January 31, 2012

handcrafted in the tiny Latvian village of Bulimija
our waist-hugging skinnybraid leather belt 
quells your ravenous appetite
to appear 20-30 lbs lighter 
and gives you that gaunt, skeletal self-image 
you have been starving for

$48





11 comments:

Francois Tremblay said...

YIKES! That woman is downright frightening. I just want to feed her something fatty and good so she won't look so sickly.

Doodle Bean said...

Francois,

me too! The cords standing out on her neck are especially disturbing.

belldam said...

So I really love this blog, it always makes me laugh, but this one sort of made me feel like the joke was eating disorders? Which makes me uncomfortable, because two of my sisters have struggled with eating disorders and it'd make me more comfortable if it could stay away from eating disorder jokes in the future! Please. :)

Francois Tremblay said...

Nah, we'll keep laughing at eating disorders. Because they're funny.

NonnyMus said...

Sorry, belldam, but we're not laughing at eating disorders. We're laughing at retailers of overpriced 'aspirational' stuff using sickeningly thin models to promote their products. We're also laughing at the unspoken idea that if you buy their overpriced aspirational stuff, you too will be as thin as those models. Finally, we are laughing at the overwhelming preponderance of overly-thin models in the selling of all stuff -- even 'plus-sized' fashions and weightloss products!

Your sisters - as well as the millions of people with eating disorders around the world - would be better served by marketing images which present realistic images. Making fun of retailers who don't present such images is one way to get them to stop -- or one way to ease the helplessness at the futility of getting them to stop.

No matter what, humor is humor and it comes across as silly to try and control someone else's expression of it. You could stop reading the blog if you don't like the content. Or maybe you could start a 'correct' parody site with Kelly (check out the comments on the fruit loop squares posting below).

belldam said...

I'm sorry, it doesn't come across as making fun of the retailers for the way they market things, it comes across as making fun of eating disorders, which isn't okay, and it's really hurtful to people who have dealt with those. And it doesn't make sense to say that you're making fun of the way things are marketed, because if you look at the original Anthropology marketing for this product, it doesn't say anything about "slimming." That was supplied by the writer here.

I wasn't trying to cause trouble or control someone else's expression of anything, I was just trying to bring whoever runs the blog - is that either one of you? - to the hurtful way that humor was being presented.

And I chose to make that comment because I enjoy this blog, and I wanted to offer criticism - which is a valid, likely thing whenever someone puts their creative work up in public - so that humor in the blog could be accessible to all and not harmful. Humor is not always just humor, it can hurt people.

I agree that my sisters would be better served by retailers who portrayed images of many different body types, but this sort of humor isn't putting anyone closer to that.

And I was really trying to be as friendly as possible and not cause problems, just offer something up for the writer here to think about. I really yours and Francois's replies were a little mean and inappropriate compared to my tone. Especially Francois's.

Francois Tremblay said...

I'm not politically correct. Tough.

Amy said...

Gotta agree wholeheartedly with NonnyMus! Satire has always been a wonderful tool for pointing out societal problems, like the ever-present need to be thin that has led to the rise of these corset-esque belts in modern fashion.

belldam said...

You're not being "non-politically correct," Francois', you're being a jackass.

And Amy, all I'm saying is that there was nothing about the original ad to talk about slimming! This is not satire, this is laughing at eating disorders. I mean, I guess you could make satire out of the model chosen? But really, the whole thing was fine until the "you've been starving for" line. That's what pushed it over the edge. Some thing are just not okay to make jokes about.

Francois Tremblay said...

I know I am a jackass. Tell me something I don't know.

NonnyMus said...

belldam,

I advise you to read Kelly's blog instead of this one: http://www.creatingafamilyhome.com

She also is certain there is only one way to do humor. Funnily enough, she 'follows' Anthroparodie even though they do humor wrong. Weird, eh?

Nevertheless, you two should get along great - or maybe not depending on how well your rigid rules of behavior mesh or don't mesh. Either way, have fun!

Sincerely,

Someone who supports what he likes and leaves the rest.