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"Pregnant" women selling non-alcoholic beer

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Melissa Summers emailed about a new, uh, trend, I suppose, in some recent ad campaigns. This one is for a car maker called SEAT Aleta. The photo to your right is a resuIt of a non-alcoholic beer company's decision that "pregnant" women in bikinis are a great way to sell their product. I followed the links on that page, and read all the comments I could find. It would seem that most people are firmly in my camp; this is just. not. right. As one commenter stated, ". . . maybe she just has a deeply unfortunate beer belly." (And, be warned that some of the comments are perhaps PG-13 or R rated in their content.)

So, let's see, where do I start with this? First off, I didn't notice that the ad was for a non-alcoholic beer until I read the comments and someone pointed that fact out. I thought she was hawking real, actual beer; you know, the stuff that can cause fetal alcohol syndrome. Beyond that, even though it's an ad, I have a hard time with the fantasy involved here. Shawn Waite says on his blog that, "the photoshop work on these ads is insulting to graphic designers." It's also damaging to real pregnant women who despair because they don't look like that.

I understand that advertisers are selling fantasy, but I'm really tired of feeling inadequate every time I look at one, you know? And that's the kicker; even though I know this is fake and unrealistic and all, I can't help but see this photo and think, "Wow, I wish I could look like that pregnant. Or ever, really."

I think what I need is to go visit The Shape of a Mother, which Kristin wrote about awhile back. If you are clicking at work or aren't comfortable with nudity, please note that the site contains nude photos of women before, during and after pregnancy. Real women, with no photoshop for miles around.

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