I’ve seen way too many advertisements telling women how much better liked they’ll be if they were just fairer, had glossier hair etc etc. Even for a person who doesn’t believe in body shaming anyone (themselves or other people), it can be hard to hold on to that attitude with pretty much the entire world screaming that your body is ‘imperfect’ and you don’t deserve anything good – popularity, success, love – if you don’t somehow achieve that perfect-ness. Everything I am as a person becomes linked to what I look like on any given day and that’s a shitty feeling to have.
That’s why it was particularly awesome when an advertisement actually did do it right. It’s always refreshing when ads decide not to follow the age old stereotypes, but I freely admit they managed to surprise even a jaded viewer like me – especially when well-known comedian Bharti Singh appeared. It is one thing to talk about body positivity; a whole another thing to embrace it through an actor who doesn’t fit in any of the categories of stereotypically ‘perfect’ bodies. Which was amazing and I’m glad that Joy’s ‘Beautiful By Nature’ ad got that right.
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