Not too long ago I was watching television and I saw Ellen Degeneres's campaign for Covergirl's "Simply Ageless" line and was shocked. In this ad, Ellen starts off by saying that "inner beauty is important, but not as important as outer beauty," and then slyly chuckles. I found this ad slightly disturbing. Many women look up to Ellen and Ellen has been somewhat accepted by the heterosexual community at large and this can be detected in this ad. What I find problematic is not Covergirl's attempt to make a product that promotes youth and vitality, but rather Ellen's comments. Even if Ellen says this statement with the intent of being funny, it sends mixed messages to viewers. Obviously, Ellen believes enough in this product to promote it on her show and to appear in the commercial, but to suggest that outer beauty is "more important" than inner beauty only assists to perpetuate our society's problem with women, aging, and beauty. I do not deny the fact that human beings select mates and even friends because of physical appearances and our interpretation of beauty. Our society as a whole has such a problem with women aging that women like Ellen feel free to joke about its importance. Self-esteem is such a huge problem in this country and we do not need people (men and women) to make snide comments about beauty, especially ones that negatively refer to inner beauty. People and icons like Ellen need to examine how many men and women suffer from eating disorders, feel the need to have plastic surgery, use steroids, and perpetuate sexist ideologies in this country before even jokingly referring to inner beauty as a sham. One would think that a woman like Ellen, who has previously received extensive criticism because of her sexual preferences, would be aware of the effects or the backlash to such critical and problematic statements.
Although I do not agree with what Ellen says in this ad, I understand that she probably wasn't the one who wrote it and/or promoted its use in this ad. She could have (and should have) refused to use it since she was becoming the "face" of this Covergirl makeup line. This ad also reminds me of those "Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Maybelline" ads from the 1990's. Yikes! Will this chauvinistic marketing scheme ever end??
Hi Jamine!
ReplyDeleteI think the phenomenon that is worse than chauvinism is when women internalise the male gaze. However, I think it is important to keep in mind here that Ellen is a media personality and sometimes, the lines are written out for them. I understand that you'd want a celebrity of her stature to act more responsibly but perhaps it's simply catering to the market.
Yes, I definitely agree with you. This is why moral stances are so important. For example, Denzel Washington refuses to have on screen sex with white women (and I believe refuses to kiss them as well--although I'm not 100% on that). Although, I do not know the specifics of DW's stance, I can assume that he doesn't want to portray interracial relationships as "better" than black-black relationships, especially since these relationships carry so much baggage (historical and culturally). Then again, if no one is aware of DW's refusal (because it's literally not on the screen), how is society to know about his moral stance?
ReplyDeleteThe internalization of the male gaze is a real problem in our world. One of the problems with this, however, is differentiating between evolved conceptions of beauty (symmetry and such) and the male gaze. A lot of the problem is linked to our expectations. For example, when women see scantily-clad women portrayed in the media as beautiful, these women who see this might expect that this is what men want to see as well. Of course this is not the case for a majority of men. I believe that if women start being more confident in who they are and less concerned about their dress, men will still find them attractive. Women who dress risque are perceived as confident because of how their bodies are exposed--not necessarily because of overall confidence or self-assurance.
Denzel Washington actually does have an on-screen sex scene with Milla Jovovich in the 1998 film "He got Game." I'm pretty sure he and Angelina Jolie kiss in "The Bone Collector" too. Just an fyi...DW "caters" too.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen "He got Game," but I've seen "The Bone Collector" and I think DW and AJ almost kiss. I'll have to check out "He got Game." Thanks.
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