Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Beauty and Success

I have lived all my life with a misconception! I had always thought that women of my generation had not made the sort of mark they could have made because Society was not supportive. How wrong I was!

How could the Air hostesses of my time have had their careers zooming up without the help of ‘Ariel Oxy-Blue’? How could they succeed in the corporate world without the priceless help of ‘Fair and Lovely’? How could a career woman balance Work and Parenting without Clinic Shampoos? What a deprived lot women of my generation were, being denied these invaluable aids to a successful career!

The language of beauty aids has changed from being a necessary adjunct for women to captivate men to being necessary for their corporate success. Men, however, have now become the target for beautifying to attract women. A stupendous turning of the tables indeed!

This quest for linking successful women to beauty aids can be carried too far, however. Santoor may keep the pretty choreographer mother looking young but for Madhavan to be so ignorant of his own field that he does not even recognize an award-winning choreographer seems to be carrying things a bit too far. The hairstylist, worthy of being a cover page story, who is so ignorant of other fashion aids like an Anti-marks cream must have an Arjun-like fixation on hair to the exclusion of everything else! It might have been better to have the success in a different field in order to ensure that these characters do not look like total nerds, but who knows what compels the ad-makers to stick to this sort of formula.

Be that as it may, for ads to be selling to successful women or selling success to women is a welcome change. Because they are worth it!

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