I agree totally with your point that the ad is an example of pitching a product through trying to give women a negative self image. When I first saw it I was reminded of my aunt, who said that when she was a child in the 1930s her (hypercritical) mother repeatedly took her to the doctor saying she was worried at how thin the child was, only to be told each time she was in the normal range.
However I suspect that most of the people applauding are reacting to nothing deeper than delighted surprise in viewing an ad where the thinest woman is not portrayed as automatically the most attractive.
This is something quite at variance to the anorexic chic pushed by so much of contemporary advertising. I can't picture any mainstream or woman's magazine running an ad like that today-- but you'll find no shortage of ads for diet plans.
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Date: 2001-08-22 04:59 pm (UTC)However I suspect that most of the people applauding are reacting to nothing deeper than delighted surprise in viewing an ad where the thinest woman is not portrayed as automatically the most attractive.
This is something quite at variance to the anorexic chic pushed by so much of contemporary advertising. I can't picture any mainstream or woman's magazine running an ad like that today-- but you'll find no shortage of ads for diet plans.