ecosexism – EcoSalon

Walmart and Geo Girl: Growing Up Is for Keeps

Sara Ost — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 23:13:15 +0000

Forget Generation Y. Marketers are on to an even more valuable group: Generation Z. Eight to twelve year old girls represent a $2 billion market that is totes untapped. In the great American spirit of seizing every opportunity because it’s there, a company named Pacific World Brand has partnered with Walmart to bring us a new cosmetics line for tweens called Geo Girl, launching in March. This isn’t bubblegum flavored lip balm. This is mascara, blush, lipstick, the works. The product line’s 69 offerings even include anti-aging products like antioxidant-loaded exfoliants for extra smooth and healthy skin, which is impressive because I don’t even use anti-aging products.

The big sell is that Geo Girl is an eco-friendly and therefore healthy brand for children who just happen to wear makeup. Unlike other real makeup that may irritate babyfat with regular use, Geo Girl is real makeup that won’t irritate anything except people with a moral compass. Market research shows that Generation Z girls are very ecologically attuned, and to that end, the products contain no sulfates, pthalates or parabens, and packaging is recyclable. Given the Geo Girl market potential which I had no idea existed until now, they’ll want to consider viable brand extension possibilities early: a bioplastic faux Botox syringe or perhaps diet yogurt calcium chews. If there’s one thing, okay two, the modern woman needs, it’s botulism and milk food.

The initial reactions are largely negative. Bloggers are decrying the wholesale commercial theft of that once-wholesome pastime known as playing with Mommy’s lipstick, offended by a brand that would so blithely encourage little girls to think about their outsides rather than their insides, namely, their hearts and minds. A few green publications, most notably the highly respected Triple Pundit (“Walmart’s Geo Girl: Eco-friendly Cosmetics for 8- to 12-year-olds”), have criticized the brand and pending launch as inappropriate.

The executive vice president behind the company, Joel Carden, believes that these eco-friendly products are perfect for grooming a “new beauty consumer.” Or to put it in textual tween terms favored by Geo Girl branding, BFF 4VR! Carden explains the cosmetics are ideal for young children who use makeup but want a natural option. Oh, of course.

Though the thought of second grade girls twirling mascara wands together to look their very best for story time may be disturbing, I’m not so sure a prepubescent dusting of blush automatically means we’re consigning a generation of nymphets. After all, we encourage little girls to play with baby dolls that cry and coo. We give them Easy Bake ovens by Hasbro. The number one girl’s toy is still the impossibly curvaceous Barbie doll, which Mattel has considered appropriate these many decades for children as young as five despite being based upon a German sex toy and also not having the capacity for internal organs were she real.

Really, what’s the big deal with a little lip gloss? The colorways are very sheer, the company tells us.

The conventional female consumer so desired by American marketers is the product of a society that teaches its girls from a very impressionable age to be thin, pretty, and eternally youthful. The modern Stepford must not only be fashionable and friendly, she should think about the planet once in a while, too. She should have at least one child, maintain a beautiful home, land herself a handsome husband with whom to procreate by 35 and, though it nearly goes without saying, achieve financial success. The ideal woman looks good, acts good, lives good and gives good. In other words, she’s perfect, and you know what they say about that: It takes practice.

So you might say Geo Girl is doing girls a favor by starting them young. For the nine-year-old role-playing mommy to her plastic infant, or whipping up a whole-grain pasta primavera in the Fisher-Price kitchen for her imagined hungry hubby, she may as well learn how to stay young while she’s still young by getting into the exfoliating habit today.

But what does Geo Girl think? After skimming the outraged reactions on a few blogs, I called Carden to make sure he really did say what’s being attributed to him. I argued with the assistant – Just five minutes! Just a few questions! – who at first insisted on passing me off to the public relations agency, then placed me on hold, and even asked me if I would call Walmart instead. Finally, after another bout on hold, she said she had been given permission to let me access his voicemail.

I left a message indicating that given how quickly an online echo chamber can develop around a story, I wanted to provide a fair opportunity for the man behind the product to speak about the issue. Executives usually avoid speaking directly to the press, of course (it can be disastrous). I’m not holding my breath.

Steering youngsters in the direction of eco-friendly personal care is commendable; for the average 13-year-old encountering the dreaded first pimple, parents should know there are healthy, organic options available these days. But makeup for a girl of eight? That’s a whole other can of hairspray.

My questions for Carden, by the way:

1. Why develop such a line? As executive vice president of marketing and sales for Geo Girl, what was your specific role in this?

2. Since Geo Girl products are expanding single use products into a new target demographic, how are they defensibly green? Are there significant non-eco-friendly competitors in your market?

3. How concerned are you about the feedback so far in the media?

4. Is there clinical evidence to suggest that eight-year-old skin benefits from regular exfoliation?

5. What kind of relevance does children wearing cosmetics have to the frequent cultural complaint that children, especially girls, are being sexualized at far too young an age?

Joel, I invite you to respond. Between us, I really wish you’d just give a girl a call.

Image: Kaunokainen

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Top 11 Hottest Topics of 2010 from EcoSalon

Kim Derby — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 22:14:29 +0000

If you are well acquainted with EcoSalon, you know we don’t shy away from controversial issues. In fact, we welcome them. Rarely is there one right answer, and remaining open-minded in the face of difficult discussions is what EcoSalon strives to achieve.

And 2010 was no exception. It was indeed a stellar year for serious and many-sided environmental discussions. We hope you enjoyed the controversy, I mean year, as much as we did!

Here’s our greatest hits list for 2010:

GINK (Green Inclinations, No Kids) – Want to help the environment? Stop procreating. Turns out, going childless is the greenest choice of all. GINK describes women who decide not to have kids for any number of reasons, but mainly they consider the childless choice a huge gain for the environment. And furthermore, did you know that women can find peace, contentment and even happiness sans baby? Amazing!

Gulf Series – The BP Oil spill last April was tragic and terrifying to witness from afar, but when one of our writers traveled to the Gulf of Mexico and reported back, we got much more than we bargained for, including the devastating details of the aftermath and cleanup.

Gyre Series – Plastic pollution is collecting in the earth’s waters. It’s a catastrophic problem and one that we followed first hand (well, almost) while sailing the South Atlantic Gyre. Actually, Stiv Wilson, one of our editors, went on the adventure and yes, he lived to tell us all about it. In fact, the saga continues.

Politics versus Science – It was a big year for politics and science, with solar panels reappearing on the White House, emails leaking with twisted facts and figures, and a newly elected Republican Congress and the resurgence of climate change denial. One battle after another. We faced the Global Warming deniers and naysayers but in the end it seems, Americans still trust science. Phew!

Fur? Leather? Vegan? Oh yes! – Debate and controversy ran rampant in the fashion arena this year, and no one came out wrong. The fur versus leather discussion continued, while vegans consistently said no to anything animal. But if anything artificial and man-made only adds to the mess we’re in, why not wear fur? So many questions, all sorts of answers. In the end it comes down to personal preference and hopefully, an earnest attempt to pay attention to the planet.

Gender & Sexism – 2010 was also a big year for the ladies, or wait – is it gals or women or dames? It was a big year, as in, we’re still not making as much, still being asked why we’re not married and having babies, and still can’t be both smart and pretty. Further complicating the matter, green itself has been accused of sexism! How’s that for progress, eh?

Apple – One of the most anticipated events of the year was the launch of the iPad. We also saw a plethora of eco-friendly iPhone covers, and others made of rosewood, plants and bamboo. But no matter how green our gadgets, will we always wonder whether we can live without them? Yep, probably.

Food Revolution – 2010 saw schools saying adios to junk food (and Sara Palin getting mad about it), urbanites saying yes to farming, and more discussion about the problem that is the global food system. In other news – the concept of being a foodie rose in our consciousness this year, as people became increasingly fascinated with culinary culture and great cuisine. From food carts to all things pork to urban wineries, the foodie has arrived – your table is ready!

Electric Cars – It was a year to remember for the electric car. With the new EPA fuel efficiency labels meaning business, car manufacturers did the same. It seems everyone who’s anyone had an entry into the electric lineup – Mercedes and BMW, the Nissan Leaf (which was already sold out in the U.S. by July) and the Chevy Volt. And it appears we’ll be seeing more charging stations in the next year as well. Good thing!

Gorgeous Green Living – 2010 was full of talk about prefab, small spaces and McMansions, but EcoSalon saw a subtler, deeper theme at play: how green, vintage and good taste combine to make gorgeous living. We immersed ourselves in all areas of art and design and garnered loads of green lessons from what we found. We researched and scoured the web to bring you design insights, ideas and inspiration. Because in these not-so-stable times – when we can control our spaces, our immediate surroundings, but not much else – a visceral dose of art and color and gorgeous is oh-so-wonderful.

and last, but definitely not least…

We decided that Green Needs to Grow Up – It cannot be coddled nor supported uncritically. We owe it to ourselves and our future generations to insist upon good standards and good products in green. So when things like deodorant and amusement parks announce they are green all over, we investigate. We’re tired of greenwashing and false advertising, and you should be, too.

Images: Deepwater Horizon Response, kevindooley, Stiv Wilson, NASA Goddard Photo and Video, jessjamesjake, xjyxjy, Robert Scoble, bokchoi-snowpea, Lisa Cohen (via Living Inside), CoCreatr.

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Sex Still Sells – Sells What, Exactly?

Sara Ost — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 22:59:55 +0000

Sexism sure makes for strange bedfellows. Early this morning, one of my editors sent me a link to the new Renewable Girls calendar, along with a link to commentary posted on Ms. Magazine’s blog. The “environmental” 2011 calendar uses sexually provocative images of female models – complete with throwback Mad Men copy and props like aprons and bananas – to promote solar panels. The various posts from the blogosphere thus far are mocking, outraged, and most notably, confused. Is this a case of sex sells? Or a case of ironic sex sells? Or a case of justified sex sells? Or how about a case of tongue-in-cheek sex sells? Like, sexism is so empowering when it’s green!

It’s not inflatable. It’s renewable.

Let’s not greenwash it: sex. always. sells. Confusion is a gleaming hall pass for these marketers.

It’s hard for us gals to keep doing what we think is important when our supposed allies hate us (and themselves – I’m talking to you, Newkirk). Is it exaggeration to use the word “hate”? I don’t believe so. Just because it comes wrapped in some shiny Shinola about progress doesn’t make it acceptable. A rose by any other name, as it were.

Speaking of misogyny in marketing, here’s the latest advertising campaign from Bebe, that polyester brand of sexualized striving and low self-esteem, as featured in September’s InStyle magazine. (InStyle is among the most popular American women’s magazines.)

Hours after spotting this image, I was still upset, so I hunted down the email of the head honcho of marketing for Bebe, Sandra Alvarenga, and fired off a letter. If you look at Alvarenga’s LinkedIn profile, it appears she’s never worked for any company but Bebe, starting as a shop clerk and working her way up through production, then executive assistance, then advertising, and finally to the top of the heap of corporate marketing. If you’ve wondered what’s been up with the Bebe business over the last decade or two, now you know.

She never responded, of course. The gist of my “barnyard Lolita” letter I’ll include here:

I feel compelled to express that I believe your company has crossed a line with the image of an extremely under-age looking girl with gooped-up, wide red lips, her eyes hollow, her expression resigned, her tiny body spread-eagled and strategically covered, in a barn of all things. She is an object, nothing more, and the staging and design of the shoot clearly mean to convey this. Working in new media I see my fair share of crass content, yet I cannot shake the sick feeling this ad gives me. I’m embarrassed for bebe and whatever equally cynical agency helped you with this campaign. And, as a woman, I’m saddened to discover the person behind this is a woman herself.

Experiment: If I rip out a PETA page, toss in the Bebe ad, take a screencap from Renewable Girls, and scan ’em all together, I am willing to bet that a good male friend who’s a media executive, much less my twentysomething brother, won’t be able to spot the difference. Only, this is kind of an unfair experiment because I’ve already conducted it, and you can guess what happens.

Hey, sex sells. And I don’t think that’s inherently a bad thing – it’s a pretty natural thing. I’m not one to complain about a shirtless James Franco for Gucci cologne ad. But sex in the context of contempt is degrading to everyone. (Renewable Girls, you see, “tend to go for the bling. Be it on their finger or on their roof. So if you’re going to please her with panels, you have to make sure the price is right.”) Success at any cost sure feels a lot like something else that’s not so polite to talk about. At what price green?

This is the problem with a culture that continues to worship at the philosophical altar of The Ends Justify the Means. You cannot beat hatred with hatred. You cannot end abuse with abuse. You cannot wage war on violence with more violence. And you cannot create a culture of sustainability – what we alternately call, depending on the decade, peace, love, or prosperity – by flashing about as the other side of the same damn coin.

PETA’s notorious campaigns featuring nudity in the crusade for animal rights have been covered and criticized ad infinitum. The organization is the Sarah Palin of activism: savvy, desperate, focused, insane. The problem with PETA’s campaigns isn’t that sexy pictures of women are automatically offensive. (Hey, saying that would just be sexism of another kind.) The problem is that this strategy so enthusiastically seeks defeat. Objectifying creatures – in this case, women – for some purported noble end isn’t ironic and clever. It isn’t even cynical and clever. It’s exactly the same thing as the problem itself. If it looks derivative, or self-loathing, or sad, that’s because it is.

Welcome to the era of ecosexism.

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