A soap maker named Unilever is trying to start a debate about beauty in Poland. The back page of this weekend’s Gazeta Wyborcza is entirely given over to an advertis– sorry, a manifesto about “real beauty.” (Fair play to GW: it is clearly marked advertisement.) Straight away there is something suspiciously close to a tautology: “The canon of womanly beauty has for too long been shaped by the image (wizerunek) of emaciated models.” Thinness is the canon, a canon, which, I suspect, is shaped not by images or visions but by real people: designers, advertisers, manufacturers of beauty products and so forth. (One of the people featured in the “debate” on their website is a stylist and designer.)

But the most interesting thing about this odious document is its use and abuse of the simple little word “we.” The second sentence says women all over the world have been giving clear signals that they want a change. Furthermore, “A my je w tym popieramy” (And we support them in this ). Here, “we” (“my”) clearly means Unilever. (I say “clearly,” but actually the word “Unilever” does not appear anywhere in the adv– sorry, manifesto.) However, the advertesto continues “Jeste?my przekonane, ?e…” The grammatical form here (“przekonane”, not “przekonani”) indicates that “we” refers to women, i.e. not to Unilever. And so it goes: “we” want to live genuinely, “we” want to regain our self-confidence, “we” want to feel beautiful regardless of our age.

The cynicism of this marketing ploy is betrayed in every sentence. “We believe that every centimetre of our body, from top to bottom, deserves less criticism and more love.” In this sentence is an implied criticism, and a harsh one at that: you (not “we”) don’t love yourself enough. If you really loved yourself you would buy our soap.
“We want to regain self-confidence and self respect” implies: you lack these qualities. Buy our soap.
“We want to be able to say ‘I like myself the way I am'” implies: you do not like yourself the way you are. Buy our soap.
“Standing before the mirror we want to be able to laugh and treat our wrinkles and imperfections with approbation and a smile” implies: you do not now like to look at yourself in the mirror. You have imperfections. Buy our soap.
“We want to learn to accept our womanhood” implies: you think you might be a man. Buy our soap.
“We want to live genuinely” implies: you are living a lie. Buy our soap.
“Join the debate.” Buy our soap.
Fatso.