i thought this week's class was pretty eye-opening. i've never really thought advertising had much effect (affect? i need to find my stylebook) on me. in high school, i did feel pressure to dress and look a certain way, but that was more peer driven, not advertising. i wanted to wear the cool clothes, and have my hair a certain way, and i looked to the cool girls to figure out how to do it.

but during class, i realized that while advertising hasn't had much pull on me, another form of media has. television. and not commercials, the actual shows. i was a pretty shy kid (still am, actually), and i looked to tv for role models. i aspired to be these outgoing, sassy, super confident girls like buffy summers, rory gilmore and joey potter. but even then, it wasn't completely looks based. i admired their strength, wit and intelligence. (and how they all got their boys using those things.) even in elementary school, i wanted to be like topanga from boy meets world, because she was smart and funny. (and had really fabulous hair.)

when talking about a solution to the image problem, i sadly don't think there is one. the fashion industry is a huge influence on advertising (especially fashion/womens magazines) and the fashion industry is rock solid in it's beliefs. they might have starting the whole "minimum weight for runway models," but i think that's mostly to save face with the general public. fashion is a manipulative, deceptive industry, and they pride themselves on their inclusiveness.

i did have a problem with the way some people were talking about the little girls in the single ladies video. i heard someone say that they were "trashy" and someone else said "skanky" and i hate that those words were used towards 7 and 8 year old girls. i am a dance teacher, and have lots of girls who compete (like the girls in the video), so i feel like i have a different perspective than most people in our class.

these girls did the choreography they were given, and did it flawlessly. now, i don't think the choreography was appropriate at all, but you can not fault the girls for that. i actually think the costume was more scandalous than the dance, i don't know who in the world thought it was a good idea to put thigh-highs on a 7 year old. i just wish that people would watch what they say about these girls, because they have very little control over what they do. it's the adults (parents, teachers) who showed poor judgement, and who should take the fault.