Uno, the Beagle that won the prestigious Best in Show prize at February's Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, poses like the pro he is this week during the Macy's Flower Show in New York City. Word is that Uno already has begun demanding first class transport, his own private dressing room and high-end kibble. A spokesdog dismisses the rumors as "the jealous sniping of insecure Black Labs."
(Photo courtesy Getty Images.)Teen Angst Over Body Image Goes Global
One of the many things the United States has managed to export overseas is the once oh-so-American obsession with body and appearance. In fact, wherever Western media plays, it has spread the image of the waif-like caucasian adolescent as being the ideal every teenage girl need achieve to be worth anything. It's a frightening and damaging creation of our advertising and marketing machine, and it's one that will be addressed Tuesday by teen expert Jessica Weiner during hey keynote speech at the VNU-sponsored What Teens Want Conference (West) at the Marriott Hotel in Marina del Rey.
Weiner is a dynamic author, weekly advice columnist (on Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's website) and nationally-renowned speaker who should be a household name by now and undoubtedly will be soon. Her credibility stems from having learned of the issue in the trenches as someone who has overcome her own body and food-related difficulties, which she relates in speeches designed to promote self-worth and esteem to a female adolescent community suffering from image distortions and eating disorders in record numbers.
And as Weiner will be discussing tomorrow, the obsession has now traveled overseas.
"Whether teenage girls wear burkas or Birkenstocks, they now share the same obsession and preoccupation with body size and beauty," she says. "The main common denominator and link is Western media. I get letters from girls in Sri Lanka, Ghana, the United Arab Emerites, and the issues they have are now the same as those of American girls. These body issues are now global. There's been a 200% increase in eating disorders amongst girls in South Africa who see these images on television and want that look.
"It's the white homogenous view filtered throigh our media, which sends the message that you need to look like this in order to achieve wealth and happiness. Girls aged 13 to 18 are at greater risk than ever before."
Weiner will be talking tomorrow to a group of brand marketers and advertisers who are looking to connect with today's complex teen. Her hope is that -- as someone on the front line of teen issues for more than a dozen years -- she can convey the idea that injecting realism and all shapes and sizes and colors into the equation is not only smart from a business standpoint but socially responsible as well.
Incidentally, Weiner is about to become The Next Big Thing if there is any justice in the land. She's savvy. She's sensitive. She's real. There's been talk of a national talk show platform for her, and it's overdue.
Through is misspelled here - "It's the white homogenous view filtered throigh our media, which sends..."
LOVE YOU JESS! I know you're on your way!! Thanks for helping all the females out there realize who they are and want to be themselves and not anyone else!
Posted by: Gayle | September 24, 2007 at 10:34 AM