Lindsey Stokes on CNN

CCN Transcripts
AMERICAN MORNING
Aired July 19, 2005 - 09:30 ET

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0507/19/ltm.04.html

COSTELLO: Real women have real curves. That's the message that Dove is sending with a new ad campaign for its firming cream. The company selected six regular women with regular figures for its marketing campaign. The ads, which were not touched up or airbrushed, now appear in magazines and billboards across the country.

Joining me now from Chicago, two of the Dove models, Lindsey Stokes and Gina Crissante.

Welcome, Lindsey and Gina.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.

COSTELLO: Lindsey, let's start with you. This was a big casting call. Why did you decide to take part?

LINDSEY STOKES, POSED FOR "REAL WOMEN" AD: Basically, I mean, it's -- honestly, it's just a positive message. It's telling girls, you know, to stand firm and enjoy their curves, or celebrate their curves, and you know, they had let us know, they informed us it's going to be in our underwear, and there's a big controversy. Honestly, we felt that it was really nothing to be ashamed of. I mean, why not just do it, and be real and honest about it, celebrating our real beauty? I felt great about doing it.

COSTELLO: Well, Gina, you got paid very little for doing this, right?

GINA CRISANTI, POSED FOR "REAL WOMEN" AD: We were compensated for time and travel, but really we were participating in this campaign, because we believe in the message. We believe that, you know, beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, so I'm happy to help Dove launch their new line of firming products since they're using it as a means to a really positive end.

COSTELLO: So what's it like, though, walking down the street and seeing yourself in your underwear on a huge, giant billboard?

STOKES: Go ahead, Gina.

CRISANTI: It's unbelievable. It's really inspiring. I grew up not being happy with my curves at all. I know from personal experience that body image is linked to self-esteem. So for me to now see myself celebrating those curves on billboards and in magazines, it really means a lot to me.

STOKES: And you know, I was just talking to Gina earlier about this, I grew up with girls, you know, seeing Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford, I mean, these are the girls we grew up with, these models, and it's almost like they're unattainable, you know, and to even be put in that category, as, you know, playing model, I guess you could say it's just so wonderful, and it's so -- it's like a dream almost, and a great opportunity.

COSTELLO: Go ahead.

CRISANTI: I was gonig to say it's a great opportunity to encourage young girls to grow up feeling good about themselves, and that's another really important part of this campaign. And actually by...

COSTELLO: We do hope it sends a positive message.

CRISANTI: Right.

COSTELLO: Lindsey and Gina, thank you.

I want to talk more about this with Kate Betts. She's editor-in- chief of "Time Style & Design," a supplement to "Time" magazine.

Welcome.

KATE BETTS, "TIME STYLE & DESIGN": Welcome.

COSTELLO: And I wanted to get your perspective, too. They seem very proud of what they did. The thing that bothers me about these ads, the women are in their underwear, and I just don't see the point of that.

BETTS: Well, I think the point of that is to show their curves off. And I think the point...

COSTELLO: A bathing suit, perhaps?

BETTS: Well, it could have been a bathing suit. I mean, I think the point was to give them sort of, you know -- to expose their curves and to make it look sexy and somewhat natural. I mean, I guess a bathing suit would give a different message, in a way.

COSTELLO: I guess so. The only thing, too, is they're advertising a firming cream. So if you need a firming cream, are you really all that happy about your curves?

BETTS: Well, I don't know. I mean, the thing that struck me about these ads is it's hard to tell what the ad is for when you first see it, because, you know, they're there in their underwear, and it could be an underwear ad. But I also think that -- I agree with them when they talk about the positive message. I think that's really, really important, and I think that nowadays especially, we're so train to want to look like, you know, a 16-year-old, basically.

COSTELLO: A 16-year-old boy.

BETTS: Yes, exactly. And so I think it does send a really great message. I think that it's going to take a while for people to be untrained that way in advertising. So hopefully this will be the beginning of a trend.

COSTELLO: You know what women say to me? And i've talked to a lot women about this, because I thought it was only me. It's the type of underwear they chose to put on these women. It's strange. It doesn't really look like underwear that most women wear.

BETTS: Right, it's neither sexy nor underwear-ish. Yes, that's true. You think they're going to go to the extreme of putting them in their underwear, make it look really sexy.

COSTELLO: Or attractive. And it's not the most attractive thing to be wearing. And if you have a regular body, certainly you can wear attractive clothes?

BETTS: Right. Well, I mean, they were probably going for a uniform look.

COSTELLO: A uniform look.

In the end, will this really work? Because aren't women buying the ideal when they buy beauty products?

BETTS: Well, that's the problem. I mean, that is the thing with advertising, is you do want an ideal image. You want something inspirational, and even though I think these girls look really great, I mean they are in great shape. It's not like they're flabby or anything. I think that it's -- we're so trained to want to look like a certain ideal, and it's going to take time for us to see a billboard like that or an ad like that in a magazine and say, oh, wow, I want to look like that. That's our instant response to advertising. And so to sort of like rethink that is going to take a little while.

COSTELLO: Well, we'll see what the sales figures are for dove in the future.

BETTS: Exactly.

COSTELLO: Thank you very much. Kate Betts joining us on AMERICAN MORNING. Thank you -- Miles.

BETTS: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: Well, they're certainly getting a lot of mileage out of it, aren't they?

All right, Daryn Kagan, what do you think of the ads? Do you like them?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I think it's great. Any time you expand the idea of what our woman's bodies should look like. You know, it reminds me, we're having Serena Williams and her sister, Venus Williams, on later this morning. These are two women who are redefining what women's bodies can look like.