Check out the Dove Self Esteem Fund film here on youtube, or on Dove’s site. It is called the Evolution of a Model. It shows how the fashion industry distorts and creates their own version of beauty, often times one that literally does not even exist. Kind of like a barbie doll. Barbie’s measurements are just about impossible for a real woman.

Found this information on ideafinder.com:

“If Barbie was 5 foot 6 instead of 11 1/2 inches tall, her measurements, would be 39-21-33. An academic expert once calculated that a woman’s likelihood of being shaped like Barbie was less than 1 in 100,000. (Ken was shaped somewhat more realistically: The chances of a boy developing his measurements were said to be 1 in 50.)”

So with companies creating fake models using computer touch ups and some of the most popular dolls on the planet being genetically impossible, what does that tell us about our perception of beauty?

Recently I wrote an article about the ban on too thin models and Dove’s campaign for real beauty. It seems like our global society might just be moving in a more realistic and healthy direction. At least I hope so.

The video mentioned above is pretty eye opening. The model shown in the video is a normal looking girl. The hair and make up do wonders for her, but it is the computer touch ups that create the woman staring back from the billboard. I often wonder if computer touch ups are used as often as people say they are… I guess so!

Often you hear about celebrity touch ups. Rosie O’Donnell said that the promo pictures used for her new stint on the view were heavily edited to make her appear thinner. We see her on TV everyday, we know what she looks like. But they still touched her up. Why? Is our culture so obsessed with beauty that we trick ourselves into thinking people actually look like those altered pictures?

I remember watching the girls on 90210. An attractive cast, but pretty normal looking. Some of the actresses were pretty thin but they all looked like real girls, and they all seemed healthy. Most of the high school-ish shows on today have a totally different look. Compare the cast of One Tree Hill to 90210, or any of the soap actresses. Woman who are in their 70’s are super skinny, have the face of a 20 year old and barely resemble their former selves. How much more out of hand can this get?! What’s next, computer generating every actor on tv? Or maybe pretty robots! Eck! Give me real people.

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