Thursday, October 27, 2011

Women: do these ads in "Marie Claire" convince you to "Love The Body You're In"?



(click ads) The South African edition of Marie Claire asked ad agencies to create layouts for their current "body" issue. These are the noteworthy executions.
Top Left—That's depressing. Ad agency: M&C Saatchi.
Top Right—That's better, I guess. Ad agency: King James RSVP.
Bottom Left: Unoriginal (Barbie again?), and some of the call-outs are cliches (chocolate, twice?). Ad agency: Canvas Lifestyle.
Bottom Right: Well, her hair, eyes, mouth, boobs, and hoo-ha are left, so... I don't know. Ad agency: Jupiter Drawing Room.
I'm not a woman. Women: what do you think?
Related: a round-up of insulting marketing to women.

15 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Top right is better? LMAO. Top right is gross. But I get it. You are trying not to insult your Black female readers. I bet you would never in a million years marry the top right woman.

Pathetic set of ads. I've seen Marie Claire covers.

1:14 PM  
Blogger Sebastienne said...

I think the last one is hella creepy, but also true - she's been taught to hate every part of her body that isn't Good For Sex. Cheers, late capitalism, good going there.

1:15 PM  
Blogger Cait said...

The second one (top right) is the best out of all of them if I had to pick, but I don't really like any of them.

To me the adds seems to say "suck it up and deal with what you have" not "love the body you're in."

I feel like this could have been done much better.

1:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I like the concept for the Barbie ad - but would have been better without a Barbie. Would it have killed them to actually handwrite the copy rather than using those horrible handwriting fonts? Would have made #2 & 3 much better.

1:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I save top right and bottom left...Barbie is really unoriginal , can't say it's not, but I guess a women (like me) would really appreciate that ad, more than the others.

1:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

All these ads are bullshit when you consider that Marie Claire's cover photos are more photoshopped that a photo of Big Foot and Kim Kardashian walking out of a kabbalah center holding hands.

2:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

@ Sebastienne. Nice Marxist critique sista! Also, I do think Copyranter is pulling punches here.....since when did he care for anyone's opinion? Maybe he thinks this will get him inside the (capri) pants of zee ladies.

5:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've had #2 and she was rubbish

6:13 PM  
Blogger Vivren said...

I think these are all unimaginative and terrible. The top left is too dark. The model in the top right doesn't look happy or in love with her body. The font in the bottom left is so atrocious that at first I didn't want to read it and after I did, realized the effort wasn't worth it. The bottom right just makes me want to ask, do that many women hate their toes?

Were any women involved in making these ads?

7:06 PM  
Anonymous Ken Doll said...

You've come a long way baby???

Lysol Used to be Advertised as a Feminine Hygiene Product and Birth Control

Yes, the disinfectant more commonly known today as a toilet bowl cleaner, was once suggested for vaginal use. Talk about versatile!

http://history.verdeserve.com/lysol-used-to-be-advertised-as-a-feminine-hygiene-product-and-birth-control/

9:38 PM  
Blogger E.B said...

These are fabulous. Finally! Ads that encourage women to love themselves, no matter what women's magazines generally tell them to hate about themselves.

Every single one of these ads hits home for a woman. Especially top right. It reminds women that for every time they scrutinize their own perceived flaws in a mirror, another woman looks longlingly at another trait, and wishes it was her own.

This makes me hold some hope for the ad industry. This is what you can do if you stick to your guns, and refuse to misinform, and decide to educate. This is why I skipped agencies and decided to freelance.

10:56 PM  
Blogger melissa. said...

I saw that it involved Marie Claire and laughed. Hypocrisy and obvious pandering. The fakeness of these kinds of adverts (cheesy handwriting font? barbie? DIY picture editing? the use of an overweight woman which wildly differentiates from every other advert and picture in any magazine - which can only mean it's a "love your body" ad!) always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don't honestly think they believe the message they're trying to spread, and until they do, no thanks.

12:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

All four ads are pathetic. Poorly done, no insight, bad copy, bad art, bad concept. Hits home like a truck hits your kids on a pedestrian crossing.

9:00 AM  
Anonymous cath said...

They're all negative and insulting. They all tell me that I do, or should, hate my body, and what I hate, or should hate, about it (the Barbie one, furthermore, tells me that most of those things are my own fault). They're telling me that I have a problem, and Marie Claire's body issue is the solution. Fuck that -- especially coming from a beauty magazine.

3:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

First are okay, but Barbie one pisses me off. First thought? Cellulite is genetic, much like a lot of those things the ad implies are due to enjoyment and indulgence. We wouldnt look like Barbie if we just stopped having chocolate or whatever.

6:56 PM  

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