Ooooo. Naked Women over 50? No Way.

The blogosphere – ok, the women’s blogosphere, myself included – is a bit annoyed by a recent act of FCC censorship for “implying nudity.” And who are the filthy perverted sex fiends the FCC has saved us from? It’s a cosmetics company. Yes, they have stopped Dove soap from airing a cool ad for their new Pro-age (as opposed to the usual Anti-aging) line of skin products for older women.

Featuring a half dozen luscious women over 50 is a lovely nod to the new parameters of what is beautiful and sexy. These fabulous women appear to be having a great, relaxed time during their nude shoots. Close-ups on age-spots and wrinkles are combined with long-shots of bodies of varied sizes and hues, posed so that the discreet placement of arms and thighs hides breasts and crotches. There’s no ridiculous posy-ness, no artificial come-hither crap – just some fine women de-robed and delightful.

It is such an unusual and buoyant “take” on how to market to boomers, that I’ve read some blog commenters who say they are buying the products just to support Dove.

Here’s the ad.

I hate being trite, but I simply have to wonder about these FCC freaks. Rape? No problem showing it – in fact there’s a Law & Order stream devoted to rape. Shootings? Beheadings? Fist fights? Smacking women around? Bombings? People buried in vats of live worms while being shot up by Uzi-wielding kids? They rock!

Don’t even get me started with questions of why women’s nipples are so hysterically banned (the FCC fined CBS $550,000 for Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” and rules were tightened) while men’s nips are exposed everywhere. Or why there are uncounted ads and TV shows using the “implied” nudity of young skin, while these over-50s are considered obscene.

Hey FCC. Is it really just about flesh? Or are your fixations on youthful femininity all shook up by these older women’s succulent ease in the buff?

Comments

[Maggie Jochild]

Hooray, you're back! And with BELLS on. Great post, great ad, great points.

[Gema Gray]

Yeah - Katz, you're back. We missed you!

I am rendered speechless by this ridiculous FCC ruling. "Implying nudity" is a problem? Well then half the shows on TV should be banned. How many bedroom scenes in TV drama and movies "imply nudity"? Pu-lease!!!
Slap a PG13 rating on the ad (which is gorgeous and tasteful) and get on with it.

I would suggest that if this were an ad for young women, with 20-somethings posing in this manner, it would be just fine. This issue speaks to the ageism of this society and I suspect to the power of the almighty advertising dollar. This ad would not appeal to the coveted 18-25 year old male, who probably doesn't want to see images of women his mother's age without clothes on.

We wouldn't want to traumatise the young by suggesting that their mothers are vital, vibrant, beautiful and yes, sexy, now would we?!

[jeffreykerekes]

The smile on the woman's face at the top says it all. This indeed is an uplifting ad that embodies celebration. I agree with your analysis, there are much more provocative and disturbing events on TV that it is simply ludicrous. Do you have any information on how we, the readership, can take action on the matter?

[Joan Price]

Thank you for bringing this to my attention -- I'll be blogging about this myself. As you said, this is about older women looking and feeling sexy just as they are, without any "anti-aging" fixing. And as Gema noted, if these were 20-somethings showing off their bodies, the photos would be considered normal and acceptable. Oooh, this makes me mad!

Joan Price
http://www.joanprice.com/

[clint broadus]

gema gray!! u said it all and ur right, nothin more to say except i agree with u!!yea!

[Mike Evans]

Dove products contain palm oil and are made by Unilever, a company which continues to buy from companies who destroy rainforests in Indonesia to make way for palm oil plantations. These forests are home to the threatened Orang-utan. I agree wholeheartedly that the FCC should apply its rules uniformly, and that the 'implied' nudity of older women should be treated no differently from that of men or younger people. These women seem both happy and beautiful to me. However, there are more important reasons to resist supporting this immoral company.

[Sue Katz]

What excellent comments. Gema, you obviously spoke to the hearts of others. Jeffrey, I suspect there's a lot of work being done around censorship. And Mike, thanks for your important, enlightening input.
Sue

[sharon]

I have been watching the DOVE marketing since this started (their other advert with the speeded up images of what a pretty girl goes through for a make up ad are frightening) and I wish we could all get the FCC cleaned up and boot the bums OUT! Our government has been taken over by the far right. Let's fix that.