Tomorrow, activists will participate in the first national  Love Your Body Day.  It is a day of action to speak out against ads and images of women that are offensive, dangerous and disrespectful.

"We are sounding the alarm that advertising can be hazardous to women's health," said NOW Foundation President Patricia Ireland. "On Love Your Body Day, women across the country will celebrate our bodies and reject unhealthy stereotypes.  We will also put advertisers on notice:  Stop profiting from campaigns and products that are bad for women," Ireland said.  Ireland will join New York City NOW activists at a "Feed the Models" protest in Times Square at noon on Friday.

NOW Foundation's Vice President Education Elizabeth Toledo will join Virginia NOW activists at a protest in front of the Phillip Morris headquarters.  "We're going to tell Phillip Morris to stop using our butts to sell theirs!  We will not stand-by while tobacco companies target women with their ads," Toledo said.

The impact of the relentless number of images which create an unhealthy and unrealistic portrayal of women can be deadly.  Since the onslaught of tobacco advertising that links liberation with smoking ("You've come a long way baby") and thinness with cigarettes ("Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet"), lung cancer now surpasses breast cancer as the number one cancer-killer of women.  Despite the fact that alcohol is present in 50% of batterings and 75% of acquaintance rapes, its advertisers continue to use themes of violence against women and objectification in their campaigns ("Hit me with a club").  Today's average model weighs 23% less than the average woman (20 years ago the differential was only 8%), and seven million women and girls have eating disorders.

The NOW Foundation distributed nearly 1000 Love Your Body Day organizing kits to activists across the country.  This day of action is part of the NOW Foundation's Women's Health Project.
 

Link to this release at http://www.now.org/press/09-98/09-24-98-2.html
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