Back in January, FMS reported on the use of muscular Jelena Abbou in a MAC cosmetics advertising campaign (see Muscle and Madmen). We hoped that this campaign would be the first of many. Well, now, in Britain, our wish has come true.
Sort of.
It's not exactly the kind of glamorous campaign that was created for MAC, but advertising company BBH has used bodybuilders (male and female, the females being Rene Campbell and Tamara Makar) in a series of TV and print ads for the orange soft drink Tango.
There's been enough negativity about the ads from the bodybuilding community for Rene to feel the need to defend her participation on her blog. I don't see that there is any harm in them at all, she writes. They are meant to be "HUMOROUS"!!!. They are not meant to demean the bodybuilding community... I see it as a good thing - getting bodybuilding into the public eye. Life is way too serious - people need to chill out and lighten up a little.
And while Rene was screaming on UK TV screens, Hungarian-born Tamara Makar, who is the reigning NAC Miss World, greeted readers of Britain's best-selling 'newspaper', The Sun, on 8th June.
Tamara at the NAC Worlds 2012, and in the Tango ad
[Tamara] is hoping the publicity will be good for both the sport of female bodybuilding and her own career, reported Real Female Bodybuilding.
Mmmm. Tango have always gone for the kind of advertising that gets people talking, so I can see the attraction for them. And for Rene and Tamara too, exposure, contacts, money... Why not do it? They are not responsible for the perception of female bodybuilders by the general public, and if they'd said no I'm sure the advertisers would have found two other female bodybuilders who would have said yes. Anyway, don't they say that no publicity is bad publicity?
But, like I said, not EXACTLY what I'd hoped for.
DEAR COLEEN,
The following cry for help appeared in The Mirror back in May, accompanied with the pic of Brenda Smith below:
Dear Coleen,
I have a problem that might seem trivial, but it is depressing me. I have always been attracted to athletic, sporty women, but recently my tastes have become extreme, to the point where I only like female bodybuilders. I realise I’m not alone and there are websites devoted to fans of female muscle, but extremely muscular women are not in abundance, and my chances of finding a partner I fancy are small. How can I stop myself fancing these types of women?
'Coleen' is Coleeen Nolan, of The Nolan Sisters, a family (and family-friendly) pop group from the 80s. These days Coleen is more famous for dishing out advice on TV as well as for this national newspaper, which is second only to The Sun in terms of circulation.
Now the predicament described is a familiar one to many a British female muscle fan, and I dare say a familiar one to the majority of female muscle fans around the world.
Coleen's response is not to tell the writer to seek professional help, nor to explore the possibility that he may be gay. In fact, there is not even the slightest intimation that there is something 'wrong' with the writer at all - other than that he might be giving up too easily!
Most people, she points out, never meet their ideal man or woman anyway, whatever that ideal may be. And even if you do, there's no guarantee there will be any chemistry between you. And then she goes on to say, It sounds to me as if you haven’t tried very hard to find your dream woman. Go to bodybuilding competitions as a spectator, join a gym and get involved so you can meet like-minded people.
Seriously, I'm sceptical whether the letter to Coleen was real or just made up by one of the paper's staff writers. And I'm sceptical whether it is actually Coleen Nolan who writes the replies. Nevertheless, it seems kind of amazing that the 'problem' so many of us have struggled, or indeed are struggling with, should be acknowledged in this way, and dealt with as matter-of-factly as any other issue that might appear in that column.
Isn't that refreshing? (Unlike Tango!)
AND FINALLY...
Not exactly female muscle, but I did just want to say well done to everyone in Britain who rounded on BBC TV presenter John Inverdale for his idiotic comments about new Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli.
For those not up to speed on the story, Inverdale, the main man for BBC Sport these days, has been rightly pilloried for mocking the French tennis star's looks before she took to the court for the final against Sabine Lisicki earlier this month. The BBC received over 600 complaints almost immediately, with the number rising into the thousands within a few days. Despite grovelling apologies from both Inverdale and the BBC, it's actually got to the stage now where the BBC's Director General is having to explain to a government minister why the presenter still has a job.
The really great thing about a lot of the complaints and comments that have been made is that so many of them use the words 'strong' and 'beautiful' or 'strong' and 'sexy' in the same sentence. And that's exactly what FMS feels about Marion, and about a lot of other women that men like Inverdale would ridicule, women in all kinds of sports.
Meanwhile, Bartoli showed that it's not only on the tennis court that she has class. I invite this journalist to come and see me this evening in ball gown and heels, she said, referring to the annual 'Winner's Ball' after the men's final on the second Sunday of the tournament. In my opinion he could change his mind.
More FBB UK tomorrow!
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