Were Ad-Wizards Behind New Half-Calorie Lays Half-Baked?

With their newer brand of Baked! products, Lays, Flat Earth and Smartfood brands are trying to shift their consumer's image from the generic "unkempt and unfit girl who sits alone on Friday night, demolishing through a bag of junk food (while obviously listening to Celine Dion)” to a more health-conscious, socially acceptable woman.

The ads and webisodes aim to be like an animated Sex in the City, staring four aging, hip, stylish best friends attempting to survive trials of life, love and self-improvement.

You know… if Sex and the City didn’t include witty quips or career-driven characters and was written by Paris Hilton.

The episodes tackle hard-hitting questions like “OMG! Why is my Italian hair stylist abandoning me to return home?” “How will my man enjoy our vacation together if I’m not tan enough or properly groomed?” “Did my husband accidentally put my perfect jeans in the dryer- he must have because they don’t fit me anymore!” “Who wouldn’t want a 48 hour bug if you get to lose a whole four pounds?” and “What’s the best way to completely rearrange my life so that I’ll be thin enough to be loved?!”

Here’s just the introduction to Baked!’s series “Only in a woman’s world” (ugh, don't even get me started on the title):




Here's a more recent webisode:

And here's one more, just for kicks. This one shows the battle between mom's sound advice and that of the "disillusioned feminist":

With the consistent line “Crave more?” I can’t help, but scream “YES, SUBSTANCE!” Don't get me wrong, here at FMF,we promote healthy lifestyles, but not when weight is lost in brain matter. These commercials promote disgusting caricatures of "the modern woman" that only hurt us (and don't have a thing to do with snack food.)

To let Frito Lay company know that women aren't as shallow as the Red Sea post-Moses, you can use big-girl words to email them here.

As a wrap up, FMF President Eleanor Smeal, always tells us to follow the money to find a company's motivation. Isn't it odd that the cartoon's official website is affiliated with style and beauty website Glam.com? Wonder why?

Landmine pageant cancelled

While I think that we can all agree that beauty pageants are generally not a feminist event, there's one that I think might be actually a good idea. In an effort to empower women injured in landmine explosions, a group in Cambodia organized a pageant for the women.

The event was organized to raise awareness of the terrible and devastating impact landmines have on human lives. Unfortunately, the Cambodian government has canceled the event. It's really too bad. These women's lives were permanently changed by landmines, and I think that it is a good idea to celebrate these women not only for surviving but for also believing in their own beauty and worth.

You should look through the photos of the women. They are incredible. I think that this also exposes how ridiculous the construction of beauty is on our country when we think about how some women waste hundreds of dollars and minutes lamenting the fact that they have visible pores when there are women who have gone through an awful accident and lost limbs and still feel that they are beautiful.

And they should believe that they are beautiful, because they are. It makes me sad that these women have been denied an opportunity that would have empowered them, and raised awareness of a serious problem.
Photo courtesy of www.flickr/worldbank

How safe is your lipstick?

Yes, I know, you might not expect a blog about cosmetics on a feminist blog, however I do think it is important that we know which chemicals are in our makeup, shampoo and even toothpaste. Skin Deep, the Environmental Working Group's Cosmetic Safety Group has done extensive research on all types of beauty products, measuring links to cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, allergies, and more.

Each product can be found through the search bar, category (ex hair spray is under hair care), or brand. Each product is measured on a 0 (meaning harmless) to 10 (harmful) rating, and the ingredients of the products are listed on a separate page. I was certainly surprised to hear that my shampoo was a six, and that common deodorants are classified as 10s. Each category also offers alternatives, usually organic versions (like Tom's of Maine), which might be a little extreme for some of us, but as long as you get as close to 0 on the scale, any change will make a difference.

On the Runway: Fashion's Favorite Body

I know, I know...the issue of Women and Body Image might appear to be over-beaten and a bit hackneyed--But as I flip through the latest fashion magazines, I notice that the faces, outfits, and styles may change, but the unrealistic body sizes rarely (not as often as I would like) do.

I understand that art doesn't have to be realistic, and fashion is certainly an art form. However, I don't understand the disproportional relationship of the diversity of the clothing lines and the body shapes used to display the clothes. Shirts come in every variety: long, short, tight, wide. Possibilities are endless, not only for the shirt but for who will wear the shirt. Why, then, does the person wearing the shirt in the advertisement or on the runway have to be shaped a certain way to make it work?

I mean, check out the size of the models in Vogue's Guide to Fall 2009. The fashion is as diverse as you can get...the size of the models? Not so much.

With the healthy body image movement growing and multiplying (Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, Love Your Body, The Belly Project, Mind on the Media, Real Women Project), I think that the high fashion industry is under-utilizing who is available to show off clothes: not everyone watching the runways and not everyone reading Vogue are shaped like the models. Do many of them probably want to wear the clothing?--Of course, but they only see it showcased on people of a certain size.

Fashion is not only for people of a certain size, it's for everyone. It's disturbing that so much of popular fashion advertising seems to disagree.