Avoid "Real-Washing" When Addressing Body Image in the Blogosphere - Jory Des Jardins -MediaBizBloggers

Originally published May 16 2008Brands like Dove broke ground by celebrating quotReal Womenquot and now it39s cool for brands to adore the female consumer for who she isamp8212at least as a brand strategy But even while we the customers are embracing brands that embrace our curves we39re still struggling for the ultimate zen with our bodies This means that products and services dealing with diet weightloss or any cosmetic procedure continue to push buttons most vocally with women who blogSince we launched our community hub BlogHercom in January 2006 we39ve noticed a strong thread of bodyimage blogging throughout many of our categories fashion health and beauty of course but also in parenting feminism even world issues In fact this topic was so pervasive that we decided to make Body Image its own topic Since July 2007 our community team has added 151 new blogs to our network that relate to women39s bodies It39s been fascinating to see the breadth of coverage from child obesity to the pros and cons of hair removal in certain nether regionsThe overarching message behind this coverage Selfacceptance good Anything that pressures us to alter our appearance bad Note that I didn39t say that such things as cosmetic surgery or makeup or weight loss programs are bad just any pervading message that we are not OK if we are not perfectAmong the maligned the quotCute Little Dress Approvedquot Pink Patch which encourages women39s insecurity about their bodies by giving us unrealistic images of how we should look Among the embraced The Swimsuit Brigade for Honest Photos an initiative led by a BlogHer Contributing Editor who was sick of seeing unrealistic shots of women in swimsuits and who rallied likeminded bloggers to join her in photographing themselves without any preseason dieting fatvacuuming or airbrushingBlogHer launched an initiative in response to this ongoing interest in body image A Letter to My Body We asked bloggers to write a letter to their bodies and post it on their blogs or on BlogHercom We created a widget featuring the letters that added to the viral effect The responses were overwhelmingin number and in contentFrom a woman who suffered a miscarriageI know it39s not your fault what happened this weekend Not entirely anyway But still It39s hard for me It39s hard not to be angry with you It39s hard not to feel betrayed It39s hard not to rage against you for getting rid of what I so desperately wantedAnd from a 50yearold woman who had been sexually abused as a childI remember feeling selfconscious about EVERYTHING including wearing a swimming suit at age 4 and 5 And later in her lifeMy body betrayed me hugely by giving birth to a badly hurt baby with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus I ask anyone trying to reach women bloggers about anything relating to their body image Do you really want to enter this emotionallycharged fray telling us you3939ll help us shed those pesky five pounds How we NEED your botox How having our children has made us less sexyThis seemed like a good subject to bring up as swimsuit season approaches and I speak with roughly 150 companies who are contemplating sponsoring the BlogHer summer conference and making a splash with female influencers All of these companies have the best of intentions only some mistakenly opt to approach women by reminding them of what they don39t have versus celebrating who they areMost conversations and sponsorships go surprisingly well Scrapblog a digital scrapbooking company that approached me about sponsoring last year understood inherently how women bloggers operate In addition to allocating some of their media to promote their preevent design contest a portion of their media dollars was allocated to the promotion of the winner of the contesta very public way of saying to a blogger quotHoney you are fabulousquot This is brilliant because for most bloggers recognition IS the currency they most value We appreciate companies that appreciate usOther sponsors have taken to less successful tactics Two years ago we had two examples One major brand launching a new health beverage distributed their product with a smile and the tag line quotDrink this and lose eight pounds in a yearquot Now I39m a relatively datadriven person and so are my blogging colleagues but by all accounts this was not a tantalizing message A prominent food blogger said quotIf they had just said the stuff would make me feel better I might have paid more attentionquot Ironically a condom brand received no negative feedback for giving out samples but did attract the ire of normalsized women irritated by the size small baby tees the samples were rolled inI learned a huge lesson that year When you are talking anything relating to women39s body image stick to health not cosmetic benefits But what if your product is cosmetic in nature Last time I checked most women in the community were quite jazzed about lipstick and hair color and all kinds of things that help to enhance our appearance The key is approach Just think about what your messaging impliesIn 2007 I attended a BlogHer Conference session held by the body image bloggers and no there was no sharing of weight loss strategies there were stories there were confessions Some of them made me tear up The wrong sponsor would have pushed weight loss The right sponsor would have kept that conversation going even if it meant not selling product or getting the coveted writeup Bloggers don39t respond to guilt but to choiceSo are you ready to tell us more about your product That depends Do we look fat

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