Hot, Maybe- But Not Smoking

Marketing health to women received a boost thanks to Tyra Banks and her reality show America's Next Top Model. And Tara Parker-Pope is hip to it in Hot, Maybe, but Not Smoking - Well - Tara Parker-Pope - Health - New York Times Blog.

Since the guidelines issued last year by the fashion industry's trade group, Council of Fashion Designers of America, failed in their attempt to ban stick thin teen models from the catwalk, we have no reason to believe health comes before fashion on the catwalk.

Nonetheless, I have no objection to Tyra's anti-smoking stand. Going "cold turkey" as a strategy can be debated but pre-teen young girls should not be exposed to cigarette smoking as fashion. Body image and weight continue to wreak havoc with young girls self-esteem.According to a recent study published in the Journal of Health Promotion, girls who started to diet doubled the odds that they would begin smoking.

Interesting. Researchers did not find the same link in boys, who were also less likely than girls to diet.

Kudos to Tyra for taking the first step...but when all the body images going to become "healthier"?

Health is Beauty

With my handfuls of fabulous women friends born after or around 1956, the Dove website proage.com and Dove’s amazingly successful marketing campaign hit it big with us.

Research on women over 50 has found that only 2% of women considered themselves “beautiful” and only 5% “pretty.”
The now famous Dove ads aim to change that.

Though the Federal Communications Commission would not allow Dove to run its latest television commercials because they feature “implied nudity” of women over 50, the team at Ogilvy & Mather knew they had only to connect with women, and so they quickly turned to the web.

That's when the real marketing began.

The sisterhood, at all ages, came out in full force to support the pro-age spots.
Join the debate Can a Woman Be Beautiful At Any Age?

Tell me how your marketing campaigns include beauty...what does beauty mean for healthcare marketers?

When is beautiful meaningful?

When does beauty mean health?

When is beauty distracting, irrelevant and trivial in healthcare marketing?

Please post your thoughts on my blog.