Ralph Lauren is helping to fund Masterpiece on PBS, and while I really, really appreciate that (really I do! {Please say that like Goldimouse says it about cheese.}), and I like his clothes, his ads seem to me almost cynical in their message. First he said that it’s not work for him, and then he charges an arm and a leg for his clothes. And now he says: “Designing for me, it’s about creating a world…” And then we see a bunch of anorexic-looking models in aristocratic settings. And that’s all nice and everything, but I guess his world doesn’t include food. And people die from trying to attain that kind of body image (one of my brother-in-law’s nieces just weeks ago died that way; and yes, she was a fashion model, who had it drilled into her head that she had to be stick thin for years). So maybe, if he’s going to use only super skinny models and talk about “creating a world”, he ought to end the ad by saying: “But no fatties! I create the world, so no matter how much money you have, no fatties!” Because that’s what it looks like he’s saying here anyway, so why not just come out and say it? (Or would nobody buy his clothes then?) And he forgets, having lots of money to buy his clothes also means his customers can afford to go to the best restaurants, so why not show the clothes on reasonable-looking body types, just so people can see what they really look like on the kinds of people who will be buying them? (It’s just an idea.)
But I think I may have an even better idea for fashion companies who only use stick figure models in their ads: How about a new law that says you can only sell clothes in the size(s) your models wear? Since nobody looks like a living skeleton (except models), they wouldn’t sell any clothes, and then maybe we could get past this whole body image neurosis projected on girls from a young age. But it’s just an idea. (I hate intrusive laws and regulations and government overreach too, but even I must admit, sometimes it is necessary, or at least, the threat of it is, to fix things that are hurting people.)
So how about maybe showing a family wearing his couture collection? We could have the stick-looking teenager, then the petite college-aged girl, then the medium sized mother, and then maybe the overweight aunt. And then we could see how the clothes look on every body type, and maybe he’d sell even more clothes as a result. (You never know. I don’t shop for the clothes I used to wear when I was skinny anymore, and I had a lot less money back then, so why insult the people who will really buy your clothes and don’t look like models? It seems like a no-brainer to me. I mean, seriously: even the skinniest actresses on Masterpiece are way thicker than the Ralph Lauren models, who look to me like very well dressed prison camp victims. Seriously, is this really the way he wants it?)
This is not the spot I’m talking about here, but it’ll do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ivZSEzlDa8
No, wait; here it is! (Look at those stick-thin ladies! Are they allowed to eat anything in this world he creates?):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UQKIuep1xk
No, wait; here it is! (Look at those stick-thin ladies! Are they allowed to eat anything in this world he creates?):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UQKIuep1xk
