The Perfect Woman

I was recently watching a commercial on TV, when guess who i saw grace the screens of Americal television? It was none other than the World's Most Beautiful Woman Aishwarya Rai, featuring in the L-oreal hair care product. She spoke with an American accent, though it was dubbed and she looks as smashing as always.

After a few days, i forgot about the whole thing. But, today, as i was reading an article on Woman's Roles and Images projected on media, this opened up a blog topic.

Mass Media advertising both here in the US and in India is always an artificial, dreamy world where no woman who looks ugly, obese, poor, or for that matter an average normal working woman who has kids, cleans, cooks and runs the family is ever portrayed truly.

All these so-called models and media women are used as a "tool" based on their gender to sell a product off the shelf. It is either the trim model showing off her good figure for an athletic equipment or a pale complexioned face for a fairness beauty cream.

Do these stuffed dolls ever portray a true picture of the everyday woman in real world?

Most of these commercials are taken from a male viewer's perspective, such as a man rescuing a woman who is suffering or a man who is stronger than a woman and so on.

Also, there are lots of real life women out there who feel constant pressure by being compared against these kind of paper-thin models who talk about beauty tips and creams, shampoos, diet regimen etc. One must remember that these women are standards for movie actresses and super models, not for an average looking woman.

It is a known fact that marketing will always involve showing off beautiful woman on their advts. as we all want to see some pretty images, but these characters need to be a true and practical representation of the common women.

Further, every woman has different appearance needs- a traditional homemaker who stays home and raises a family will have a different view on her appearance than a high flying top notch career woman who meets clients on a daily basis.

Finally, just want to end up quoting the article's conclusion that Women are still seeking answers to Freud's question- "What does a woman want"?

My take on that would be that All women irrespective of their nationality want to be loved, respected for their opinions and treated with dignity both at home and at work.