fattartsrock wrote: I can't believe what a bunch of nanas we have on here!! No wonder people aren't open about it when they have it done. There are plastic surgery ads and even columns in the magazines we read, the body beautiful image is out there everywhere. We should be helping our own self esteem and that of our daughters, not relying on others to do so, and certainly not "blaming" magazines, websites etc for poor self image etc.

I think we all agree that we have to help our own self-estreem, but I also dont think that at some point  businesses need to start going against the grain of conventional advertising - look at Dove and their use of women that would not be classed as perfect by the rest of the advertising world. I just think its time that more companies were getting brave and saying "its alright to have wobbly bits, its alright to have wrinkles, its alright to have grey hair....you are still beautiful".

However, I also think that human nature will always make us want to look better than we do...but I think its about making the expectations and goals REALISTIC ones, and not airbrushed ones.

We are all sensible enough to understand that OB is a business, and selling advertising space to a target audience is a great way of generating revenue, however I do think that its a little naive to think that people are not going to react to it when placed in such a prominent position - whether they be positive or negative reactions.

I personally have an issue, given that we are constantly bombarded with images of the perfect body. I guess I feel that this is just another reminder of the pressure to "conform" to a post baby body ideal....that for most of us is unrealistic without a lot of hard work.

 I am also a little disapointed that OB are buying into this social stigma, rather than adopting a "love your body, love yourself - even with all its flabby bits" attitude.

<sits back and waits to be flamed>

monikah wrote: why dont i have any ads? i never have had any ads that i know of but i really wanna see it. lol. my husband is a computer geek so i assume all ads are blocked on my PC. typical the one time i want ads

You probably have pop-ups blocked.

pepsi wrote: Good grief it's just an ad!! I'm not a small girl, but something like that certainly doesn't make me upset or depressed just cause it's there.. I am baffled as to why people are making such a big deal about it?

I was actually impressed at the improvement they made.  OK, we should all love our bodies.blah blah blah..but come on....most of us dont and would love to get rid of our flabby bits, droopy bits and stretchmarks. I know I would.  The one thing that gets me down about my body at the moment is the squishy flabby bit at the bottom of my bump that was left over from Tom.