You all know I'm a live-and-let-live kind of person, so I surprise myself sometimes with my visceral reaction against breast implants, liposuction, facelifts, and other types of elective surgery. It's not only that I don't think they're safe, or that their cost could feed a small village for a year, or even the standard feminist argument against them. There might be a teeny bit of "you-didn't-earn-that-body-by-slaving-away-in-a-hot-gym" to it all.
I was dismayed to see that the Sun-Maid Raisin girl apparently had a body overhaul in her recent reconception. Here's what she looked like before, beautiful, natural and wholesome, as any good raisin should be:
And here's the new version. The new ad campaign has this techy over-animated girl cavorting through vineyards, doing yoga, shopping at the market -- and speaking several languages, since Sun-Maid has a large export business. Not to mention she plucks her eyebrows.
I don't like it. I hate that a woman can't have a wide marketing appeal without Barbie-sized breasts and an artificially tiny waist. I hate that the "in thing" for upscale Mormon suburbanites is elective surgery.
Isn't that weird? I'm just as apt to show my cleavage as the next garment-wearing woman. I'm not that into "modesty" as defined by the unofficial LDS police (no flashing of thighs, breasts, shoulders or armpits). But here I am cattily snarking the new Ms. Sun-Maid and Ms. Silicone Ridge, Utah. Am I just jealous? Am I afraid their sauciness will show me up as a frumpy, middle-aged matron?
October, now with 40% boos
1 week ago
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11 comments:
It looks to me like rather than paying a real designer to update the SunMaid Raisin girl, they used an off-the-shelf computer wireframe model, so she could be cheaply animated in a series of commercials.
She's got 2009 eyebrows not because someone chose them on purpose, but because someone didn't think about it.
She looks like Barbie because it's the same cheap animation used in all those Barbie fairytale animated movies.
I think she just got a better, more supportive bra...you know..the lift and separate kind.
I guess they were trying to make the Sun-Maid more relevant by digitizing her -- this particular rendition is actually conservative compared to most animated females
At least she still has her cool red sun bonnet!
Johnna, you put your finger on what bothers me most about her--she looks like a cheap computer animation! Like Eric says, she's not that sexy for a digital image, but I don't expect a digital image to be selling me raisins. Sunbonnet or not.
And Molly, could you tell me where I can get one of those?
I don't think it was by accident, this seems to be a purposeful marketing strategy...didn't you notice the shape of the grape bunch she's holding up? :)
Every time I look at these pictures I get more bent out of shape. My latest annoyance: If they were going to update her image, why did they change the body shape but keep the red bonnet? It looks fine on the old-fashioned image, but on the new girl it looks plain WEIRD!! How long has it been since anyone wore a bonnet like that?
The new one looks looks kind scary, with that excessive grin, and the nuclear missile warheads for breasts.
She kinda reminds me of the scary toy soldiers in Santa Clause 2.
Definitely give me the old Sunmaid girl.
ahh so the new Sunmaid girl is "cheap" "not that sexy" and has no fashion sense.... lol who cares... it's just raisins...
Maybe she just had a baby and she is breastfeeding. That's what happened to me.
Hey, I want nuclear missile warheads for breasts too!
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