Mural in Balfour critiques ad culture
Olympia M.E. Sonnier '10
Issue date: 2/28/07 Section: News
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Wheaton's Organization for Women (WOW) put up the ads with side note cards, making fun of the content of the ad. While some may feel that the "body image" theme has been overwhelming this year, others call the display of humor in addressing the issue quite refreshing. The postcard next to the Guess ad, for instance, featuring Paris Hilton with jeans and a cat covering her breasts, says, "Got p***y?"
Usually, WOW puts together the mural during the first semester of school, but this year the club was preoccupied with organizing Breast Cancer Day. This semester, however, WOW has added statistics to the mural. Some addressed comparisons between women in the U.S. ("The average U.S. woman is 5'4" and weighs 140lbs, whereas the average U.S.
model is 5'11" and weighs 117lbs") while others touched upon development of radical dieting ages ("In 1970 the average age of a girl who stated dieting was 14, but 1990 the average dieting age fell to 8").
According to one statistic, "after viewing images of female fashion models, 7 out of 10 women felt more depressed and angry then prior to viewing the images."
WOW President Corinna McFarland '08 said of the last statistic, "A lot of women get depressed because they think the models naturally look the way they are photographed."
Another reason the mural is put up is for students to recognize the ads for what they really are. "When you brush through a magazine, the ads do not seem that harmful," McFarland said. "In fact, you barely pay attention to them. But when they are in bulk, like in our mural, it catches your eye."
Another difference from last year's mural was the number of responses WOW received from the Wheaton community. "We had a lot more responses this year," McFarland reported. The comments ranged from critical to praise. Some pointed out the growing percentage of obese people in the U.S., while others thanked WOW for the mural.
But many comments begged the question, "So what? What do we do?" In answering this question, WOW is trying to plan a "positive body image" campaign. "We would use ads from Dove, which uses larger women as models," McFarland said. "We also want to display a video in Balfour that shows the lengthy process of beautification for a model from the time she walks into the studio to when she is photographed. This would show the Wheaton community how much work the models must go through to look a certain way."
WOW will also be sponsoring its annual "Take Back the Night" walk on Mar. 23. Students will march around campus to protest domestic and sexual violence against women.
TN. 2/22/07
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