Love Your Selfie!

It’s Love Your Selfie Week!   The expression "We are our own worst critic” is no more true than when it comes to body image.  Our appearance obsessed culture has displayed photoshopped models as images of “perfection” that create impossible comparisons for our youth to aspire towards.  This week, NBC’s TODAY show  will feature interviews with their own anchors as well as guests including Michelle Obama and Cameron Diaz, who will share their struggles with body image issues.

Young women are vulnerable to appearance, self-confidence, insecurity and self-esteem issues.    Fortunately, there are progressive companies that inspire us to embrace our own natural beauty. The first I can recall is the Dove Soap’s Real Women advertising campaign (2002), where plus sized models were featured.  

As written on Prophet.com  (http://www.prophet.com/blog/aakeronbrands/138-dove)  "Dove has been collaborating with Girl Scouts of the USA to promote self-esteem and leadership programming among tween and teenage girls with programs such as uniquely ME! and It's Your Story – Tell It! An annual Dove Self-Esteem Weekend, started in 2010, aims to inspire moms and mentors to talk to girls in their lives about beauty, confidence and self-esteem supported by discussion aids. The goal is to reach 15 million girls globally about self-esteem awareness by 2015."

Most recently, American Eagle’s lingeree line targeting girls aged 15-21 wants girls to see what girls their age really look like.  As written in Dailymail.com.uk  on Jan. 14, 2014  (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2541364/American-Eagle-ditches-Photoshop-new-non-airbrushed-lingerie-campaign-celebrates-REAL-beauty-blemishes-all.html)"American  Eagle is bucking the trend for digitally altered fashion images by launching a campaign with models who are completely non-airbrushed.For the new Aerie Real lingerie campaign, 'We left everything,' style and fit expert Jenny Altman told GMA. 'We left beauty marks, we left tattoos, what you see is really what you get with our campaign.'The brand hopes that its authentic representation of girls will help young customers embrace their own beauty, instead of striving for the impossible ideal often promoted by the fashion industry.”

So this week is a great week to embrace and appreciate our individual beauty and uniqueness.  In Support of The Today Show's "Love Your Selfie" Week, we are running a "Post Your Selfie" Campaign! This week,  let’s all celebrate each other’s candid, untouched smiles!  Share your smile selfies with us on Facebook!  For more information and to post your photo please visit 
https://www.facebook.com/BraceAce