If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words are in TWO pictures?
I KNEW I had both of these pictures from the EL Companies (yes, that would be Estee Lauder) but I couldn't locate them. I KNEW that the bottom photograph was even more disturbing than the top one which was in yesterday's blog post.
I DESPISE these photographs. I ABHOR these "ads." I'm not understanding the whole campaign. If three women looked a bit like an orgy, the foursome looks borderline pornographic. How is this helping anyone with breast cancer?
Personally, I WAS feeling okay with my appearance. Now? Not so much. Their skin is flawless. Their bodies are perfect. How does this make YOU feel? Is there a scar or two on your skin? Is there a ripple beneath your skin if you have implants? Are you satisfied with the appearance of any nipple tattoos you may have gotten along the way? Feel free to tell me I'm being overly sensitive. Be prepared to explain WHY this is okay. And please, no one who is "very close to so and so" gets to weigh in. Unless you are the one with the scars, I'm somewhat disinterested in your opinion. In other words, this is a case where you can't talk the talk unless you've already walked the walk.
Where is the reality? Any reality. Estee Lauder Companies: Is anyone out there? Are you listening? No amount of money can compensate for the damage these photos are doing to my already fragile body image issues. Please lose these ads. Keep it real. THIS is not real.
Say hello to photoshop!
ReplyDeleteFor SURE!!! Back in the day, we called lots of this "airbrushing" ..... and that every popular, "these are unretouched before and after photos" (which, to be honest--that word always seems liked it had too many prefixes..... UN RE Touched!)
DeleteEstee Lauder is very philanthropic and no where is that more apparent than in and around NYC so I do see all of the good they do as a corporation and as a private family..... but..... this photo really isn't for me! I think they can do better to get the message out.....
Have a great weekend.... and again... I am so glad we connected!
The only reality about this photo is that it isn't. Hell even in my perky years of teenage boobies was my skin that flawless.
ReplyDeleteAgain it isn't about the underlying message BREAST CANCER it's about selling the product. Flawless skin beautiful looks all epitomize what cosmetic companies are trying to achieve at a maximum level.
When I first looked at my scar I thought well it's not too bad. Straight line maybe a zig or two. What did shock me was the total length of it. I am not overly fat yep a few pounds for sure yet here was this scar from front to back 14 inches in total!! The following year my second breast came off. This was 13 inches. Altogether 27 inches of scar tissue along my chest..... My physical scars healed beautifully! My mental scars not so good! people were looking.. with the "poor you" sad eye looks or surprise. "Oh my GOD" that's horrible. These attitudes are embedded immediately and we feel flawed, damaged goods. Certainly not perky happy as these ads depict. Or how we should be acting. They show the reality of smoking in ads. The "cool attitude" is no longer there , horrendous mouth sores, cankers the damaged lungs from cancer. Shocking but that's reality. Up until we STOP!!!! I repeat.... Until we STOP!!! objectifying women's body parts as being strictly sexual. Breast Cancer will never take on the seriousness that it really is. We as women are just as much to blame. Instead of letting these companies know how shitty their ads are by continuing to support them and their products nothing changes. Being Phianthropic is wonderful, The fact is they are dishonest.. It is obvious by these beautiful women who barely escaped puberty, not given birth, breast fed .. given the money these ads cost the same reaction wouldn't even come close if you put 3 women who have lost their breasts to CANCER!! I like the products of Este Lauder, used to use them..I loved their Lipstick however you will not find one in my collection of my cosmetics.. Here is the Facebook page for Este Lauder...SPEAK OUT!! Tell them what you think.
https://www.facebook.com/BCACampaign
**A brilliant way to show your support of Breast Cancer Awareness.
Enjoy Pure Color Long Lasting Lipstick in Evelyn Wildly Pink, plus a Pink Croc-Embossed Clutch.
PINK RIBBON COLLECTION
Estée Lauder will donate 20% of the suggested retail price of its Pink Ribbon Collection to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation®. The Breast Cancer Research Foundation® is dedicated to preventing breast cancer and finding a cure in our lifetime by funding clinical and translational research worldwide. For more information about BCRF visit www.bcrfcure.org.
To learn more, visit our Breast Cancer Awareness section.**
I applaud the efforts of corporations making donations. I deplore the disengenuous methods in which they devalue women with their fake photo shop babes at the expense of who REAL WOMEN are!!.Especially WE who have lost OUR BREASTS !!
(sorry long again)
Love Alli XXX
Alli! Love the comparison to the harsh reality of the smoking ads. I know I was UNPOPULAR when I said I was Okay with the Ford program but Ford donates 100% of the net proceeds (not 20%) so they are NOT making a profit on the items. They show the dollar amount right on the page. And they used REAL people in the ads.
DeleteThanks for pointing me to the FB page!
My brain feels like it's about to explode. Glad it's Friday. Need to decompress.....
Love and hugs,
AnneMarie
xoxox
Ridiculous!!
ReplyDeleteConnect. Communicate. Conquer! This is a lipstick advert surely!
How about "Support. Research. Transparency"
The message is flawed and demonstrated by models makes it 'null' and void....bring back 'real' people!!
AGREE! I didn't even want to GET to the message part. Conquer? That is totally, completely, 100% OUR OF OUR hands. The message IS flawed.
DeleteThank you for pointing that out!
Forgive me if this is incoherent...I am 2 weeks out from my final chemo infusion and most definitely still foggy. I had a mastectomy in March this year and will begin radiation treatment next week. I go back and forth with body image issues - I had to go swimsuit shopping this week which was a new level of frustration.
ReplyDeleteI am relatively new to the issues raised on this blog and very interested in gaining more information and forming my own opinion (once my brain returns of course). But for this particular campaign I don't associate myself with the girls in the photo. Maybe that comes from years and years of a constant media barrage of unrealistic photo shopped images. I hear people ask "Where are the real women?" But if you open any magazine there are no "real" women anywhere. I guess to me it feels like you are picking at a broader problem of the use of models in marketing and the unrealistic definition of women's beauty. If Estee Lauder really is donating the money to an organization that actually funds research I don't have a huge issue with it specifically. I just see it as another obnoxious overly sexualized marketing campaign in a sea of other obnoxious overly sexualized marketing campaigns.
Just my foggy two cents...but like I said still trying to decide where I land on all this stuff.
Lynnea
Lynnea,
DeleteI'm glad your name linked to your blog. I made a new friend, today! I'm scattered. I'm all over the place. I'm still trying to "define" my role. I threw everything at the wall about a year ago, and today, most of it stuck. Very unexpected.
I knew nothing of this cause marketing nonsense but as I began to learn, I got very vocal. I like to THINK I have somewhat reasonable "expectations" ..... Where breast cancer is concerned, I'm not fond to see it depicted as sexual in nature. You are right. It's a sea of obnoxious overly sexualized cause marketing. I want to believe if we, the breast cancer community, speak our minds, they might tone it down a bit. For too long, it was allowed to be turned into "it's just a boob job" .....
Estee Lauder is donating money but the other side of this which I didn't get into here.... they are also making quite a bit of profit. I understand corporations are in business to make money but I feel like if you slap a ribbon on something to tug at our sympathy, fear, desire to support... whatever.... how about 50/50. I mentioned the Ford campaign in another reply above.....
AND... the broader problem.... you BET. I had plenty of other things swirling in my mind about the magazine, the fashion industry, the rampant issues with eating disorders.... I could go on and on.. except my brain is a bit foggy today, too!
Will be following your blog as you start radiation. Take good care of you!
Hugs,
AnneMarie
Where is this ad from? Is it current? We haven't even brought up the fact that Estee Lauder's cosmetics have unsafe chemicals known to cause cancer in them. Maybe we could Raise a Stink?" see:(The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics) http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5500/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=11482
ReplyDeleteJohnson and Johnson finally said they would take their known chemicals to cause cancer out of their products over time. On top of that the ad is really degrading and not at all about breast cancer. It shows they don't care about breast cancer and don't have a clue. I think they need to see Angelo Mereno's photos and the Scar Project. Thank you for posting this.
Hi Susan!
DeleteFeels like we were just sharing a meal at NBCC only days ago! This ad was in a magazine in a salon (the top one). It's from the 2011 campaign so it's not like it's terribly old. I saw the J&J announcement, too.
The sad thing is that BCRF is a decent organization. They are just so misguided with these lousy ads. I figure we have to start somewhere. I'm choosing to start with the money issues and the need to DE-sexualize this disease.....
xoxo
All these images represent are airbrushed masterpieces to serve a prurient interest, as they would say in the law. "I know it when I see it," a famous Supreme Court Justice once said about obscenity. THIS is obscene, particularly in the context of breast cancer. Estee Lauder should be ashamed of itself. The company should be "girlcotted" and censored. Thanks for "exposing" this marketing travesty. xx
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jan.
DeleteI think the body image post is on the way. These pictures bug me. Those stupid cupcakes bug me. The guys with that "Boobstagram" bug me. The fact that Angelo Merendino's photography is too graphic..... (and THIS ISN'T).... ugh.
xoxo
Seriously, Estee Lauder?? What is the message here? That barely clad women with flawless skin, three of whom are ethnically ambiguous, will conquer breast cancer if only they pout with the same shade of pink lipstick?? Can I assume, that Estee Lauder is not willing to use pictures of real cancer patients with skin compromised by treatments, perhaps bald or with a wig to promote the cause. Is Estee Lauder trying to make some social statement about creating a sense of community around race or ethnicity? Or maybe it really is all about the lipstick. Which probably contains the very chemicals that may have contributed to my cancer.
ReplyDeleteI really don't want to see these kinds of pictures everywhere I turn in October. Already, i'm bracing for it. Wish I could hide far away from faceless models adorned with Komen pink lipstick, pink ribbons, and undamaged bodies.
Yvonne...
DeleteYou made me laugh despite the fact that this really pisses me off..... "conquer breast cancer if they pout with the same shade of pink lipstick" is classic.
It's starting already. Mid August. The stuff I saw wasn't "left over" either... it was to seize the opportunity with the "back to school" shopping.
xoxox
These pictures, and this ad campaign, make me CRAZY. I'm sick about it now that I've seen it again. I ranted about it a while back (http://pinkunderbelly.com/2012/06/14/susan-science-and-stagnation/) and am still furious. I'm dreading Pinktober already, and have noticed the "pink creep" is starting -- it's not even September yet but the "awareness" junk is hitting the store shelves. Despicable.
ReplyDeleteThe pink creep is indeed starting to find its way in..... I'm tempted to take out my phone and snap pictures of everything I see. BUT, I suspect I'd be wasting lots of time.... Your blog piece is awesome. I saw that when you posted it (no clue why I didn't leave a comment..... but-Blame it on the Brain) ......
DeleteAll we can do is make sure we are clear about how we do not like to be objectified in the name of awareness AND, for those who embrace pink... spend wisely. We have a long haul ahead of us. Gets very frustrating...