culture jamming yay!

I can't remember where I was directed to this from first, but who cares, it's awesome. A LiveJournal user very awesomely modified those ridiculous Special K ads. Check out the results!

Some of you who know me know that I'm not too fond of bowing to bullshit beauty standards, hence I found this shaving historical timeline interesting. Do pay attention to the entry for World War One, and the fact that

It all began with the May, 1915 edition of Harper's Bazaar magazine that featured a model sporting the latest fashion. She wore a sleeveless evening gown that exposed, for the first time in fashion, her bare shoulders, and her armpits.

A young marketing executive with the Wilkinson Sword Company, who also made razor blades for men, designed a campaign to convince the women of North America that:

(a) Underarm hair was unhygienic (b) It was unfeminine.

In two years, the sales of razor blades doubled as our grandmothers and great grandmothers made themselves conform to this socially constructed gender stereotype. This norm for North American women has been reinforced by several generations of daughters who role-modeled their mothers.

It's all about marketing and social conditioning, as usual.

Also, Colbert mocks people who make such a big deal over name changes: