Like Arnold said in "Kindergarten Cop", STOP WHINING!

The only reason I like to read the opinion section on MSNBC is so I can find fodder for blog posts. So, when I found this article titled "Dove body wash ad stirs controversy", I had to write my own little harangue.

Let me start by reiterating the title of this post: STOP WHINING.


People who think this ad is racist probably thrive on finding "racism" in everything. Heck, my sister-in-law, who is black, does this. When my husband tried to explain to her the difference between Yahtzee and Kismet, he said, "Well, the only difference is that Kismet has colored dice" and her head just about exploded. She didn't say anything, but the smoke pouring out of her ears made it clear that she was incensed (man, am I a master of punning, or what?).

The article quotes another source's criticism of the ad as "turning Black Women into Latino Women into White Women." Yeah, I'm sure Dove's intent was to piss you off. Darned elitist soap company, thinking that white women are the ideal form of beauty! Why not be happy that Dove actually uses models who have different skin tones? Most other ads for body care products use skinny white women, so it's refreshing to see something different.

I did find an interesting comment below this article, however. Someone mentioned that Unilever owns Dove. Not a big deal, until you consider Unilever also owns Axe. Dove promotes beauty in all shapes, sizes, colors, etc. and wants to change the way women are portrayed, while Axe pretty much suggests that if you use their products, hot skinny white women will fall from the sky and onto your penis. That's pretty slick marketing right there, people. Create a problem and pretend to fix it.

What this all boils down to is this: people need to lighten up. Oh snap, there's another pun. I'd better stop before I get myself in trouble.

This is old news

While looking for another video on CNN's Headline News website, I found one that wonders if Gabby Sidibe's skin was lightened for her appearance on the cover of Elle... indeed, where she takes up the ENTIRE cover, but that's a whole other topic for a whole other post. And before anyone comments about this, yes, I know this is from September 2010. I'm a pro at reporting old news.

In the video, they've got two light-skinned black women who are OUTRAGED that a black woman was taken from "mocha" to "cafe au lait" on the Elle cover. One of the women makes a reference to the "beiging" of Hollywood and that black women have been told they were "lucky because they were 'high yellow'". The only problem is, she's about as black as I am, a woman whose brother refers to her as a "skinny white girl". Certainly, her skin color shouldn't diminish what she has to say. But when she alludes to black getting through life better when they're beige -- ok, she's beige too.

All video-related comments aside, who is this woman and why does she grace one of four Elle covers for the month? The three other cover models are skinny white girls who most people have actually heard of. Having Sidibe on a cover almost seems like a joke -- like, "ha ha, let's put a fat black chick on here because we're like, super diverse and stuff. Wait, she's too black. We have to lighten her up first."

I dunno. I already forgot what video I had been looking for, so here's a picture of some weiner dogs: