Hello Friends...so glad to have you visiting once again.
Todays post is going to be a little different than my normal project post.
I hope you will allow me to get on my bandwagon for just a few minutes.
Just please bear with me here...
Ok, so the other day I'm working on a sewing project and I have my television on for a little background entertainment.
I happened to catch the latest Jenny Craig commercial featuring Carrie Fisher. You will most likely know her as the Princess from the Star Wars movies.
Please watch the You Tube version below and we'll talk after...
Hear anything in this add that you were bothered by, because I sure as H*ll did!
I quote...
"Thank you for letting me be PRETTY one more time"
REALLY!!!
I guess they are telling women of all ages that thin is pretty.
When will this nonsense stop?
So sorry Adele...looks like your not pretty after all.
Girl, never mind your musical accomplishments...you are just NOT pretty.
Don't even bother wearing beautiful clothes.
Jenny Craig says you are wasting your time...you won't be 'PRETTY' until you slim down.
Really Jenny, is that the message we want to send to young girls (and us older ones)?
How about having her say.."Thanks for letting me feel 'HEALTHIER' again".
I would not object to that, although being slim is not a prerequisite to being healthy.
And if this is Ms. Fisher's opinion, she is entitled to it. Jenny Craig does not have to publicize it.
Am I the only one who finds this type of advertising offensive and damaging.
Shame on you Jenny Craig!
Please tell me I'm not being too sensitive or overreacting ...Please!
Ok...I'll get back to my sewing machine.
Thanks for listening to my ranting.
I'll say good-bye with a little Adele, but be warned she is pretty hideous to look at...according to Jenny
;->
Until next time...be kind and stay creative.
Sharing my thoughts with:
UPDATE:
I woke up this morning to an e-mail from a Jenny Craig client telling me I should be ashamed of myself.
That shows you how brainwashed we have become to this 'thin is beautiful' mentality.
Funny...I don't feel ashamed.
46 comments:
you go girl...you only speak words of truth..
xoxo
As women, we tell our daughters they are beautiful just the way they are, we tell them to be proud of their accomplishments, pretty is as pretty does, how you look isn't as important as who you are. Then we rip ourselves apart. I'm too fat, too old, too saggy. We don't really believe that our beauty lies within do we? We believe that we all have to look like airbrished, retouched, models. Aren't we silly? Imagine what the world would be like if we spent as much energy worrying about how kind we are, or how giving, or how truthful, hardworking, as we do about how we look.
You know what bugged me?
"I don't have to wear black all the time"
HUH? So if you aren't a size ten or smaller you must wear black? fiddlesticks.
Thank you so much for featuring this
xx
julie
Adele is amazing. Loved the video
I absolutely abhor this ad, but I am so out of the loop that I didn't know who this "now so pretty once again" woman was. I thought she was just some dumb broad who wanted to twirl and make some bucks making an idiot of herself...there I said it!!
I hear you - I totally agree! There are plenty of thin people out there who are not particularity "Pretty" they are just thin! Your looks are separate to your size. I'm a big girl and I think I look ok! My nose fits my face and I dress appropriately for my age and size, Take care and thanks for sharing.
first time to your blog and I COULDN'T agree more!!!I too find the wording offensive. What really bothers me about the way women in America are brainwashed is: when I was younger and had a beautiful figure, I thought I had "fat" places. I look back at every period in my life (I will be 58 soon) and I remember thinking I was fat. Now, I would like to be that weight again, each "fat" period is thinner than I am now. Train women to be never happy nor satisfied.
You are absolutely correct, being healthy is the goal and being real is where we should want to be. And...if I could sing like Adele and be as pretty as she is to boot, I would be a very happy woman. Doesn't she have a wonderful voice?
Thanks for putting this out there! More people need to stand up to advertisers. Makes me want nothing to do with Jenny Craig! If she knew she was losing potential customers she would change her tune!! So start a revolution! I'm with ya!!
Katy :)
Good for you honey! I too thought that remark was wrong. Too many young people are influenced by junk advertising like this.
I once wrote a company about their commercial and it went off the air. I guess millions of others must of wrote like I did.
Lets write Jenny Craig
Thanks for sharing
Love
Maggie
Thank you this post. I am so angry about this commercial and just wrote on the topic myself. We must counter these harmful messages with positive ones. Thanks for being a voice of reason. :)
Well I should start by clarifying that I am currently on Jenny Craig, and I think the commercial is more about what Carrie feels than what Jenny conveys. I have never been made to feel as though I weren’t pretty or made to feel unacceptable. I don’t need to be 110 to feel pretty, but I do need to be 145 to be healthy, have more energy and feel more confident. So 40 lbs is what Jenny helped me lose, and keep off for 3 years, I am back there once again for what I call a tune-up, a busy single mom can forget good eating habits while juggling all I do, and finishing everything on my son’s plate. I am there to recapture those good habits with support and encouragement from my Jenny Center Staff. It certainly doesn’t qualify as tasteless advertising in my book, there are much more egregious offenders than Jenny. I do however enjoy your honesty and have always enjoyed your blog.
OMG YES I JUST POSTED ON THE JC WEBSITE that this was so disappointing. thanks for blogging on it. i was really angry as well by both the pretty comment and the wearing black comment. I am an overweight woman who loves to wear colors and I think (as do plenty of others) that I look good!
Amen, Janet! As someone who has struggled with (and fortunately overcome) body image issues and disordered eating, hearing messages like this frustrate me to no end. It's so damaging and unnecessary to the psyches of all women.
In the last year, I've run across two different bloggers who promote body-positive messages. The first is Oh She Glows's Size Healthy (http://ohsheglows.com/2010/02/17/size-healthy-contest/) and the other is Operation Beautiful (http://operationbeautiful.com). Both are powerful and true!
I'll leave you now with a recent quote from Adele that I just love and that is so very pertinent to your post:
"I love food and hate exercise. I don't have time to work out. I don't want to be on the cover of Playboy or Vogue. I want to be on the cover of Rolling Stone or Q. I'm not a trendsetter. I'm a singer. I'd rather weigh a ton and make an amazing album than look like Nicole Richie and do a shit album. My aim in life is never to be skinny." – Adele
I love Adele. Thanks for this post...you are right. It's incorrect thinking that a fat girl can't be pretty. I'ma chunk and I like me. I know that I hafta eat right and exercise to get to a healthy weight...and I will eventually...but I'll be dadgummed if I'm gonna let anybody tell me that I'm not beautiful just because of my size...psshhht! Not happnin'!
I saw that commercial for the first time today and that phrase stuck in my head immediately. It got stuck there and it remains there and I keep thinking...really? I agree with you, it's time we stop this. What the hell are we doing to our daughters??? Sorry, I'll give you back your blog but I could not agree with you more...;j
Amen Sister! Couldn't have said it any better myself.
~ Julia
I guess for her, being slim does mean being pretty. It was probably not the best statement that Jenny Craig could have made as a universal comment to all women, but to be honest.... being slim does make me feel prettier because I was always very slim until menopause set in.. and I do not feel as pretty now. It's an individual thing I suppose.
Di
@ Di,
Isn't that just the mindset we need to try to change? Why do we as women feel like that?
Love all the great comments!
Janet xox
Wow. I totally believe obesity is a major health problem in America and am all for people trying to live healthier, which sometimes means losing weight. But this is just out of control. Even if Carrie Fisher does feel that way, it shouldn't be the message of the entire campaign. Maybe some people can relate, but what about the overall message? You aren't pretty unless you're slim? Sure everyone feels prettier when they're slimmer, but what about changing the way we feel about ourselves when we aren't?
Amen, sister, amen!
I am alittle over weight and I think I am pretty! This is a sad JC add for all the young girls to hear. People can be pretty at any size! I hope JC gets blasted for this add.
I love your post Janet! I couldn't have said it better!!
xo
Stephanie
I TOTALLY agree! When I first heard this ad, that same comment popped out at me, too. I thought, really? You're not pretty unless you're thin?!! Bleah!!
Comments like that make people who aren't sticks feel bad about themselves...gives them a complex. I know.
Thank you for shining the light on this..it really is just wrong.
God bless you - Julie
I am pretty ..... and I am no longer slim. Too bad about Carrie Fisher and her self-esteem problems.
Watching that made me want to shake Carrie Fisher and wake her up. Pretty is a feeling and not the way you look. If you are happy, nice, genuine person then you will be pretty. Have you ever met someone that looked perfect, in your eyes, and the minute you start to have a conversation with them or get to know them their looks fade.
This picture is a perfect example of healthy and how is comes in all shapes and all sizes http://crossfitgirlsmiami.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/si_for_women_photomontage1.jpg
Oh, I love Adele, and she is utterly pretty!
No, you are not being oversensitive. Perhaps that statement about being pretty again was how Carrie felt but why does she feel that way. Because our society has told her that she cannot possibly be pretty if she is fat. I have struggled with my weight my whole life...I have been thin and I have been fat and I have been in between. I currently fat and struggle with keeping my self esteem up because our whole culture says that if you are heavy, you are of no value.
Love Adele....but if you notice...they kept her sitting during the whole video so that we would not be subjected to her larger size while a skinny girl danced in her video. It's a nice video...but who belts out a song like that sitting down? It would have been much more effective with her walking around the room a bit. But my guess is the director wished to show as little of her body as possible.
When I watched that Jenny Craig video I cringed when I heard Carrie said ...feeling pretty again. This before I read your commentary.
If more people would speak up like you...perhaps we could change the attitudes of people about fat women.
Jenny Craig is a money making business, that's right a business. It's all about money and they play on people's insecurities to roll in it. Healthy is great, shaming someone is not.
I found your blog recently and love it.
I don’t mean to move on so quickly but I have something to say about this post.
I did see the commercial and was offended by it!
Now let me explain
I’m 51 soon to be 52.
I’m 5 ft
A year ago I was 138lbs.
A size 10.
I ride a Harley and was told I was a typical fat biker. It broke my heart!
I thought (key word THOUGHT) I was Hugh.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I changed my eating and put a full gym in my home.
I’m now a size 4, 115 lbs. And look good!
I was shopping for clothes (no not typical biker clothes, HAHA) the other day and I was told I should LOOSE weight!!!!
“You’re to fat for your height”
Really to fat! My body fat is down to 15%!
That’s really good.
Where does it stop If I’m considered fat!????
Just one more thing I’m sure I’ve been living under a rock but “ADELE” one word “gorgeous” OMG I will be listing to her on my “typical Harley”. HAHA
Thanks so much for your post; I’m tired of feeling not good enough!
BECCA
PS. This typical biker has never showed her BOOBS! HAHA
I love this post and so glad others are offended by this ad. I have always struggled with my weight but I always thought I was pretty. Now, I am loosing weight to be healthy...not to be prettier...I am happy with the way I look.
Glad I found you...really an incredible post and not just because I discovered Adele here....
I too was offended by this commercial. I thought to myself, how sad that Carrie Fisher hasn't felt pretty. She had every reason to feel pretty but obviously she felt she didn't fit the Hollywood image of being boney thin. Sad. What happens when she gets older with the wrinkles that will come is she going to not feel pretty again? Hopefully she will stop trying to fit some image that society tells her she must be in order to be 'pretty'.
Oh such a complex topic and really there are no words for the graceless way the JC ad was put out there.. and the fact is that well over 1/2 if not more JC clients will gain back their weight and more. Weight is a VERY complex issue as it is tied to our American diet... I am by far no skinny mini and to feel better could loose a good 40 pounds without washing down the drain.. But to tie being pretty and respecting ourselves to size is wrong and unhealthy for use as women and for the girls we are raising.. Thanks for putting this out there.. and yes Adele.. smokin hot..
That was pretty crappy, wasn't it? Healthy would have been a better word. Hmmm...
I enjoy your thoughts on this subject. I was slender, I was thin and now just heavier and alot more sassy! I had breast cancer six years ago and took the nasty "gain weight" pill. Boy did I! I learned alot though when I because sassy, it is time for me. So, I loose some weight and people are going to love me more? I don't think so. I am fun-loving-outgoing-love nature-love nice people!
Well, in their defense, you have to admit, the ad has done its job. It's unfortunate, but controversy serves the company far more than being politically correct. I mean, if Carrie Fisher had talked about how her knees don't creek anymore--would anyone have cared? Would the ad be redistributed (at no cost to them) on your blog?
I don't believe these are necessarily Carrie Fisher's own thoughts and feelings. You cannot let Jenny Craig off the hook by saying, "oh this is just Carrie Fisher, poor woman, not the message the comapny is selling." Bull puckey.
Carrie Fisher is an actress, and a good one, paid to be convincing in the role of a character. Who is the character here? Somone who believes her fat limits her life. Someone who believes her fat makes her ugly. The blame is entirely Jenny Craig's--the "pretty" line is fully intended to be the "punch line" of the ad.
By the by, free advertising notwithstanding, I think it's great you have started a discussion about it. The ad both feeds upon and perpetuates thoughts about our bodies which are just wrong, wrong, wrong. We NEED to stand up and say messages like this are unacceptable. Because they are. Thanks.
My goodness! I went on vaca just as things heated up around here! My feeling about this commercial is that they are trying to shame women into joining. Sad.
The pretty line sounds stupid. It surprised me that Carrie Fisher said something like that. I thought she always portrayed a more tough, strong image.
As for Adele, I'm not real familiar with her music, just hear part of that song here & there on the radio. But it looks like that her image people are trying to hide that she's not bone thin. She's sitting there in that chair grooving to the music. Why didn't they let her get up and dance a little? This ticks me off even more than the Jenny Craig. Them hiding a beautiful, soulful, talented woman in a chair, then hiring someone else to do the dancing.
I plan on buying some of her music on iTunes now. I just wish I could buy from her direct and not let any of the money go to her video and image people.
Wow! I thought I was the only one who caught that in the commercial! And the fact that a client would email you like that is very sad. I agree -- a statement about wanting to be healthy would have been the way to go!
I think everyone who responded to this post has a valid point, but I also feel that the words that Carrie Fisher used were her true feelings. As I watched her live one-women show on HBO, she made comments as pictures of her slim figure from her Star Wars days flashed across the screen. Her comments were that people asked her 'what happened to her' concerning her weight - people still remember her as her younger self from her acting. This is a person who has multiple health issues, and goes in for regular shock treatments to help her bipolar disorder. Considering her upbringing, parents, show-biz, camera, in-your-face life, this commercial is in keeping with her image of herself. If Jenny Craig can help give peace to this woman, good for her. I wish her the best.
I just emailed Jenny craig complaining about this exact thing...and google searched to see if anyone else was upset by it too. I'm with you, girl!
I completely agree. I preach that thin does not equal beauty to everyone I know...
I've had issues with this commercial since it came out too! Why is skinny pretty? I know a lot of women who also struggle with keeping weight on and they feel they're not pretty either. Blah. I hate how society (and other women!) tries to beat women down at every chance. We'll never be good enough.
I thought the same thing when I saw the commercial. Both the pretty and wearing black comment annoyed me. I feel sad for Carrie that she has these issues and the JC chooses to promote that message rather than one more uplifting.
Adele...you rock it girl. I love her voice and she's what true beauty is all about.
I hate these commercials. Full size or toothpicks we are all women, sisters, daughters, mothers, friends. That is what makes us beautiful the size tag in our clothes. Queen Latifah, Adelle, and many other women are seen as beautiful, and they are. Society needs to see people for who they are not what they weigh. Thanks for you rant, I loved it
Anne
I found your blog recently and love it. I don’t mean to move on so quickly but I have something to say about this post. I did see the commercial and was offended by it! Now let me explain I’m 51 soon to be 52. I’m 5 ft A year ago I was 138lbs. A size 10. I ride a Harley and was told I was a typical fat biker. It broke my heart! I thought (key word THOUGHT) I was Hugh. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I changed my eating and put a full gym in my home. I’m now a size 4, 115 lbs. And look good! I was shopping for clothes (no not typical biker clothes, HAHA) the other day and I was told I should LOOSE weight!!!! “You’re to fat for your height” Really to fat! My body fat is down to 15%! That’s really good. Where does it stop If I’m considered fat!???? Just one more thing I’m sure I’ve been living under a rock but “ADELE” one word “gorgeous” OMG I will be listing to her on my “typical Harley”. HAHA Thanks so much for your post; I’m tired of feeling not good enough! BECCA PS. This typical biker has never showed her BOOBS! HAHA
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