Emmestyle

Skinny Pretzels Part Two - Supermodel Emme tells advertisers to “Stop being so lazy.”

UPDATE: I just received an e-mail for Perry Abbenante, the VP of marketing for Pretzel Crisps who said:

“Based on the feedback received from you and other bloggers, we are switching directions with our ad campaign and will be taking the ‘You can never be too thin’ ads down.”

Smart decision!

————————

Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor is the lady we have to thank for gracing the world with the phrase, “You can never be too rich or too thin.”

It’s something we’ve heard countless times in pop culture, and usually associated with vapid, wealthy women who obsess over the superficial. But it’s also incredibly played out. And that’s why Pretzel Crisps’ new ad campaign with the slogan, “You can never be too thin…” is just simply irresponsible.

This is 2010 and we’ve been through 20 plus years of these kind of messages shoved in our faces. Consider that Jean Kilbourne has made four Killing Us Softly films since 1979 documenting all of the incredibly damaging and irresponsible ads that have helped contribute to a society where more than 10 million people in the US alone have eating disorders, and millions more suffer from body image issues. It’s 2010 and it’s enough.

I was put off enough by the Pretzel Crisps ad to call up the National Eating Disorders Association and get their thoughts on the ad. NEDA put me in touch with supermodel and clothing designer, Emme, who is also the founder of the Body Image Council - a group with the goal of increasing public awareness around eating disorders, obesity, body image and self-esteem “through innovative media, big industry, public policy and an overhaul of the school lunch program throughout the K-12 educational system.”

As the world’s first plus size model (who was twice named one of People’s “50 Most Beautiful People”), Emme knows a thing or two about beauty and expectations, and was more than candid when asked her thoughts on the ad.

She agreed the ad was irresponsible but more than that, “It’s heartless and not compassionate, and more than anything just lazy.”

Ads that prey on our insecurities are the bread and butter of the advertising industry but Emme is ready to call marketers out saying that, “It’s so passé, it’s cheap and old. They are just repeating what has been done in the past, I mean be creative. If they were smart wouldn’t go for the low blow or the cheap trick.”

She should tell that to Perry Abbenante, the VP of marketing for Pretzel Crisps and one of the brains behind the ad.

According to Abbenante, the poster was one of four ads in a new campaign that officially launched on Monday. Other slogans you are likely to see popping up around New York include:

“Perfect for skinny dipping,” “A new star in the Garden,” (in reference to the product being sold at Madison Square Garden) and the kicker, “Tastes as good as skinny feels,” as a play on the phrase “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels,” uttered last year by super-waif Kate Moss, and a known mantra of “thinspiration” upheld by the pro-anorexic community.

“It’s a thin pretzel and thin is just an attribute of the product,” he said. “We’re a small company, and we had to come up with something that would catch people’s attention in a short amount of time.”

Abbenante said the ads aren’t meant to be taken literally and that the company apologizes if people take offense to the ad’s message.

While the company denies the ad is about anything other than the dimensions of its product, it seems that maybe they should own up to the fact that they were being really lazy when it came to trying to create a clever campaign.

World's First Full-Figure Supermodel Partners with Largest Plus-Size E-Tailer

NEW YORK, July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- OneStopPlus.com, the premiere online destination for curvy women who demand high style in plus-size fashion, announces influential plus-size model Emme as the brand's new ambassador. As an advocate for OneStopPlus.com, Emme will serve as an all encompassing consumer and media liaison, through the establishment of a social networking presence on Twitter and Facebook, as well as through the OneStopPlus.com website, offering blog videos, Q&A's and more.

"Emme is an icon and role model for women of all ages and we are thrilled for her to be joining the OneStopPlus.com team. She has revolutionized how plus sizes are represented within the fashion industry, personifying the beauty of and serving as a powerful voice for curvy women in America. She will undoubtedly bring a great deal to our brand," says Stephanie Sobel, President of OneStopPlus.com Group.

As one of the first and most visible curvy models within the fashion industry, People Magazine has twice recognized Emme as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People," and was honored by Glamour Magazine as "Woman of the Year." In addition to her modeling career, Emme is a seasoned author, television personality, lecturer, host of FOX's hit reality series "More to Love," and a clothing designer. Emme is also a known advocate for a healthy body image and self-esteem, much like OneStopPlus.com.

"My partnership with OneStopPlus.com is a fabulous opportunity to reach, not just women with curves, but all women around the world – regardless of size, shape or body type. I hope the rest of the fashion industry takes note of what OneStopPlus.com is doing," notes Emme.

For more information, please visit: www.onestopplus.com.

About OneStopPlus.com®

OneStopPlus.com® is the world's first and only web-mall for plus-size women and big & tall men. The OneStopPlus.com® philosophy for plus-size women is reflected in every aspect of its website. The look and feel is upscale and the collections are not considered simply as clothing, but fashion. Plus-size women now have the same fashion choices as their size 8 counterparts, with access to everything from the classics to what's right on the mark in terms of the latest trends. Featured on this website include leading designs in American and European plus size fashion from Woman Within®, Roaman's®, Jessica London®, AVENUE®, Taillissime and Ellos. OneStopPlus.com® is a Redcats USA brand.

About Redcats USA

Redcats USA is a dynamic, multi-channel, web-driven home-shopping leader, with numerous well-known brands in its portfolio: AVENUE®, Woman Within®, Jessica London®, Roaman's®, KingSize®, BrylaneHome® and BrylaneHome® Kitchen sold on OneStopPlus.com®, The Sportsman's Guide® and The Golf Warehouse™. Redcats USA offers a wide range of value and quality driven merchandise categories, including men's and women's plus-size apparel, home and lifestyle products, and sporting goods/outdoor gear. Redcats USA is a Redcats company. For more information: Redcats.com.

SOURCE OneStopPlus.com Back to top

RELATED LINKS http://www.onestopplus.com

Ithaca

When you start on your journey to Ithaca, then pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge. Do not fear the Lestrygonians and the Cyclopes and the angry Poseidon. You will never meet such as these on your path, if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine emotion touches your body and your spirit. You will never meet the Lestrygonians, the Cyclopes and the fierce Poseidon, if you do not carry them within your soul, if your soul does not raise them up before you.

Then pray that the road is long. That the summer mornings are many, that you will enter ports seen for the first time with such pleasure, with such joy! Stop at Phoenician markets, and purchase fine merchandise, mother-of-pearl and corals, amber and ebony, and pleasurable perfumes of all kinds, buy as many pleasurable perfumes as you can; visit hosts of Egyptian cities, to learn and learn from those who have knowledge.

Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all. It is better to let it last for long years; and even to anchor at the isle when you are old, rich with all that you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would never have taken the road. But she has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not defrauded you. With the great wisdom you have gained, with so much experience, you must surely have understood by then what Ithacas mean.

-K. P. Kavafis (C. P. Cavafy), translation by Rae Dalven

Memorial Day....thank you to our military who have died for our freedom.

Every day you put your lives on the line for me, for us. What a selfless service to humanity. Although I regularly pray for non violence means to ends, I know that through your efforts, you are bringing the world closer to peace, where ultimately we can find a way to live peacefully with one another.

So as I write this, I'm asking, "what service am I doing that puts my life on the line?" Education, Health care, Child Protection/safety, Social change, Environmental protection, Animal rights... WHAT?

Clearly I have some work to do.

Thank you men and women for your courage, strength and light to allow us this life I many times take for granted.

I thank you for giving me this peaceful morning where instead of hearing bombs in the distance, I've been able to enjoy the orchestra of birds waking me up out of my tent.

With gratitude I send you this message of thanks and deep appreciation.

Get home safely.

I, like many of you, have been to the belly of the beast and have made it back to share a tale or two… all I have to say is thank you God for getting me to this day and enabling me to share my journey!

I am a lymphatic cancer survivor, the mother of my energetic beautiful daughter, recently divorced and dating, selling my home of 20 years, and leaping into the world of fundraising for the Body Image Council, a not-for-profit program I founded for the National Eating Disorders Association (www.bodyimagecouncil.org. I am, without a doubt, a survivor with gusto!

“Why are you so driven?” you may ask. Quite frankly, I am because I am alive. I am because my mother is not here and was not given the chance to be (she had her own bout with bone cancer back in the late ‘70s). I am because as my daughter’s role model and need to show her that having cancer is not a death sentence. I am because I am happy to do it all. Bring it on! Knowing what I now know and in honor of both my daughter and my mom,, I embrace my hectic life and strive to infuse quality into all that I do-in fact I require it in all aspects of my life. Quality counts in all things: personal choices, professional choices, spiritual practice, and even decisions regarding those with whom I share my time. This time around, it all matters. Needless to say, since having conquered cancer, life and its meaning have changed. Thankfully, the big “C” forced me to take inventory and gave me the opportunity to do things a bit differently. Now I require a regular meditation and yoga practice, something I scoffed at in the past. I feel off-kilter if my homemade kale and spinach soup is not sitting on my stove ready to eat with a cup of rice. Unnecessary noise in the house has been reduced to a minimum. Quiet time, periods of solitude and peaceful music (itunes, radio, ambiance, birdsong; Maxwell, Joss Stone and other grooves) are common in my world now.

In my love life, I must admit, a great romp is breathtaking. But I have made the decision to forgo the quick fix for quality: a man and partner who loves sex as much as I do, professes his love for me in innumerable ways, wants to protect me and my daughter, and doesn’t have a problem with picking up the tab (rather than waiting for me to do so). I’m certain he’s out there; it is just a matter of time! Seriously, it all boils down to quality. I learned a lesson quite humorously after my final treatment two years ago. My frame of mind at the time was, “Okay, done that, NEXT! And I mistakenly told myself that I could now get back to my life as it was pre-cancer.” Not! I had been warned not to fool myself into believing this as it could cause irreparable harm, but I have never been one to listen very well unless burned of my own hand. So there I was, my body just shut down and I was hit with the most inexhaustible feeling that the world was closing in on me-and I literally couldn’t move. I was in the eye of my personal storm so to speak. No can go. Stop.

I had to acknowledge that life had changed, and that I had changed, forever. In fact it was necessary that I embrace the change. Since the pain of not changing was harder than the change itself, I ultimately allowed it to wash over me. I had to slow down and gracefully honor the life before me; to respect what had taken place; to care for myself in ways I never imagined I could; and to love myself enough to take good care of both myself and my incredible daughter, who will need me for decades to come. It is incredibly powerful to show my little woman-in-the-making how to demand the best of yourself and of those around you. This had become the only possible path for me, the new me: from the woman who was birthed the moment I heard the words “you have cancer” to the woman I became on my last day of treatment. That woman, with you here, is me; and much, much more so than before—as Mary J. Blige says, with “no more drama.”

Emme is a cancer survivor, supermodel, television personality, author, lecturer, clothing designer, and nationally recognized women’s advocate for positive body image and self-esteem with a clear mission: to awaken the inner magnificence inherent in each of us. She is also a mother, sister, aunt, and friend. For more information, visit www.EmmeStyle.com and www.bodyimagecouncil.org.