Myrianne J. forwarded us an email she received from Dell advertising a laptop that perfectly illustrates the conflation of thinness with beauty. The email, which came with the subject line “Hello beautiful — introducing the new ultra-thin Vostro V131,” included this image, with the line “Thin and powerful never looked so good” centered over a woman’s hand:
Including the subject line, in fact, the words “beautiful” or “beautifully” appear three times in the ad, lest you fail to make the connection.
Comments 32
Priyanka Mathew — October 7, 2011
I wonder if this isn't a bit of a stretch. First of all, this ad sucks (make your business more beautiful?? WTF is that?), but I don't think it's saying what you're implying. When I first looked at this, I did not think "thin= beautiful," I thought "wow, what a lame ad targeted to women." This is definitely going for the "sexy empowerment" theme in a stupid way, but, personally, I think it's a bit much to say that this is "promoting thin".
Sarah — October 7, 2011
thin = the possibility to break faster
So ha.
proud to be thick :D
Oliver Crosby — October 7, 2011
It's a really thin hand too...
David — October 7, 2011
I bet there is an example out there of a computer highlighting its "powerful" processor that appeals to masculine themes too
Susana Machado — October 7, 2011
Having to haul my laptop everywhere along with everything else, I am always in the market for a newer, thinner, lighter, computer. Need to achieve a balance between thickness and power. So, as far as laptops go, the thinner it is the more beautiful it looks to me. I don't relate my own body image to what I want from my laptop. Also, I look at the thing about 14 hours a day, if they can ALSO make it PRETTY it is just a bonus, I like to look at pretty things.
ProphetKevin Ives — October 7, 2011
I think the laptop kind of looks like a penis actually. Like she's about to give it a handjob or something.
Ann — October 7, 2011
On the plus side, a FEMALE! Using a COMPUTER! OH WOW.
ctl — October 7, 2011
Not completely on topic, but still related to this ad and beauty/computing and the first thing that comes to mind seeing it:
I have a hard time typing when I've neglected trimming my nails for too long. I don't think hand models use keyboards. Have you seen the world's highest-paid hand model doing an interview? Those hands never see daylight or friction, never mind any form of manual use.
Casey — October 7, 2011
I didn't read that at all. I thought it had more to do with the model, whose hands are clearly feminine and "beautiful."
Anonymous — October 12, 2011
But the tagline is "thin and powerful never looked so good". The implication is that both thinness and power are not *usually* good looking, or that the fact that something thin and powerful could look good is surprising.
Blix — October 15, 2011
Why should the fruit be held inferior to the flower? -George Orwell