10,10,10,10,10 and 10

I’m amazed at the fanfare that announces these surveys. The latest health & beauty blabber from the BBC informs us that “more than one in three women think the way women are portrayed in the media makes them feel overweight”.
Under the assumption that firstly, women want to look good to please themselves and secondly, to look good in the eyes of other men and women, then women truly are their own worst enemy. If women consider that those in beauty ads are so perfect, then isn’t their idea of feminine beauty so dreadfully boring?
To the watching male, the marble-skinned beanpole look is not necessarily the ideal beauty. For every man who ogles a Callista Flockhart there’ll be ten who prefer a Liz Hurley. Diana Dors was still a beauty when the scales tipped to the right.
The hetero male psyche is programmed to react to very simple stimuli, making it hard to separate an appreciation of feminine beauty from sexual preference. These preferences vary according to size and whether the male falls into one of the three broad groups (i.e. men whose preference is for legs, boobs or bum). The average male wouldn’t fret about freckles, doesn’t notice when his female colleague changes her hair (do you have dry, blowaway hair? He doesn’t care – he’s staring at your ladybumps), and would easily forgive the odd zit.
Each of the starlets showcased in beauty ads will have their fair share of male admirers, but pit Keira, Naomi, Kate et al against the Dove girls and I bet there are more men who’d prefer a crack at the jolly ones in white underwear.

Tags: Advertising industry, FMCG, Human behaviour, Press/outdoor ads, Sex, Surveys