Fun With Glow Magazine, May 2009

So, along with my Shoppers Optimum Card (oh yes, I love this thing), I also subscribed to Glow magazine. It's a lot more consumerist than the Malaysian Cleo magazine which I used to read when I was younger, top-heavy with stuff to buy, but I like knowing what's on the market for makeup.

The other thing I like to do with this? Is count how many PoC are in it. Oh yes. In a country that purports to be racially-diverse, and there are many promotional material actually feature people of colour? Just the other day I was struck by a pamphlet which had an Asian family right in the front. This was striking not because I'm also Asian, but because it's not exactly commonplace in fashion magazines. I cut Canada slack, but not too much.

Along the way, I'll also judge the articles and the images accompanying them and so on so forth. It'll be fun!

Front cover: white girl.
White
White
White
White
White (but possibly mixed)
White
White

LIPSTICK! Yeah, because we so want free lipstick faster.

Possibly mixed
Aw, little girl! White.
White, white
Brown-skinned.
White with weirdly photoshopped bronzed skin.
WoC? Hmmmm
White white white white -
Mixed?? She definitely looks mixed. Huh, what's a peekaboo braid? Oh, that thing on top of her head. Cute.
White

WoC who could pass as white.
Oooooh, Smashbox coupons for extra Optimum points. And stuff I might actually buy.

JENNIFER HUDSON! And we are, of course, talking about her makeup. This IS a makeup magazine. Shut up, if it was a real woman's magazine we'd be talking about women more.

Escada has a pretty nice fashion photo-op, actually. White chick, but still.

OMG SHOEZ!
Makeup page (I like these pages because they don't show any people in them, just the product.)

White, white (with funky makeup that I might try!), white, white, white-person-with-no-head, legs.

Brown (mixed?), white, white, white (or passes as white)

Venus Embrace ad - black couple. And it's KYUTE. D'awww!! Racialicious covers a lot on the problem with black people being hyper-sexualized by the media (especially in America), so it's nice to see an ad which doesn't play into that. It's a sweet, quiet moment for the couple who seem really into each other. Nice.

Satin Care ad has a guy worshipping some woman's leg. I like it. YMMV. It plays into the idea that all women have to shave their legs, but whatevs.

3 pages of product placement.
White, products, white, white, a very white Liv Tyler (B+W image).

Article on perfume and choosing a scent. It's accompanied by what I must assume is perfume liquid, and it kinda looks like an ameba. I like it! Bottles, and Vichy with a white woman.
Products, 5 pages! Then a random NG photographer in an ad for transition glasses.

WoC!
Woc, white, WoC in a "What's happening in Birth Control" ad.
White, white, white, white and white, nicely air-brushed chick in an article about curve appeal.

And you know, if you're going to have an article which talks about how "healthy doesn't look the same on all of us" you could at the very least sport some pictures of women who DON'T fit the conventional ideal of health. And yes, there are some minor curves on that gal featured in the article about curves, but I have bigger boobs and a bigger ass. Nice article, though, so a decent try.

White, white, white.

Ad: buncha stressed-looking, sweaty guys (nice mix) in gray suits while a white chick stands in the middle looking cool. Lady Speed Stick, if only you WORKED.

WEIRD BIZARRELY ORIENTALIST SPLASHY AD FOR Got2B Smooth Operator products.

Now, I love Schwarzkopf products, I DO! I use that orange shampoo and conditioner A LOT the time! I wander off and try others, but I always come back to it. But MAN this is a weird ad -two brown guys, one holding a plate of... I don't know, the other's holding flower garlands. One brunette on a pedestal in the lotus position. One blond chick sitting on the floor with - ok, wtf am I looking at - and everything's peach and pink and gold. There's a BUNNY underneath the pedestal. WHAT AM I LOOKING AT? The Goddess of Touch? WTF is she touching? It certainly looks luxuriant, but it's clearly drawn from Eastern influences, not peculiarly Western at all. What gives?

Cartoon people for a Kotex ad. And FFS, nobody actually sleeps like that, their legs jammed together, when they're on their period. Who the fuck drew this shit?

More hair-hating from Schick Quarttro. Interesting concept design, though!

OHO. Nice. "Contraception? Lucks got nothing to do with it." HA! The pic is a guy's back with obviously woman's hands wrapped around from front. I just noticed her right hand has crossed fingers. Clever caption. Ad for sexualityandu.ca

OMG HANDBAG.

White, white, oooooh, fitness article, featuring a white woman who's slightly (oh only so slightly) chunkier/stockier than the usual).

L'oreal with that possibly-mixed-but-could-pass-as-white woman.

FUCKING HARAJUKU DOLLS FRAGRANCE AD WITH A WHITE WOMAN KJAHFKLEVQ NKEMFDNGB

Ovol Gas ad with three WoC.

Sketchers full pager - white, white, white, white, white, possibly mixed-Asian.
White, white, white, white

STACY LONDON! Zero Woolite ad. I love Stacy London! So I'll give this a pass.

White white white white, white. And we're into the fashionable clothing section now, so here goes:
whte white white white white white (OH SHIT IT'S THE SAME GIRL NOW I UNDERSTAND)

Babies. White white white.
White mom and kid. White family.

GoodNites Boxers. Ooooh. This is different. Brown teen(?) boy sitting next to the bed of a younger boy, and they're reading a book. Kinda weird with the toucan and lemur and elephant and odd pyramid in the background (where is that from? I can't tell anymore). So, oddly Orientalist again, but still, lovely effort. It's great that this sort of image is around. We should have more like this.

More hair-hating from Schick Intuition. Still, again, interesting concept design.

White kid, white with emo hair.

Women of Influence page!
White, white, WoC. Nice.

Flare ad - passes as white, if she's mixed.

White, white.


Thanks for joining me in my critique of May's Glow Magazine. See you next time!!

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