For a long time, the
slogan used by the
Barbizon modelling
agency/
academy. Their
ads were a fixture in the
Teen Magazines of my (pre-
Sassy) youth. It took quite a while before the '
models' featured in these ads were anything but
young, skinny, and blond (have you ever noticed that Barbizon sounds like
Barbie?). In later years, they had a variety of different hair and skin colors - though they were still
young and
skinny. It was always humorous to read the '
it happened to me' type stories of
teenage girls who had been taken in by
dubious '
modelling agencies' and gotten
ripped off, then notice the Barbizon ad staring you down on the side of the page.
Thankfully,
society has evolved a little since then and
the next generation of these ads are now generally juxtaposed against articles on how you should
love your body and
accept yourself. This is reinforced by the
idolization of such
positive, talented teen role models as
Britney Spears,
Christina Aguilera, and
Mandy Moore. Indeed, it seems that the day people quit
preying on the
self-doubt of
little girls will soon be upon us.
ha!