Freckled Pile of Cellulite

These are real ads from the summer of 2009. In case you, like me, found it difficult to ascertain, they're for Bacardi Breezers (the alcoholic beverage)...

http://the-f-word.org/blogpics/bacardi3.jpg

http://cdn.thefrisky.com/images/uploads/bacardi_ad_m.jpg

I think they're a really striking example of the things we talked about in class today- women competing with (read: insulting) other women. Besides the language used, some of which actually makes me shudder- the redhead-as-accessory is sold with the phrase, "Get your own freckled pile of cellulite today!"- there are some really scary implications being made. They're effortlessly conflating/using interchangeably the concepts of "fat" and "ugly."

There's also the underlying assumption motivating the alleged "appeal" of the ads- that were a man to see this woman and another (presumably thinner and therefore, of course, beautiful) together, he would invariably prefer the less heavy woman. Though (sadly) this is perhaps true in many cases, it also further pathologizes the already socially condemned idea of what it is to be attracted to heavier women- "chubby chasing," or whatever, as a completely unrealistic and laughable circumstance. Finn's new love interest on Glee.

Speaking of which (it's not a scholarly article, but I think that's more telling- it would seem that these ideas represent what the "average" viewer sees in the storyline):

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?s=83529b1bf830204046d6e088dcaf9d1d&p=631036313#post631036313

You've come a long way, baby.