Guilty Pleasure

Everyone, I have a confession – I used to be addicted to Cosmo.

Ok, maybe my addiction isn’t that big of a deal. After all, Cosmo -or Cosmopolitan- has a huge following. It’s following consists of mainly females -it’s tagline is “For the Fun Fearless Female”-, but I’m not going to say only females read it because that’s just not true. If you don’t believe me, you can go on their website and see a tab that’s for men. Cosmopolitan prides itself on sexy ideas and relationship advice for its readers so of course some men would be interested in it. Actually, a lot of different people are interested in it.

Personally, I don’t remember the first time I started reading Cosmo. However, I do remember the first time I saw one of the magazines. The cover was bright yellow, the words were in Spanish, and  an adult took it away from me the moment I touched it. I couldn’t read the magazine – that was when I decided to learn how to read Spanish because those adults were obviously trying to hide something from me- but I knew that it was something that adults read. Of course my interest was piqued.

I no longer read Cosmo for various reasons, but I recognize it’s appeal. Sex, designer brands and beauty tips are things that people want to know about and Cosmo offers its. By reading the magazine, you’re finding out how to be a better you. You’re given the secret on how to please your partners – you don’t even want to get me started on that- and know what a community of women are thinking and wearing. Of course, I disagree with a lot of those previous statements, but I have to admit that Cosmo knows what its doing! I don’t agree with a lot of the images promoted by Cosmo, but I certainly have to agree that they have a good business sense.

Cosmo has a very wide public that ranges through different age groups to different genders and different countries worldwide. It’s a worldwide guilty pleasure. I still got judged by a lot of my male friends for reading it, but at the end of the day guess who wanted to read it too? Of course, they were critical of it, but it was an entertaining read and that’s what were were looking for.

Cosmo has a large public and it interacts with them in a fun way. It’s like that older sister that has all these tips for you and that you listen to with rapt attention. Of course, their advice isn’t always correct and can be a bit degrading. My goal in life is not to please a suitor, which is what a large part of the magazine is dedicated to. I’m never going to be like the girls featured in Cosmo, but that’s what a lot of people are aiming for. I decided not to read Cosmo when I realized that they were filling my head with ideas that weren’t true at all. However, that’s just me and I’ll always remember the thrill I got when I read it with my friends. I will say though, think about the ideas that Cosmo is giving you about what women should be, do and look like. Is this all around  “perfect” being even possible?

Finally, on a brighter note, I will concede that despite Cosmo’s faults the Cosmo Confessions are hilarious! I definitely still open up  o that section when my friends have the magazine lying around. This leads me to another revelation. My second guilty pleasure is reading about other people’s embarrassing and awkward moments.

Who Doesn’t Love Your Body?

Victoria Secrets doesn’t love your body. Or at least, that’s what we can assume from their campaign that’s ironically called “I Love My Body”.

This campaign tagline seemingly supports the idea of self love, and that Victoria’s Secret helps you love your body. However, the picture in the advertisement above doesn’t help me love my body. I can’t relate to them at all. Victoria’s Secret models usually have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 18, but that’s probably only because anything lower has been banned by The Council of Fashion Designers of America. To put that number into context, a person of “normal weight” (which is a term that I really disagree with) has a BMI ranging from 18.5 to 24.9. Anything under a BMI of 18.5 is severely underweight. Someone could argue that a model’s BMI is fine as long as they are healthy (by the way, working out is not synonymous with health, like anything else it can be taken to an extreme), or that perhaps the Victoria’s Secret models are naturally thin. However, these models often go through an extreme diet to achieve their goal weight.

Looking at these models does not make me love myself. Actually, they all look the same to me. Sure, there’s the difference of skin color and lingerie items, but that’s about it. Two-thirds of Americans would agree with me. That’s a large audience that Victoria’s Secret is isolating. In fact, it looks like Victoria’s Secret is aiming this add to a thin public with curves. Even if you don’t have curves, Victoria’s Secret makes you look like you do, which is almost the point. Either way, this advertisement has a seemingly great message with a picture that doesn’t really match. Victoria’s Secret definitely has a larger group of shoppers, but they’re only reaching out to one type of public and ostracizing the rest.

In contrast, Dove has a campaign with a similar tagline. In fact, it’s a social mission to them. They want to find real beauty.

This picture is completely different from Victoria’s Secret’s picture. These women are completely different. They are thin, curvy and thick (there’s a difference between curvy, thick and fat by the way). I’m not going to say that their campaign is perfect. But, it’s obvious that they’re reaching a larger public by including completely different types of people in their advertisement.

In the end, it’s really about who you want to reach as an organization. Dove seems to be for everyday people, while Victoria’s Secret’s advertisement seems to be for a person that wants to look “extraordinary”. Each ad has a different perception of beauty, which is fine because I do too and I know which one I am more likely to relate to. I suppose that, for me, regardless of Victoria’s Secret’s message, their advertisement did not have the intended effect of helping me love myself and did not reach me as a part of their public. But it’s ok, because I love myself anyways and I don’t need a brand to help me love myself.