Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Seventeen Magazine's Body Peace Vows Clash with Advertisments




Hey Girl Bloggers!
I just wanted your opinion on something I find very contradictory. Seventeen magazine recently started a “Body Peace Project” to encourage girls to accept their bodies for the way they are and sign a treaty online that lists various body vows such as:
“Know that I’m beautiful just the way I am,” and “Remind myself that what you see isn’t always what you get on TV and in ads-it takes a lot of airbrushing , dieting, money, and work to look like that.”
These are just a couple examples of the dozen vows listed by Seventeen. I think all the vows are great and represent important and positive messages for girls. It’s important to love your body and appreciate it for all the amazing things it does for you everyday! Already over 37,000 girls have signed the treaty!

However I can’t help but feel that Seventeen is sending a conflicting message when most of the other aspects of their magazine, especially their advertisements, feature extremely thin models and celebrities who are most likely on an intense diet or possibly suffering from an eating disorder and have been airbrushed to the extreme. While one of the vows stated by Seventeen says that you should respect your body “by feeding it well” then why don’t these models look like they feed themselves well? Why don’t these ads themselves reinforce the Body Peace vows Seventeen is trying to promote?

Also so many articles in Seventeen seem to focus on ways to change your exterior image through makeovers and shopping trips. The treaty encourages girls not to judge people based on how they look, yet they’re constantly promoting new products to improve your looks. I don’t know about you guys, but I feel frustrated that Seventeen isn’t doing more to endorse the vows they’re encouraging their readers to take. What do you think? Is Seventeen being hypocritical?

If you would like to have a look for yourself at the Body Peace Treaty, just visit this website.
Thanks for reading, and I hope to hear some of your thoughts on this conflicting subject!

1 comment:

Ginger said...

I wouldn't quite call this hypocritical, but I would call it confusing and not right. Yet, although everyone should love their bodies, accept them, and be proud in the skin they're in, not everybody has signed the treaty. Some people may still be struggling, and that's OK too. It may take a little getting used to before one can completely accept themselves the way they are. They have to settle. But mostly, I agree a lot with what you have stated in this post. It isn't good what they did. Maybe they don't realize that what they have done wasn't right. Is there some way to contact the people at the magazine and explain this situation? That's what I love about New Moon. The covers don't have models, and the drawings, collages, or pictures show girls who may be black, or Asian, or white, or short, or flat-chested, or a tall girl. It makes me feel very accepted.