our distorted image of beauty. Watch the video here (it's super surprising!). Yet now they are suggesting that women should be concerned with another part of their body being beautiful. It's just not right.

In the news Khloe Kardashian (a famous socialite/reality tv star for those who do not know her) "admitted" to having cellulite. (Article here). She "admitted" it. I'm definitely not surprised. And that is not because I think she is fat or at all overweight. It's because 90-95% of women have cellulite. Cellulite isn't just prevalent in people who are overweight because whether or not a person has it isn't based on weight. The heavier you are the more likely you are to have cellulite but in reality it happens when fat becomes trapped in the skin instead of under it. Beauty companies make it seem like cellulite is an gross abnormality that should be fixed even though it is a normal occurrence in women. Ironically when I was doing a little research about the prevalence of cellulite there was an ad on how to get rid of it.

It seems as if the marketing strategy of beauty companies is to make you feel worse about yourself thus compelling you to buy products that would fix the so called problem that they say you have. They are even tricky about it too. If you look at the ad below which was in Cosmopolition magazine you'll see that it says "Spring Survival" and then suggest a bunch of products that will help you survive. Tricky tricky. First of all, I didn't even think I had a problem "surviving" spring. Why would I need to "survive"?