Friday, November 30, 2012

To grow old like Brad Pitt

Notice I didn't write to grow old with Brad Pitt.

I don't get this campaign at all.  Makes no sense to me - where is Catherine Deneuve for god's sake?

I digress.  The campaign strategy is not what this post is about.

So, I'm walking into a large department store and there blocking the aisle is a huge poster of Brad looking every one of his 48 years.  Yes, bags under the old eyes, the ones that don't come from a late night but from years of late nights (and some of those with kids), lines around the eyes and across the forehead, the skin not tightly stretched against the cheekbones - the stuff that whacks me in the eye when I turn the bathroom light on at 6:30 am.

But where's the retouching?  Where's the finishing that makes Julianne Moore look 35 instead of 51?  I know she's a natural beauty (and doesn't believe in cosmetic surgery) but come on, there have got to be some signs of aging.

 As delighted as I was to see that Brad had declined all offers to retouch, at the same time it just annoys me that women aren't afforded the same opportunity to be accepted for who they are in l'age.

I would prefer to see a few lines and sags - there is nothing more beautiful than a beauty who ages with grace.  Good for Brad.  Can anyone site an equivalent female star in a major campaign that is not retouched?  Do tell.

I'll get off the soapbox now.



6 comments:

  1. Isabella Rossillini !
    Natural and lovely and a beauty on her own terms.

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  2. Digressing slightly, love Brad Pitt, adore Chanel No 5 but just don't get the link between the two. I definitely prefer elegant ladies promoting the perfume I love!

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  3. You make a good point about the retouching. I haven't seen the poster but I have seen the TV spot. It was replayed again and again on MSNBC Morning Joe last week as a joke. Who directed Brad? Women may allow or be forced to allow retouching but I dare say they wouldn't agree to appear in a commercial as lame as this one!

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  4. Hi Hostess: Couldn't agree more. But she doesn't seem to be in any advertisements that I see. What a shame.

    Anonymous: The link just isn't there and why not have some interesting women who we can actually connect with. It's a mystery.

    Maryl: Hah! It is pretty lame. Bad advertising for a great brand.

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  5. Oh, it's annoying alright. Guys with wrinkles are much more likely to be deemed still good-looking, even better with the added warmth of life experience on their face. Women are not perceived the same way -- and the fact that some, as with Hostess' example of Isabella Rossellini, spring to mind immediately as exceptions, really just proves the point, to me. Judd Hirsch, Sam Neill, Sean Connery, George Clooney,Kris Kristofferson. . . .I could easily come up with a long, long list of men whose wrinkles are considered a part of their good looks. Not so quickly with women.

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  6. Mater: And yet, it's the lines that make a woman more interesting. Isabella Rossellini is the most beautiful when she's talking and you see that beautiful face in action. Sigh.

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