I can understand wanting to feel or be more attractive. The leading question is who are you comparing yourself to? The next question is why? after that is your age and life experiences.
On the forefront is the media messages pounding into the audience's head...and the puppets used who may or may not be aware of the tradeoff. Taking a stroll through the last 40 years of advertising, we see that when magazine ads were the main mode of visual communication the emphasis was on the product. Black Americans were featured. Usually Hollywood, jazz and recording artists. The beauty of women reflected the standards for society. It is assumed that Black women were denied. That is incorrect. Plenty of Black females noted for their beauty did in fact advertise for liquor, cigarette and perfume companies.
Somewhere from the deep came a swell of choruses complaining that the women were not 'representative of "African" beauty. It begs the question -if one was African American why should her beauty exposure be denied because it didn't meet the "standard" of what another group decided should be the standard? Therein is where the dichotomy between advertising for Whites versus for Blacks began.
Essence stepped in on the scene in 1963 to demonstrate to the "white" American marketers that by not showing these "types" they were missing a substantial slice of the buying public. Concurrently in 1963 to the 1970's, the period of the Black is Beautiful movement-comely attractive models with afros were appearing in many media outlets.
The hair style was not the object-but their beautiful facial features were. My research clearly indicates that the advertising industry placed attractiveness over being "black."
Then something changed. Being Black meant just that. Why would anyone insist and lie and say that every black person or woman is beautiful? We are talking advertising here, not existential feel good mantras about humanity, which would include that EVERY human being has their beauty. That's a different thought paradigm. We are talking about selling a product. Does it follow that the audience you sell the product to can only be enticed by the mirror appearance of the advertiser? It would seem that way..if you are fat and happy are you more willing to buy an I-Pod from another fat and happy user?
Research negates that. Billions of dollars are spent to access the feel good area of your brain. Young , attractive people in action wield tremendous influence. Light skin pictures of the typical European face attract babies' attention. The mantra of Black women don't sell magazines continue, albeit kept alive by media worker bees who have that message pounded into their heads, in spite of record selling magazine covers with Black women sending a contrary message.
Then this blog is not about 'RACE' nor is there a discourse about whether black or white is better." White" people tan because it is becoming. It looks healthier. Alive with color! and if this is true, then what happens to all the Black Americans who have no color? Too light to be Black, and too dark to be White? if you are confused imagine the advertising and marketing executive, who may have come from States where for half of his/her life he only saw "Blacks" on television. Imagine trying to respond in advertising terms to complaints from civil rights organizations.
Some features on humans are attractive and some are not. We all have our preferences based on what our families demeaned or exalted. Those powerful memories of childhood, coupled by driven advertising mind bending commercials ultimately push an unsuspecting recipient to adhere to, respond to or change their appearance.
Again, there is no right or wrong. But what I do see is hurt. Pain from historical references to a particular human feature. I have been thinking...maybe all dark skinned peoples of the world should have access to the vaccine that sends a message to the gene that produces melanin to cease. Do we really believe that we will be more beautiful if our skin was whiter? What about the rest of one's features and how about the content of one's character?
Posted By: Marta Fernandez
Friday, July 22nd 2011 at 12:53PM
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