Big Problems Arise With Plus-Size Clothing For Teens

This spring, both Target and Forever 21 are offering plus-size clothes for teens. This, of course, raises a whole host of issues: More »

Dove Finds Women Give Elastic Definitions Of 'Beauty'

Do you ever like to imagine stories about people you see on the street? Dove asked female strangers to share first impressions of one another on video, and the results are strangely uplifting. More »

Big Hair Is Sexy, Cigarettes Whiten Teeth, Not Having Cellulite Is Awesome

Sometimes you can't even get to the heart of the editorial content of a magazine because there are so many ads. And while a few ads are innocuous, pretty or straightforward, many are just bad. Hence, Badvertising! After the jump, some of the worst advertisements from recent issues of Elle, Allure and Glamour. More »

Women Criticize Dove Ads Directed At Women

A little over a month ago, Dove released a commercial called Onslaught, in which a young girl is bombarded with images of women as depicted by the beauty industry and music videos — and in plastic surgery situations. It came on the heels of other videos, Evolution, True Colors and Hair. Now the women of "all-girl creative think tank" 3iying have responded, and they're not impressed. "If I hate my freckles, it doesn't mean I have 'issues,'" they write in BusinessWeek. "A healthy girl can love herself and hate her freckles. Self-respect doesn't demand that we think we are perfect, or that we love every aspect of ourselves." More »

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Dove, The Love-Your-Body Beauty Company

Yesterday, when we presented the new Dove commerical, Onslaught, we neglected to mention a few things. Luckily, blogs Feministing and Feministe reminded us of a few facts! For starters, while Dove can be applauded for examining the damaging effects of the beauty industry, its parent company, Unilever, is a major manufacturer of skin-lightening creams marketed in India. (Because, you know, the lighter your skin, the more beautiful you are.) In addition, Unilever makes Axe body spray, whose sexist and just plain stupid ad campaigns and "humilidating" show don't exactly send the message that the Onslaught spot does. And there's more: Unilever spends $809 million on advertising: it markets Dove, which encourages women to love their bodies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, in which you can drown your sorrows if you don't love your body, and Slim-Fast, to make your body thin enough to love. More »

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