Ad Feminem

Certified Pre-Owned Lips?

"[Capital One] offer[s] installment loans with low, fixed rates from

1.99% APR to 25.99% APR*, or interest-free loans** for 3, 6, 12, 18,

or 24 months to qualified applicants. Either way, you'll be able to find

an option designed to fit within your budget. You'll like our flexible

payment options—we can set up a payment schedule for you, from

18 months to five years." 

For what will Capital One offer such installment or interest-free loans? 

                                    "Capital One Healthcare Finance helps make high quality cosmetic

                                    procedures—and your new look—a reality."

How is it that our bodies are turned into commodities?  Long before any surgery itself, this process is accomplished through language.  We've talked extensively on this blog about the hijacking of "health" to refer to the "cosmetic," just as Capital One does by calling this branch of their business "Healthcare Finance."  Look, however, at their website, and you'll note that both the URL and the caption say, no "healthcare," but "cosmetic."  The option to use their financing services for necessary reconstructive surgery is clearly a corporate image-enhancing afterthought.

The theory of linguistic relativity tells us that language shapes the way we we think about the world.  Consider the idea, for example that without a word for something, we can have no thought of it. Also--and forgive me for simplifying semantics here--the names we give to things change our perceptions of those things, even though the things themselves remain the same.  This idea is born out in the push to provide politically correct names for things, a recognition of the power of connotations.  It's why customers are called "guests," why wrinkles are called "laugh lines," and why failures are sometimes referred to as "deferred success."

Say, for example, that we know a man named Joe. Joe is a kind, intelligent, compassionate man, but he's also very timid.  A bully comes along, decides he doesn't like Joe, and "re-names" Joe "Loser."  Every time the bully sees or refers to Joe, he calls him "Loser," and eventually, Joe's real name is forgotten, and everyone else starts calling him "Loser" too. Through all of this Joe has been the exact same kind, intelligent and compassionate man, but everyone who knows him as "Loser" starts to interact with him as if he were not very smart and not very worthwhile. Eventually Joe starts internalizing this name, all the qualities associated with it, and the way that people react to him. At first, Joe doesn't change at all, but because the language changes, people's perceptions of him change and eventually he changes too. 

So when we start to talk about our bodies and our body parts in the same language that we use to market stereo blow-outs and used car bonanzas, the language itself changes the way we perceive our bodies.  They become commodities as salable and replaceable as the cars we trade in every few years. From there, it's a short leap from trading in a body to trading in a self.

Burnt Out

Most people think of elective cosmetic surgery as something between the individual and the surgeon, a personal decision with a personal impact. Of course, this is to ignore the law that claims equal and opposite reactions.

That collagen on offer for your lips, wrinkles or penis? It could, should be going to a burns patient in dire need, one of the 10,000 that die each year. But it might not, because the suppliers who harvest collagen from cadavers can make better margins working with cosmetic surgery practices than they can working with burns units. Would-be cosmetic surgery patients are prepared to pay more than the health insurers of those with genuine medical need.

The Orange County Register ran a thorough investigation into the issue years ago. That took courage, given the newspaper's home at the heart of cosmetic surgery mania. Check out this campaign ad, too, against Steve Kirby. His involvement in Collagenesis would seem to uniquely qualify him to run for the Senate on the GOP ticket, the reason for some news outlets to be dusting off the story again.

Damaging 4 Your Health

In a fashion that's both typical and telling for Los Angeles, last night's "4 Your Health" segment of the Channel 4 local news featured a story on a new form of Botox-like treatment called GFX.  Apparently, GFX works by

            temporarily damag[ing] each nerve, and break[ing] the frown signals without poisoning the tissue
            the way Botox does, reported [Dr. Bruce] Hensel.

There are two things to notice here. 
1.)  The language. This new procedure damages and breaks your body and its natural processes, while the old procedure poisoned them. 
2.)  In another example of the language being co-opted in a way that normalizes cosmetic procedures as wellness, this was reported under the auspices of being "4 Your Health."

Death By Botox

Did the FDA learn nothing from the Vioxx disaster?  Despite new findings that Botox treatments can result in death, according to Public Citizen, the FDA "has not required the issuance of direct warnings to either doctors or patients."  See Stephanie Brail's article Death By Botox: The Hidden Cost of the Quest for Beauty.

The Right Reasons

The following disclaimer appears directly below an ad for the penis stretcher available from the Penis Surgery Clinic.  "[Penis length and girth enhancement] operation may not salvage a troubled relationship, or liberate you from deep anxiety or depression. Deep-seated feelings of inadequacy, anger or poor self-image cannot be resolved through surgery. But if you are realistic and are motivated to have the surgery for the right reasons, we believe you will be pleased with the results."

Given that we live in a culture in which deep-seated feelings of inadequacy are good for the economy - if we ever felt adequate or felt as if we had enough, why would we need to keep on buying new, improved, bigger, better, more, etc? - we're just curious as to what the right reasons might be.  Are there more than the wish to provide a different kind of pleasure to one's sexual partners?  Or advance a career in porn? 

We can't help but notice that the ads for women's cosmetic procedures don't come with a disclaimer like this.  In fact, those ads promote just the opposite sentiment, claiming that surgery will make you feel good about yourself.

Depression? Anxiety? We Can Help!

Here are a couple of more facing pages from the LA Weekly. In response we sent them the following, but--no surprise--they didn't print it.   

Dear Editor:  Summer’s just around the corner. Don’t you deserve the body you’ve always wanted? 
For a limited time only, get a new nose and a breast aug. for just $3999! The Genetic Institute for Anti-Ugliness is conveniently located just off of I-5 between The Body Shop & the Buy-Me Club. Come in for an appraisal and check out our showroom while-u-wait.

Suffering from wandering man syndrome (WMS)? Feeling depressed about the unsightly bulges in your vagina? Fear not - we can help! Lose those fatty labia with designer vaginal rejuvenation.  Now you too can have that Playboy look. Money back guarantee. Act now and receive an extra $100 off m.s.r.p.

Finally, don’t miss our selection of certified pre-owned lips.* We offer flexible payment plans: lease-to-own with low monthly payments, no money down or financing at 0% a.p.r. Don’t delay. Call 1-800-SELF-DOUBT for a new vagina today!

* Prices based on Blue Book suggested retail value with typical mileage and typical equipment for the model/year. Your mileage may vary.

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A Little Editorial Rebellion? We Hope So

Just wondering: 
What's the underlying suggestion of this ad layout of these facing pages from the LA Weekly? 
In a world where advertisers routinely demand complementary copy, it's a strange choice, and one wonders if there's a deliberate editorial message here.  If that's the case, kudos to Laurie Ochoa. 

If we look left to right, we can see a suggested relationship that evinces cosmetic surgery as the antidote to depression.  Maybe not a suggestion the surgeons would really mind.  But if we look right to left, the ads work together in another way.  With its command to "Be Beautiful," the success of the cosmetic surgery ad is predicated on the consumer's acceptance of the message that she's not beautiful.  And a message like that is bound to be depressing. 

Get Your Beautiful Skin Today

From the LA Times, this ad for West Coast Leather reads "Get your beautiful skin today." 

Too bad you can barely see the leather pants and the woman in the ad is reduced to a "skin," sending the message that not only is the woman herself is for sale, but she's reduced to the status of an animal valuable solely for its external features.  And that's not to mention that a skin is only valuable when the animal is dead.

Editorial vs. Advertising: Blurring The Lines

For the bastions of big Old Media, the division between the publishing side of the organization and the editorial side was and still is sacred. For others, the barrier had already start to come down, with a growth in product placement and sponsorship as a part of TV shows.

The web, both directly and indirectly, has caused that barrier to fall yet further, with blogging as a prime example. Can you trust what you read? Probably not. Take this post, on Borba skin care products, for example. Note how the author writes

"Anyhow I’m looking at these new skin care products that I just read about today on a friends blog."

She doesn't link to that friend's blog now, does she? Probably because the author heard about the product on PayPerPost, a site that puts advertisers in touch with bloggers prepared to write about their stuff for cash. Borba is paying $10 per post.

For more, read this article in Wired. Would you be surprised to learn that liposuction and gastric band providers are among those offering bloggers to post about their services? Thought not.

Getting Organized

One barrier to projects such as this is creating a vehicle for donations, spending, etc. Setting up a new 501c3 non-profit takes a phenomenal effort. Fortunately, there are non-profits who exist to incubate new non-profits, providing services such as fiscal sponsorship. We're taking this approach right now, aiming to work with the LA-based Community Partners.