Week 5 of Be Green

Blog 5
Magnolia Garcia


        First off, I have to confess that I made two separate purchases that go against our Be Green Challenge (without realizing it at that moment). The first was a pair of socks from Target; they have cute images and were only $1, which explains why I was too excited to think twice about what I was doing. The second purchase was my graduation stole, which was a little over $40. This however, was an inevitable purchase; with graduation ceremony being only three weeks away, I needed to buy my stole before the bookstore was all sold out (again) and in time for a graduation photoshoot with my closest friends.
        I spent the last two days wandering through the Arden Fair Mall and Westfield Galleria at Roseville with some friends who were making last-minute purchases for graduation outfits. Both of these malls are fairly large, and we managed to wander through most of both. Having already completed this week’s reading on Race and Beauty, it hit me that I should keep my eyes peeled for any and all advertisements around me. Admittedly, even after having learned that the U.S. advertisements feature Western models (99.0%) far more often than Asian models (1.0%) (Frith et al.), it was off-putting realizing that the plethora of advertisements surrounding me failed to include any Asian models. I guess I was more so disturbed by the fact that it was such a normal concept to me, that I hadn’t initially noticed the lack of representation.
        One of the advertisements I recall seeing is that of Cara Delevingne. I went ahead and looked into the project she was modeling for--a collaboration with TAG Heuer on the Carrera Ladies watches--and found that Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of TAG Heuer, stated, ‘[The campaign] shows Cara as powerful, courageous, audacious, and commanding of respect’ (Corder). While I appreciate that Cara was evidently made to look powerful with the addition of the lion in the background, why is the fierce animal in the background needed in order for her to appear to be “commanding respect”? Additionally, Cara Delevingne is already a renowned model; I personally think that it would be cool to see an upcoming model of a different race in front of that lion. Such a strong image would surely help a lesser known model to be remembered and appreciated.

Corder, Rob. “TAG Heuer Reveals Cara Delevingne Campaign Shot with South African Lions.”

        WatchPro, 8 May 2018, www.watchpro.com/tag-heuer-reveals-cara-delevingne-campaign-shot-

        south-african-lions/.

Frith, Cheng, and Shaw. “Race and Beauty: A Comparison of Asian and Western Models in Women’s

        Magazine Advertisements.”