In the media world, celebrities are used relentlessly to market products, programs, and services within the health and wellness industry. Sure, from a business perspective this makes sense: celebrities are highly recognized and as spokespeople, they drive higher awareness than the average Joe. It amazes me, however, how the media focuses in on celebrity “body parts” as a way to sell. The one that most recently had me baffled was, “Get Michelle Obama’s Sculpted Arms.” I find this absurd. Honestly, why do you need the First Lady’s arms? For that matter, why do you need anyone’s arms? Why wouldn’t you want your own arms sculpted?
Yes, I admit I take issue with society putting continual and undue pressure on us to look like celebrities. The world does not need two, three, or four Gwyneth Paltrows. The world doesn’t need five Matthew McConaugheys. What the world needs, however, are people who are secure with themselves, happy to be who they are and healthy because of how they live their own lives.
But, this idealistic philosophy doesn’t always “take” with the public, does it? No, instead, many of us feed right into this self-deprecating behavior of yearning to look like the people on the cover of magazines and finding flaws with who we are and how we look. I say—enough already. Stop obsessing about looking like these people and here is why:
1. What You See Isn’t What You Get
If you didn’t know this already, most of the photos you see of any celebrity are airbrushed. Airbrushing gives pictures that beautiful flawless look. If you were to see a normal, every day picture of a celebrity, trust me, they wouldn’t look nearly as perfect. Is a matter of fact, most tabloid photos (Enquirer, Star, USWeekly, etc.) aren’t air brushed and notice, many of them are not very flattering to the victim of the photograph.
2. Photogenic Doesn’t mean Beautiful
There are people who take great photographs. There are people who don’t. Most interestingly, however, is that there are mediocre, average looking people who take great photographs and there are absolutely stunningly beautiful people who take terrible pictures. So guess what, a photograph isn’t always indicative of how a person really looks in real life.
