Back in skinny jeans

Ask.com's "The Alogrithm" ad campaign helps people get skinny

Ask.com has this "Algorithm" campaign going on, and honestly, who cares about algorithms? Yaaawn! No one, well okay, geeks insulated from the real world. So to make things more interesting, I created a banner that would really get people looking. Nothing gets eyeballs more than promises of getting skinny and getting rich.

If an algorithm can make you skinny, then droves of people are going to come to you to find out how many calories they can eat, what the carb consumption is, and how fast they can get into Jessica Alba shape for summer vacation. Of course, it will disappointing to find out that Ask.com is just selling us on using their search engine but if you're going to be provocative at least do something that is interesting so I can blog about how you are perpetuating the too-skinny message like the fashion industry.

Quote on self love

A 1550 SAT score matters when you look hot in Hooters-like short shorters

So why did American Apparel feel the need to feature young Irene's 1550 SAT score to pimp Hooters inspired short shorts? (based on the 1600 scale not the new 2400) Perhaps, it's the hottie model minority angle. I guess AA feels the need to emphasize their smart hot employees as a way to inflate that penis-lead ego of theirs, or it's just another example that women have to be super perfect; hot, thin, smart, career oriented, focused, blah, blah, blah.

Honestly, the image of a smart young girl using her talent for retail development and Hooters inspired shorts promotion makes me sad. Even more tragic, I would even side with her traditional Asian parental units on her career choices. Go be an engineer, doctor, or lawyer. My mother's words are now coming out of my mouth. Eek!

[via Gawker]

The United Colors of abused women

Benetton, is lending their famous brand slogan "The United Colors of Benetton" to a campaign to help fight domestic violence which they are calling the "Colors of Domestic Violence." I'm all for companies wanting to use their powerful brands to help in social issues, but I don't know about you guys, but I am having a hard time taking some of the clothing companies seriously because they can't get fully pull themselves away from the shallowness of fashion in order to get their message across, try as they may like Kenneth Cole with AIDS and war.

I don't care for the execution of these Benetton ads. First, the women in the Benetton ads are posed like models in magazine spreads wearing the latest Benetton fashions, along side their black eyes and cuts. Benetton is known for it's diversity yet all the women they used are all young and women of color. White women suffer from domestic violence just as much women of color in this country, and abuse is not singled out to the young, but also to older women who are wives, mothers, and grandmothers. I say if you're going to talk about a global problem then represent properly.

That's my two cents, what do you all think?

Update: Bad oopsie! Seems that this ad campaign is not blessed and sanctioned by Benetton. A writer at Broadsheet at Salon contacted Benetton for comment on this, and the Benetton folks were shocked about this fake. The sleuths are out to find the culprits. The conspiracy theorist in me is wondering if Benetton wanted to do a test run and used an internet leakage and "play dumb" to see how people would react before doing anything formal. Call me cynical but I used to work in the world of marketing and nothing shocks me.

Conspiracy theory: Is the National Action Against Obesity group really backed by too skinny models?

A skinny white Blondie woman named MeMe Roth (for real that's her name) who is the Founder and President of a group called the National Action Against Obesity went on TV and said (out loud) that Jordin Sparks should not have won American Idol because in essence she is obese and therefore is encouraging the slothiness and gluttony of fattiness in our culture. Using her logic, if we let the fatties win singing contests, and Oscars, then eventually they will take over the government and one of them just might become President of the United Stated thus signaling the Apocalypse. "Oh, is that a fatty I see hiding in the grassy knoll?"

Seriously, the spark plugs in this woman's brain are not firing off properly which is why I really think MeMe is a fembot created by a militant group of too skinny models who want to get their "all hail the skinnies" agenda wedged into our psyches through media penetration. Watch out for her evil mini clone "Mini MeMe."

Tyra Banks drops 30 pounds. Is the "Kiss my fat ass" spiel just lip service?

Remember back in January when Tyra was on the cover of People magazine saying, "Yeah I'm 161 pounds." and then she went on her show to tell all the haters to "Kiss my fat ass." She told everyone how much she loved her body and that women should love their bodies also no matter what other people say to us.
Tyra is now on the cover of Life & Style magazine with this tagline, "How Tyra Lost 30 pounds", and yes she's in a bikini again. It's been four months since the People cover so losing 30 pounds in that time is realistic. Plus she worked with a trainer so that helps too. According to the article, an insider close to Tyra said:

“She said she hated getting up in the morning and struggling to pull up her jeans. Now she can slip into her old comfy pants.”

Okay, so what's going on here. At first, I wanted to jump down Tyra's throat and call her hypocritical. But then I put myself in Tyra's shoes and thought, I understand that desire to get back to your "fighting" weight. I understand that feeling of putting on your favorite jeans and realizing that you can't get them on because you've gained enough weight to bump you up to the next size. It's disheartening.

Gaining weight is no fun and doesn't make you feel good especially when you are so used to being a certain size. And for the moment, I'm not even going to mention models, those with eating disorders and those with body image issues, I'm just talking about everyday people who have healthier views of their body yet have put on the poundage, and are not happy about it and want to do something to get rid of it.

I've gained 25 pounds in the last 2 years, and I don't like how the extra pounds feel on my body. I've gone up two jean sizes mainly because fat on me goes straight to my waist. Fat doesn't go to my ass, hips or thighs, it's all around the gut. I see pictures of myself with this added weight, and it doesn't make me happy. Yes, I know I'm a beautiful, talented, loving person, but I've put on extra weight and I'm not okay with it because I don't feel physically good as I have been in the past.

And honestly, I have been struggling, even tormented, about talking about my weight gain on this blog because I talk so much about loving yourself, accepting your beauty, etc. Part of me does feel some hypocrisy and irony, and maybe I'm being too hard on myself, but it is important to me to be consistant in my message. Can I talk about weight loss and loving the way you are at the same time? I'm seriuosly in angst about this, so I appreciate any feedback good or bad.

I've been thinking more about this too. Have we, as women, gotten so sensitive about gaining/losing weight that even under some normal situations where you just want to lose some pounds becomes you've let yourself go a bit means you are bowing down to society and what the fashion magazines say you should look like because you want to lose weight and get back in your skinny jeans? Maybe, it's just that you gained 20-30 pounds and want to get rid of it because you don't feel good and you know it's not healthy for you to carry extra fat.You don't have body image issues, you're not trying to look like Jessica Alba, and you just want to feel lighter, healthier. Simple.

I wonder too. Can you be someone who talks about beauty and body image issues that tells and encourages women to feel good about their own beauty yet want to lose weight, get some cosmetic surgery, or get a beauty makeover yourself? Is that being hypocritical? We've seen Oprah gain and lose weight through her career, and she has shared her struggles with us. She also has people like Dr. Oz and Bob Greene on her show along with Weight Loss Challenge programs. Yet, Oprah's message has always been appreciate your own beauty. Can Tyra do the same? Can I do the same?

Stick figure humor

This made me laugh my ass off. Stick figure people can have weight issues too. For more stick figure people giggles, check these out at Joe-ks.com. These sketches really are hilarious.

[via GiggleSugar]

The pressures of blogging can drive you nutzoid

Via ProBlogger, I saw this great post written by Nate Whitehill about "The Pressures of Blogging Consistently." The one I especially related to was "Catering to a larger audience." Back in Skinny Jeans has grown quite a bit in the 19 months I have been writing here, and it's been both thrilling and nutzoid. Too bad I've given up shots of Jagermeister.

I'd have to say that from a personal growth perspective, blogging is helping me get over my perfectionist ways. You cannot be a present, active, and consistent blogger and be a perfectionist at the same time. Not possible. Comments alone will either break you or strengthen you because perfectionists cannot stand any criticism even if it is good for them, nor can they stand not having everyone liking them. I stopped catering to what I thought would make everyone happy because frankly it makes you boring. Sometimes you just have to put a stake in the ground, and polarize people. Although, in many ways, I have yet to really put my ass out there and say what I really feel about some things ala dooce. I'm working on the courage for that one. Perhaps, I should start downing purple hooters again. Ain't nothing like liquid courage.

One outcome of all this pressure to post on a regular basis is blog burn out especially when you write more than one post a day 5 days a week. In my 19 months, I have written 932 posts (including this one), 5 days a week consistently. That averages out to 49 posts a month or 2.45 posts a day. In 2007, I have been doing 3 posts a day even during my brief stint at Microsoft...Yeah, that's a whole lotta blogging about beauty, models, celebrities, and getting rid of that muffin top. No wonder I've been feeling a Mariah Carey coming on.

Honestly, I've been feeling some, no, actually, lots o' blog burn out lately. I've been feeling tired and stale kind of like John Travolta before Pulp Fiction. There are many, especially those who don't blog who think that blogging is easy work. To one naysayer, I gave him this metaphor. Blogging consistently 5 days a week year after year is like going to the gym 5 days a week year after year. It takes a great deal of dedication, commitment, and discipline to stay at that level over time. Yeah, anyone can go to the gym to workout 5 days a week for a short period of time especially if they are trying to lose weight for a wedding or summer vacation, but how many people do you know are committed to exercise at the 5 day a week level for long stretches of time. Pro athletes do it. Trainers do it. Most Pro level bloggers show up to the game at least 5 days a week.

Sunday night we're blogging for Monday morning launch. Not only do we worry about writing, there's monetizing, and traffic stats. We gotta eat and pay the rent. Then there's dealing with those looks of puzzlement and "crazy" when you try to explain to people what you do. Some folks think that people who spend hours on end on the computer are only looking at porn or eBay deals, which let's be honest, is partly true.

Everyday there is a deadline for tomorrow. If you don't post, the blog starts to get stenchy like that pile of rancid gym clothes you need to throw into the wash. Yeah, I'm the boss of my own blog, and can make up my own deadlines, but A-listers get to the top because they work hard and stay consistent. No one at the top of their field just landed there although it doesn't stop us from wishing we could. They worked harder, took more risks, had more dedication, and more faith than everyone else competing with them. Pros also knew when it was time to take a break, a healthy break, not the fake kind of break that Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan took going to rehab. Pleez, those bitches went to rehab for publicity not for actual healing. If you work tooooo much, you can burn out, or hurt yourself, and that sure ain't no fun.

So folks, I am going to take the rest of this week off before I get thrown into a padded cell with some daily injections of knock-out juice. Actually, that's sounding kinda nice about now. No blogging for me until next week of course unless something major like Brangelina is knocked up again, or Oprah decides to have a casting call for future Oprah.com bloggers. I'd surely put down my Mojito and spa date for that opportunity. In the mean time, enjoy "Give me some food." (thanks to mikkie) Have a Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

 

Help find Lisa Stebic - a missing wife and mother

MamaVISION, my podcasting partner at Chasing Beauty, asked me to post about Lisa Stebic from Plainfield, Illinois (just outside Chicago) who has been missing since April 30th. Lisa is the wife of Craig Stebic, and the mother of two children. Lisa, 37, is 5′ 2″ tall, 120 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She has two visible tattoos, a small rose on her ankle and a large butterfly on her lower back.

If you have seen Lisa, or have any information about her whereabouts, please contact the Plainfield police at 815-267-7217 or go to the "Find Lisa Stebic" website for more details. Our prayers go out to Lisa's family and friends that she come home safely.