Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Boycott Ralph Lauren!

For any of us who have ever glimpsed a billboard or opened a magazine, distorted and unrealistic depictions of a woman’s body in advertisements are nothing new. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to go through a day without being assaulted by images of what the fashion and advertising world wants us to believe counts as real beauty. If you’re anything like me, you’re sick of it.

Well, we’re not alone. Recently, filmmaker Darryl Roberts, whose hard-hitting documentary “America the Beautiful” addresses the effect that media projections of beauty are having on Americans, has launched a boycott against fashion designer Ralph Lauren, and he has gotten support from more than 100,000 other concerned people who will refuse to buy any products associated with the designer. Why this sudden outcry over Ralph Lauren? Check out the ads below:



Seen enough? Me too. These outrageous advertisements, with their unbelievably distorted images of women’s bodies, are exactly the kind of images that lead so many women, especially young women, to think that their perfectly normal, beautiful bodies are not good enough. This kind of advertising has to stop.

To join Darryl and the thousands of others who have united behind this boycott, click here and spread the word to your friends. As consumers, we ultimately hold the power, and it’s time we use it to show that these kinds of advertisements are unacceptable. If we join together, we might just be able to get them to listen to us.

2 comments:

Niq said...

Hi, Niq from the office of Darryl Roberts reminding everyone they can now go to http://www.facebook.com/BoycottRalph to join the boycott! We are going strong and need your help!

Kat said...

While I think that its great to boycott Ralph Lauren, I think its strange to ONLY boycott Ralph Lauren--the main thing that separates them from the rest is that their advertising artists suck at photoshop. The cutting off pounds from models is not just a Ralph Lauren thing, its an industry-wide problem. It also affects runway models, who generally have a BMI between 16-17 (WHO says minimum healthy BMI is 19.5). This seems like a good first step, but what's the plan for after Ralph Lauren?