“Top model speaks to students, emphasizes beauty is limitless, not only external - University Daily” plus 1 more |
| Top model speaks to students, emphasizes beauty is limitless, not only external - University Daily Posted: 29 Sep 2010 09:00 PM PDT Whitney Thompson, the first plus-size model to win "America's Next Top Model," said healthy is beautiful in a speech at the Student Union Building Tuesday night. "We have totally unrealistic expectations of what we should look like," Thompson said. "We see these fake, airbrushed women in magazines and think that's beautiful. It's not beautiful – it's fake." Thompson said the fashion industry causes impractical expectations of beauty by enforcing extreme restrictions on what is considered beautiful. "Designers use girls who haven't gone through puberty so they will be skinny enough," said Thompson, shaking her head. "One designer said 'I don't want my models to be anorexic. I just want them to look like they're anorexic.'" The average woman's size for the United States is 14. The average plus-size model in the fashion industry is a six, Thompson said. "When a size six is considered plus-size," Thompson said, "you know something is wrong. Today, anyone who looks at a magazine or watches commercials is influenced by these unrealistic conventions of beauty." Thompson said the pressure from the fashion industry leads almost all models to eating disorders, and the more disturbing fact is that it leads fashion consumers to eating disorders. According to the South Carolina Department of Mental Health's website, the average age when girls begin dieting in the United States is 8 years old, and some women are beginning to dilute breast milk with water to prevent babies from becoming fat. The most shocking statistic is 80 percent of 10-year-old girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of a parent dying, getting cancer or nuclear war, Thompson said. This trend of unhealthy eating among young girls led Thompson to be on "America's Next Top Model." "I was so repulsed and disgusted with the fashion industry," said Thompson, who was allowed half a can of tuna and an apple each day when she was a regular model. "But I had to spread the message that there is no one definition of beauty, and since then I have spread my message all over the world." Since "America's Next Top Model," Thompson has become the spokesperson for the National Eating Disorders Association and a role model for girls all over the world by promoting positive body image, despite size. "If your boyfriend thinks you need breast implants, you don't need breast implants. You need a new boyfriend," Thompson said as the crowd applauded and cheered. Ariana Dominguez, a freshman from El Paso, said she came to hear Thompson speak because she wanted a confidence boost and some inspiration. "I've never watched 'America's Next Top Model,'" Dominguez said. "I had no idea who Whitney Thompson was, but I'm really glad I came." Dominguez said she was amazed at the statistics of eating disorders among young women and the fact that girls began modeling at 14 years old. "The biggest thing I took away tonight is her quote that beautiful is not a size," Dominguez said. "It's not an age and it's not a procedure." Katie Farmer, the nightlife coordinator for the Tech Activities Board, said a lot of college students have poor body image and invited Thompson to speak because she believed Thompson would entertain, educate and motivate the audience. "We're constantly comparing ourselves to models and airbrushed celebrities," Farmer said. "These people's lives are literally revolved around looking perfect. I believe that learning to love our bodies and love ourselves is important, despite what society tells us." Farmer said most people feel singled out from what society instructs us to look like. She said Thompson has experience being singled out as the only plus-size model and hopes Thompson can share her advice on overcoming adversity. Janae Pyle, a sophomore biology major from Muleshoe, came to see Thompson speak because she loves "America's Next Top Model" and enjoyed watching Thompson, specifically. "I came out knowing that beauty is not a shape or a size," Thompson said. "It's being healthy. Her speech was really motivating and really funny." While Thompson focused her lecture on body-image issues, she kept the audience laughing with her descriptions of her experience on "America's Next Top Model." "After they dyed my hair," Thompson said, "I looked in a mirror and thought, 'Great, I look like Barbie – big Barbie." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2010 04:56 AM PDT AMSTERDAM (AP) — Consumer products maker Unilever NV said Monday it has agreed to buy Alberto Culver Co., the U.S. maker of beauty products such as TRESemme, VO5 and Noxzema, for $3.7 billion in a management-backed deal. Unilever, which makes Dove soaps, Degree deodorants and Suave shampoos, said it will offer $37.50 per share for Alberto Culver, a 19 percent premium to its closing price in New York on Friday. The deal must be approved by regulators and Culver shareholders. Graham Jones, analyst at Panmure Gordon & Co., said the price was "on the high side" but he saw the buy as positive for Unilever. "It further skews Unilever to high growth, high margin personal care categories, gives a more rounded category presence in hair care and makes it global leader in hair conditioning, No. 2 in shampoo and No. 3 in styling," he said in a note Monday. Unilever Chief Executive Paul Polman said Culver will fit well with his company's current beauty range. "Personal care is a strategic category for Unilever and growing rapidly," Polman said in a statement. Although Unilever intends to grow mostly via its existing brands, "bolt-on acquisitions such as Culver supplement organic growth and add powerful new brands to our portfolio," Polman said. Culver also owns St. Ives skincare, Nexxus haircare, and it purchased British skincare company Simple Health & Beauty Ltd. last year. Unilever said it would use its scale and distribution prowess to promote Culver's brands more aggressively in their existing markets, and to introduce them to emerging markets. Unilever owns big beauty brands such as Dove, Vaseline, TIGI, Pond's and Axe, in addition to its food holdings including Ben & Jerry's ice creams and Lipton teas, and home care brands such as Surf and Sunlight. Last September it agreed to buy the soaps and personal care businesses of Sara Lee Corp. for $1.88 billion. The deal, which includes Europe's Sanex and Duschdas brands, still awaits regulatory approval. Polman said the Culver deal would add to Unilever's per-share earnings in the first year. Unilever, with dual headquarters in London and Rotterdam, Netherlands, is the world's third-largest maker of consumer products behind Procter & Gamble and Nestle. Alberto Culver, based in Melrose Park, Illinois, has a market capitalization of about $3.1 billion based on Friday's closing stock price of $31.48. Unilever shares were up 2 percent to euro22.28 ($29.88) in early trading in Amsterdam. Analyst Jeremy Batstone-Carr of Charles Stanley research said the buy would increase competitive pressure on P&G in the U.S., where it owns the rival Pantene, Herbal Essences, Head & Shoulders and Clairol brands. Batstone-Carr said the quality of the deal for Unilever would depend on how much cost-savings it can wring out of Culver. "Were Unilever to derive savings on the order of 10 percent of sales, this could add in excess of 3 percent to existing earnings per share estimates," he said in a note on the deal. He rates shares "Accumulate." Alberto Culver generated sales of around $1.6 billion and operating earnings of around $250 million for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2010, Unilever said. Unilever's personal care products became its largest unit in the second quarter, accounting for 30 percent of revenues. Recent strong performers include Degree deodorants in the U.S., Dove in Brazil and Rexona in Japan. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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