1. Peter German said:
   4/14/2007  

   I knew they doctored pictures, but that was unbelievable. Bigger eyes, longer neck, Shoot.
   
   That makes me wonder about how many other lies I believe. If I believed that somebody actually looked like that, then whats to stop me from buying into all sorts of other lies? It makes me ask questions like-
   
   What does it really mean to be successful?
   
   OR
   
   Do I expect my girlfriend to look like the "after" picture? What does that do to her?

1. Justan Lougheed said:
   4/14/2007  

   I agree - that's a bit of a mind job.
   
   It just goes to show how fake of a world we live in and the fact that we really should take most things with a grain of salt.

1. Jordan said:
   4/15/2007  

   peter,
   great questions.
   how is success doctored.
   
   jordan

1. Katie said:
   4/16/2007  

   This just shows how much more impossible it is for women to achieve the level of beauty that is considered "right."
   
   Girls and women have a hard enough time with their self-esteem and self-image with ads portraying impossibly skinny women with perfect features. And we wonder why so many girls develop eating disorders and other psychological problems, feeling that they are never good enough. Doctored media makes it very difficult for us to meet its standards.

1. Peter German said:
   4/16/2007  

   How is success doctored?
   
   You look at Tv personalities, the Donald trumps and we're told that this is what success looks like.
   
   Money, Power & Women, those are things that dictate if we are successful or not. When really those things are a lie. Shows like "the fabulous life of..." tell us that celebrities have much better lives than us. In reality celebrities go in and out of rehab more than regular people, get divorced more than other people, are anorexic more than other people, and are just generally more screwed up. And we believe that this is the kind of life that we want.
   
   But even if we look at things within the church, for example at Epiphinea, I was confronted with two very contrasting pictures. The picture of Jim Wallis, and the picture of Dan Oudshoorn. Jim's session was in the main auditorium and there were alot of people who wanted to hear him. After his session I went up to the front to talk to him and his body gaurd (i guess) comes out and says "Mr. Wallis doesn't have time for questions. If you want your book autographed line up against the stage"
   
   Needless to say that I was pissed off. I felt very insulted. He has time to autograph my book but doesn't even care about who I am. Thats how I felt. Maybe there was a good reason for not answering questions. I don't know.
   
   But the contrasting picture of that was Dan. He stayed after the sessions and talked to everyone that wanted to talk to him. He and I missed Shane Claiborn speaking because he took the time to actually care about me instead of just letting me listen to his speech.
   
   Jim's the kind of guy that has lunch with presidents, writes best selling books, and influences lots of people. I don't think that this is a picture of success that I want to subscribe to.
   
   I think that I've decided that I'm not going to have a picture of success that is dictated by stuff like:
   -How much money I make/donate
   -How high i get on the organizational chart
   -Where I live
   -What I drive
   I'm starting to think that success is worthless. I could go on forever about success though.

1. Amanda said:
   4/20/2007  

   it's funny that this was posted.
   i just took a popular culture english course and we analyzed the dove beauty campaign.
   as a woman, who does not meet a lot of the media's vision for the beautiful, i thought this campaign was the best thing to happen to popular culture and thought it was amazing that it acted as a form of resistance to the dominant mythical norms our society has created.
   but, after discussing, analyzing, and writing on the topic, my opinion soon changed towards this form of advertising.
   Here's a couple things:
   1.) While, it acts as a form of binary opposition (the complete antithesis) of dominant media images of women, its advertising schemes are the same as that of Covergirl, Revelon, etc. Why, if we are trying to resist cultural norms and empower the inner beauty of a women, does the campaign further the thinking of outward beauty and ideological thinking of the perfect body, face, etc. Nothing is different.
   2.) One of the advertisements has women, by no means "fat", but not your typical -4 size models, standing together in nothing by their underwear (bras and panties). This is used as a way to portray that the inner beauty of women is what matters?? We need to rethink our definition of "inner beauty" if we are still going to objectify our bodies, use women who don't fit the current ideal, to prove a point that it's not about about outward appearances...when in reality, that's exactly what a lot of their advertisements subliminally suggest.
   3.) They do, exactly what other advertisements do, try to promote consumption. Dove has, just like CoverGirl, commodified beauty. Really, the next time you go to the store, pay attention to what your brain is saying. I know for me, I thought, I'll choose Dove soap to support INNER BEAUTY. In reality, this is exactly what they want and what any kind of advertising wants...consumption and money (and besides, who says a bar of soap can increase my inner beauty??...isn't that twisted??)
   
   Please don't get me wrong, I love the IDEA of empowering women, specifically with self-image issues, as it's a HUGE thing in our society. However, I don't think the Dove Campaign is necessarily the answer to that empowerment. Nor do I think they have really changed or revolutionized the unrealistic thinking of what beauty is.
   
   Sorry if this was scattered, it's early in the morning.

1. Jordan said:
   4/20/2007  

   amanda, thanks for the thoughts. you've definitely made me think and maybe putting "an honest look at beauty..." isn't the whole truth.
   What I like about the commercial is how they at least expose the fact that many of the women you see in ads, commercials...etc...don't really look that way. And as Peter suggested, makes you re-evaluate some of the other myths you buy into (ie. success, power, fame)

1. Justan Lougheed said:
   4/21/2007  

   Yeah, I've heard what Amanda has said before and it's true. And I even find myself laughing when I realize that a company has done that - tried to make themselves 'unique' or 'going-against-the-flow' in an effort to capture a piece of the market. It's really quite clever and from a business standpoint, I applaude their efforts. But at the same time, it is a bit underhanded in terms of how they are manipulating such delicate social problems for their own gain.
   
   And I can relate totally to what Peter is talking about. I have been in similar situations where someone of a particular calibre, or preaching a particular message, has acted in a very impersonal way. I suppose, like Peter said, there may be reasons for this like time constraints but at the same time him stopping and talking with Peter _may_ have changed Peter's life as far as Jim Wallis is concerned. Ignoring those opportunities to really connect with the people, which is what Jesus always did, seems secondary to 'staying on schedule' or 'upholding an image', which are things Jesus had no interest in. And are we not to strive to be like Jesus?

1. brad said:
   4/22/2007  

   context
   i work over nights and theres a lot of junk on tv
   whats odd is last night between movies
   the extenze Ad came on
   
   and thought of this postings
   the lie's that we sell and buy,
   
   women with beauty
   
   and then what GUYS need to be like or in this ad HAVE
   
   
   right now thinking of my role in both buying an selling these world myths!
   
   its funny how distored "reality" is isnt it!
   ------------------------------
   as for the leaders with the impersonal touch it sucks!!
   
   i met meny a leader in churches that are good leaders/ speakers and all that but dont really make a personal effort in there life for others,
   
   reminds me of something i read
   
   that a good pastor, likely with have alot of stuff in there in box, because they let people interupt them!
   - think ^ thats from theirs is the kingdom
   people over paper!! good rule id say

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