mybodybeautiful Blog

Friday, February 03, 2012

Aspirational selling

This week senior marketers from the beauty industry, including Boots, L’Oréal and Procter & Gamble, appeared before the All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image.

Conservative MP Caroline Nokes asked the group if they were perpetuating a lack of confidence in order to sell more products and services.

In response Louise Terry(L’Oréal group director of communications) defended the cosmetics firm’s advertising as “aspirational” and “sincere”. She said: “It’s fair to say that images are airbrushed but never to make people thinner. We try to be sincere and try to get the line right between aspirational and going too far. We spend a lot of time on what is appropriate and we have a good industry watchdog (Advertising Standards Authority – ASA) that names and shames us when we get it wrong. People are discerning. If they use a product and it doesn’t work, they probably will not use it again. But we get consumers buying our products again and again.”

Ironically, the meeting took place during the same week that the ASA banned a L’Oreal’s ad that featured an airbrushed Rachel Weisz.

Elizabeth Fagan ( Boots marketing director) added her thoughts. “We want all our brand communications to be engaging”, she said continuing, “inspirational and make people feel good. We don’t want it to be unattainable but want women to think ‘on a good day I could look like that’.... Women don’t want to see unattractive or everyday people – they want to be aspirational.”

Aspirational? In truth many beauty ads depict images that are unattainable. The industry should address this issue, rather than simply skirting around the edges.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Male attitudes to body image study

Central YMCA, the Centre for Appearance Research and The Succeed Foundation have recently collaborated on a major national study which explores male attitudes to body image and appearance.

The study reveals that 4 in 5 men engage in conversation about their appearance which in the majority of cases affects men in a negative way. The majority of men are unhappy with their appearance, with 4 in 5 wanting to be more muscular, and this in turn may explain why one in three men take protein supplements or are on high protein diets. Body image anxiety also puts as many as 1 in 4 men off exercising at the gym.

"Historically conversation about your body has been perceived as something women do", said Rosi Prescott, Chief Executive of Central YMCA. She continued, " it is clear from this research that men are also guilty of commenting on one another's bodies and in many cases this is having a damaging effect."

Friday, January 27, 2012

The beautification of soap characters

The Wright Stuff (Channel Five) had an interesting discussion this morning. It asked the studio and viewing audience the following question. "Have noticed that new soap characters are becoming more attractive?" My answer to this question is a simple, "yes" .

Until quite recently, the epitome of a soap character was that they looked like the typical man or woman in the street. Things have changed.

The TV discussion highlighted the fact that, as story lines alter, it seems to be out with the old (less physically appealing) and in with the new (gorgeous). In EastEnders former model picks of the reigns as Lucy Beale. Coronations Street's Battersbys family have given way to the better looking Price family, while Emmerdale's, cast is bulging at the seams with 'beautiful people.'

The beautification of soaps is just one more indication that, in our culture, "looks matter", almost to the exclusion of anything else e.g. talent.

This is not a healthy or wise message to send to society; particularly to the young.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Finding peace with your body

Here is an interesting article from the American Psychological Association's Blog. It's titled, 'Finding Peace With Food & Our Bodies: Q&A With Dietician Julie Norman'.

The insightful article contains informative responses to questions such as, how to find peace with your body.

Julie's answer: ' By agreeing to be in them, accept them, love them and care for them exquisitely. I realize this sounds easy yet is hard to do. It’s a huge process that takes time and support given our conditioning and cultural environment.

Read Article

Monday, January 23, 2012

Logo Animation

We have been having fun with our logo. Here is the final result.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Pupil Referral Unit

“You’ve fallen in love with a pixel!” The exclamation was followed by much laughter and merriment from other members of the class.

The outburst took place in a Body Image and Self Esteem workshop, that we ran at a West Midlands Pupil Referral Unit, earlier this week.

The statement had come from a year 11 male pupil with autism. His outburst, was in response to a teaching assistant's (male) comment that he found airbrushed pictures more attractive than natural ones.

The vocal pupil wasn’t the only one determined to remark on the honest comment.

"Natural beauty is better, because it’s real “, insisted a girl in the far corner; words that the girls in her group echoed.

For a while, behavioural, mental and physical issues were mostly forgotten as discussions on body image, self esteem, the media & advertising, beauty and weight captured the classes attention.

When talking about weight issues one girl said, "some poor people can't afford to buy healthy food. Fattening food is cheaper so being fat isn't totally their fault".

The fact that the workshop was talking place in a Pupil Referral Unit with several teaching assistants (who all took part) in attendance, changed the usual workshop dynamics and made for some interesting assistant/pupil dialogue.

One thing is clear. Children, however diverse, want to be heard.

We appreciate the opportunity to listen.

Friday, January 13, 2012

PIP Implants

Yesterday afternoon we received a call from a woman who was very concerned and upset about her PIP breast implants. The caller is one of the UK's 40,000 women who have received PIP implants. In recent weeks the implants, made by Poly Implants Prosthese in France using industrial grade silicone gel filler, ignited health fears after reports that they are more prone to rupture than other products. 300,000 women have received the implants worldwide.

We explained that we did not perform cosmetic surgery or provide medical information. We then advised her to speak to her doctor or the clinic that had performed her breast augmentation.

To our surprise, she said that she had already spoken to her doctor and that he had also advised her to speak to the private clinic concerned.

A little confused, we asked her why she had called my Body Beautiful. She replied that she wanted to know what we thought she should do.

Sadly, we were unable to do anything other than utilise our counselling skills and listen, before suggesting that she follow her doctor’s advice.

The Government has promised that NHS PIP implant patients, who request it, can have their implants removed and replaced free of charge. Some private healthcare providers including Nuffield Health, BMI and Spire, have given their former patients the same guarantee.

On the opposite side of the fence stand several large private clinics, including Harley Medical Group, Transform and the Hospital Group who have stated that former patients will have to pay for their PIP removal and replacement. Mel Braham, the Harley Medical Group chairman, has publically stated that the company did not have the resources, surgeons or operating facilities required. The NHS has offered to remove, but not replace the implants of women who fall into this category.

"I do not think it is fair to the taxpayer for the NHS to foot the bill for patients who had their operation privately." Heath Secretary Andrew Lansley told the Commons last week.

Andrew Lansley is currently investigating the possibility of pursuing private providers, who are refusing to cover removal and replacement costs, through the courts.

At the very least, the PIP controversy has highlighted the need for a review of the current ethics, regulation and safety standards of the cosmetic surgery industry.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Leadership and degree of attractiveness

Yesterday BBC Radio 4 presenter John Humphrys interviewed Ed Milliband for the Today programme. When discussing the Labour party's leadership role, John voiced his opinion that "politics has changed".

To explain his viewpoint further, John spoke about the late Robin Cook. 'Everybody accepted that he was a brilliant politician, brilliant mind, brilliant orator; could've been a great leader.' He stated, before continuing. 'I asked if he was going to go for it [labour leadership] and he said no. I asked him why not and he said "because I'm too ugly, they wouldn't have me".

'Is that a comment on me, John?' Ed asked.

Surely, as leader of the Labour party, Ed should have been interviewed on his party's policies i.e. how Labour intends to address the issues that affect everyday voters such as the economy, health and education. Linking his ability to lead his party with his degree of attractiveness is a very superficial way to determine whether or not he can effectively carry out the role.

Unsurprisingly John Humphrys, despite immediately backtracking the implication of his words, has been criticised for his comments.

Monday, January 09, 2012

The pressure to be thin

This month's article looks at last Thursday's Tonight programme 'Dying To Be Thin' (ITV1) that highlighted the disquieting rise in eating disorders among children.

Extract:

On Thursday we saw 7 year old girls clearly illustrating that they were very aware of their body shape. They used the terms ‘chubby’,’ porky’ and ‘sad’ to describe being overweight and voiced fears that being overweight could result in others calling them names. Clearly, they perceived being overweight as something bad, something to be avoided.

Sadly the fear of being fat is very real for some children. This fact is inescapable when reviewing the emotions that a group of 12 year olds consciously (and subconsciously) linked to their body size and shape.

Article

Friday, January 06, 2012

Food and drink related lies

A survey, commissioned by Timex to launch its Health Tracker watch, questioned 3,000 people about their eating habits. Researchers found that woman tell 474 food and drink related lies (average) each year.

The top 20 are detailed below:

1. 'It was only a small portion'
2. 'I'll have a big lunch so I won't eat much after this'
3. 'I only treat myself once in a while'
4. 'I always eat my five-a-day'
5. 'I didn't touch any of the biscuits'
6. 'I only had one glass'
7. 'I didn't eat the last one'
8. 'I won't eat again today after this'
9.'I was too busy to have lunch'
10. 'I might as well polish them off now or they'll go bad'
11. 'I had a salad so that's healthy'
12. 'I never touch fast food'
13. 'Red wine is good for you'
14. ' I only have half a sugar'
15. 'I limit my carb intake'
16. 'I'm testing the dinner'
17. 'I only had a drink because we were toasting an occasion'
18. 'I only drink diet fizzy drinks'
19. 'I just finished off the kids leftovers'
20. 'I don't drink tea after 5pm'

Speaking personally, my favourite excuse for eating an extra biscuit or two is ' I'll burn it off tomorrow'. I wouldn't call it a lie, because I mean it when I say it. Honest!

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Body image prediction for 2012

"Mum, is the world going to end in 2012 ?"

"Of course not", I replied to my 11 year old son.

"Why does everyone at school say it will?" He persisted.

"Well", I began. "The Mayans calendar ends on 21st December 2012. Many people think it’s the end of the world, but it's really just the end of one of their long time periods. The first date of their new time period begins on 22nd December 2012. It's a bit like 31st December. It is the last day of our year and is followed by 1st January, the first day of the new year".

As stated, I don’t think the world will end in 2012. One other thing that I don’t think will end this year, is our cultures preoccupation with physical appearance. Not only will it not end; here’s my New Year prediction for 2012.

The pressures associated with the need to look beautiful, slender, (with disproportionately large breasts if your female), well dressed and youthful will increase.

The good news is that the number of self acceptance crusaders, my Body Beautiful has been numbered among them for over eight years, will also increase.

Watch this space.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Happy New Year

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Naked confidence

Yesterday, we received this email:

Hi, I am emailing from ****** [national women's magazine] as we have a feature that someone who is part of Body Beautiful may be interested in taking part in.

We are looking for a mother and daughter of an ethnic background for an interview and photo shoot about body confidence. They would need to be happy to pose naked - however it will be shot in a very stylish way and in black and white. We can position them to hide parts of their body etc if they would prefer.

If you could contact me if you have anyone who would be happy to take part.
Kind regards

The email was the catalyst to long and thoughtful discussions. Why does the mother and daughter need to pose naked? Does showing your naked body in a 'stylish' way, with 'hidden parts' portray body confidence? If the mother and daughter were dressed, would this mean they were not really body confident?

Taking the discussion further and looking at the topic in a wider context. Where is this growing trend for public nudity leading? Over the last 3 years we have had the following programs that focus on nudity:

1. How to Look Good Naked (Ch4)
2. Miss Naked Beauty (Ch4)
3. Dawn Gets Naked (BBC3)
4. The Great British Body (ITV)
5. Naked News (YouTube))

There has also been numerous naked celebrities and would be celebrities filling the pages of a multitude of magazines.

Just this morning we learnt that three members of McFly have posed naked as a reward to their fans for helping band member Harry Judd win Strictly Come Dancing. Reward?

What effect is nudity in the media having on society at large? Is it public exhibitionism or evidence of our societies relaxed attitude towards nudity? Is it right or wrong? Should we support or oppose it? The debate rages on.

No one in the my Body Beautiful team wanted to take part. Naked confidence? No thanks.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Black women's well being

A team of researchers from 3 US universities* analysed data on how obesity is perceived by women. The research, that took place between 2000-2010, found that there was a marked difference between black and white women.

While most obese women are unhappy about their weight, black women reported higher self esteem and a higher quality of life than white women of the same weight.

Black women were more concerned about adverse physical rather than mental or emotional issues associated with being overweight.

Tiffany L. Cox (lead researcher) believes that an overweight black women’s perception of having a high quality of life, was working against their genuine need to lose weight.

From my own research, I know that it is not simply a case of perceived ‘well being’. Past studies have concluded that social norms and a greater acceptance of a diverse range of body shapes and sizes, play a significant role in forming a black person's body image.

*University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Neuropsychiatric Research Institute in Fargo

Friday, December 16, 2011

Value as sex objects

A report published by the NHS Information Centre, has found that:

- 27% of females have sex before the age of consent.

- 1 in 10 young people aged 16 to 24 have
had 10 or more sexual partners.

- 26% of women and 32% of men aged 16 to 24
say they have never had sex.

     - 27% of men and 44% of women aged 16 to 24
     have been tested for the sexually-transmitted
       infection Chlamydia, compared with 6% of men
       and 12% of women in the 45 to 54 age group.

     - In their lifetime across all age groups, men have
     typically had 9.3 female sexual partners, while
       women have had 4.7 male partners (average)

- Almost 1:4 of all women (24%) have only ever
had one sexual partner, compared to 17% of men.

- 13% of women have had 10 or more partners of the
opposite sex, compared with 27% of men.

Shadow health minister Diane Abbott said: "The rising numbers of girls having under-age sex is alarming. It is not a cost-free phenomenon. It poses public health policy challenges and social challenges. The underlying cause must be the 'pornification' of the culture and the increasing sexualisation of pre-adolescent girls. Too many young girls are absorbing from the popular culture around them that they only have value as sex objects”.

My body beautiful have a ‘sexualisation of society’ module within our body image suite of workshops. Contact us for more information.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

With a pinch of salt

We knew about the extensive use of air brushing, particularly in magazines, to create unreal unattainable perfection.

We knew about the use of auto-tune technology in the X-Factor, that alters a contestant's natural voice.

We even knew that clothing retailers like H&M used "virtual" model bodies, with the face of a real model, in order to sell clothing online.

This week, we learned that the Frozen Planet's amazing "natural" scenes, which the BBC presented as taking place in the wild, was actually filmed in a zoo.

It now seems prudent to take all digital imagery and acoustics with a pinch of salt.

Friday, December 09, 2011

Body image - A wider perspective

This months article is titled 'Body image - A wider perspective'

Extract:

'If your body image is causing you concern, try to take a wider perspective of your life. One way to improve body image is to look beyond your body and to focus on building self esteem.

What aspects of your life have the effect of enhancing your self esteem? Start taking pleasure from such things as having a close knit family, healthy children, trustworthy friends etc. Begin focussing on the positive relationships and associated experiences that you have. e.g. rewarding work or an enjoyable social life etc'.

Read article

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

From bullying to anorexia

Here is a moving and inspiring story about one teenagers struggle with bullying and anorexia.

Annabel Norris was bullied at school about her ginger hair and weight e.g. being inundated with emails with comments like ‘fat ginger cow’. In response, she almost starved herself to death.

At 13, obsessed with her physical appearance, Annabel survived on 50 calories a day and mammoth 3, 000 sit-up workouts.

Happily, we can report that Annabel has now turned her life around and she is healthy.

Read her story

Friday, December 02, 2011

Size diversity in fashion

PhD researcher (Judge Business School, Cambridge University) and model agent Ben Barry has released some preliminary findings from his research:

“In my research featuring 300 women in Canada, the US and UK, equally segmented between 14-65 years of age, over 90% of women between 40-65 increased purchase intentions when the advertisement featured models reflecting their age and size. Women over 40 possess more overall spending power than any other age group, and they spend more on women's apparel than younger market segments. Moreover research has demonstrated that ageing does not reduce fashion interest among individuals.”

Campaign group All Walks Beyond the Catwalk, have responded:
“It’s official! Diversity can positively contribute to business. We know that since women of all ages are influenced by what they see on the catwalk and in fashion magazines, our industry could be vital in the promotion of healthy ideals and consumer well being. This news gives creative’s and retailers concrete evidence to act.”

All women, whatever their age, want fashionable clothes that fit comfortably and compliment their body shape. Anything that promotes this gets my vote.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Managing Anger

Studies (Columbia University) have identified the fact that angry children (consistently) were more dissatisfied, at age 30, than their peers who had less angry childhoods.

Below are 5 tips (for adults) to help children/teens control their anger:

1. Teach them how to clam down. This is best achieved by i) diverting the attention of younger children and ii) helping older children to talk/think about what they are feeling.

2. Instead of reacting, children and teens need should be taught that anger is a natural emotion, the response to which can be controlled. This is achieved by deliberately choosing a considered response.

3. Help them to understand what aggression is and its negative consequences.

4. Teach them problems solving skills.

5. Finally, teach them about goal setting and achievement (using real life examples), as this encourages them to behave in a way that will help them achieve their goals.

For more information see our Managing Emotions Workshop

Body Image Blog