My, my, how times have changed! Found these vintage weight-gain ads, and chuckled- then sighed. Every generation has an ideal body type and the one that doesn’t fit it, will get ‘shamed’. I’m just waiting for the generation that will be more accepting of them all, “sexless beanpoles”, curvy bombshells and all in between… Have a great Monday!
Reblogged this on breaking obesity and commented:
What a great find! I knew that curvier was better back in the day, but I never knew they actually ran ads like this. That poor skinny man looks so defeated! We need some plain old “Be Healthy” ads, not all this ideal body type marketing that’s been going on for ages. (And at the same time, I feel somewhat happy to see that curvy was once an ideal…is that wrong? Hehe)
This is hilarious and very insightful. Thanks for sharing!
I was born into the wrong time! Haha, but really, that is too funny. I think advertisements back then were a lot more honest about what they wanted to make you feel, they had nothing to hide, they just came right out and said, “If you’re skinny, you are nothing.” These days I feel like the ads are much more subliminal. No one ever comes out and says, “You have to be skinny to fit in” but the subtext is there and the feelings evoked are the same. At the same time I wonder if in 50 years we’ll look back at this generation and be as frightened of our “medical procedures” as I am of these “hospital tested” procedures shown here. haha
love this, so true!
http://www.glamorouslydefined.wordpress.com
I’ve seen these before and I don’t think they’re any better than what’s happening today. No one should be penalized for how they look. I think it stems from the fact that girls are told (implicitly and explicitly) that their primary value to society comes form their appearance. That’s just plain false. And it’s a shame that there’s still tons of people that propagate the notion.
“I’m just waiting for the generation that will be more accepting of them all” – exactly.
Reblogged this on Girasole and commented:
These ads were something I really needed to see today. I needed to be reminded that the definition of beauty is constantly changing. It’s the strength and dignity of women that should always remain the focus of a society.