Her.meneutics: A Sketchy Ad from Skechers Shape-Ups

back to Christianity Today

RSS Feed | Help

email to a friend

twitter updates

Follow Her.meneutics on Twitter

What Is Her.meneutics?

The Christianity Today women's blog provides news and analysis from the perspective of evangelical women. We cover news stories and books related to international justice and evangelism, pregnancy and sexual ethics, marriage, parenting, and celibacy, pop culture, health and body image, raising girls, and women in the church and parachurch.

Her.meneutics is edited by associate editor Katelyn Beaty and online editor Sarah Pulliam Bailey.

interests

books and media

church life

justice and politics

relationships and family

sexuality and health

spirituality

theology

women of note

writers

More ...

Free Newsletters

books we're reading

blogs we're watching

« Why Divorce Devastates Children | Main | Schwarzenegger, Strauss-Kahn, and Power »

May 20, 2011

A Sketchy Ad from Skechers Shape-Ups

Do 7-year-olds really need butt-boosting training shoes?

Nicole Unice, guest blogger

A new ad campaign by Skechers takes its popular Shape-Up sneaker and markets it to girls. Skechers' line of “Shape-Up” sneakers was originally targeted solely to women but now includes men’s and girls' versions. It promises to burn calories, improve posture, and tone your legs and butt - ”all without stepping foot in a gym!” Conspicuously missing from the lineup are boys' Shape-Ups, which only add to the controversy over what, exactly, Shape-Ups are about.

You may recall the Skechers Superbowl commercial with spokesmodel Kim Kardashian in a steamy scene with her “trainer.” Complete with sweating, panting, and gratuitous body close-ups, Kardashian coyly tells her trainer that they have to “break up.” Flipping her hair and pointing her famous rear at the bewildered “trainer,” she looks him up and down and says, “it’s not someone, it’s something” while kicking her foot behind her so her new Shape-Up can point, well, at her behind.

Although Skechers claims its Shape-Ups are about being healthy, that’s not exactly what Kardashian's ad appearance portrays. The message seems to be that thanks to Shape-Ups, her butt looks great, men drool over her, and she doesn’t even have to work hard for it. This advertising sells the message that a woman’s body is made for adoration and that every woman should want to get into steamy-sex shape with as little work as possible. Unfortunately, there’s nothing new about that. Remember Suzanne Somers' “thank you Thighmaster” ads in the early 90s?

And now Skechers brings that same message to girls in shoe sizes that would fit a 7-year-old. In the commercial for girls' Shape-Ups, an enthusiastic cartoon named Heidi sings in front of her adoring fans, “Heidi’s got new Shape-Ups, has everything a girl wants, she’s got the height, she’s got the bounce, she’s looking good and having fun!”

As Heidi “bounces” along, a group of schlumpy surly teenage boys dressed in junk food costumes follow after her, presumably, perhaps, indicating that she’s “broken up” with them and is moving on to better things now that she’s “looking good and having fun.”

Like so many other things, something that is good (healthy bodies) is twisted into something that is not (quick fix, appearance-oriented solutions that are just $100 away). As Christians we must think about how we’ve interacted with a culture that encourages women to pursue fitness in order to look good rather than feel good, mind, body, and soul.

I see many girls and young women whose attitude toward food and fitness is directly related to how they look. I know women who won’t miss a workout, even when they are sick. I’ve known several teenagers who take pride in wearing clothes that they wore in middle school (or before), a testament to their ability to keep a girlish figure against their own biological clock. In both cases, the relentless demands of the perfect figure actually trump healthy choices.

So yes, kid-sized Skechers cause me concern. When I showed the commercial to my 6-year-old daughter, I wondered if she would want “the height and the bounce” and think she needed Skechers to “have everything a girl wants.” Instead she looked at me, somewhat bewildered, and said, “I like them because those would be good on the playground and easy to tie.” I took a deep breath, ready to lay into Skechers and the problems with this world we live in. But then I stopped. I won’t shame or “educate” my daughter for liking them, lest she think that my anger toward this sexualized culture is really anger toward her choices.

The best way to respond to the new kid-size Skechers isn't to ban them from our homes, risking that we communicate to girls that “looking good and having fun” is itself sinful. We must be careful to listen to the messages our girls get from both our words and our lives. And we should use things like Skechers to start conversations with girls about fitness, beauty, and the goodness of bodies. In that conversation, we adult women might realize that we have a lot to learn along with our children.

I wish we lived in a world where Shape-Ups for 7-year-olds would never even enter a marketer’s wildest imagination. But since we don’t, we should choose to engage - not condemn. The same God who made our bodies curved and beautiful made them strong and resilient. We must not lose one or the other. And if Skechers Shape-Ups force Christian women to face our own body image ambivalence, then so be it.

Nicole Unice, a contributing editor for Gifted for Leadership, is director of women's ministries at Hope Church in Richmond, Virginia, and blogs at The Stubborn Servant.

Comments

I do believe that there is a problem among children with obesity and healthy attitudes around weight and sexuality, and I would've have been surprised to find Sketchers, who makes these ridiculous shoes in the first place and even on adults seem to imply that we should be "working out" all the time but also with $100 everyone can be "in-shape", at the forefront of changing it. I agree that it starts in our own homes and by looking at our own attitudes on bodies and health and moves on to what we expose our children to as well as honest discussion about what our children see.

PS. I was happy to see an all-girl band in the commercial.

Great post, Nicole. I love this: "we should choose to engage -- not condemn." Our culture provides teachable moments for parents more than we know. Not just to teach our kids, but as you said, to teach US as well. Very well written and thoughtful post.

I connect with the idea of not simply saying no more(ie:banning a product), but using what is not right with something as a conversation starter. I think we often react out of fear and anger and forget how easy it is to be deceived. I want my kids to trust an open conversation with me about what is entering their world, even if it is ridiculous shoes.

I too like the "we should choose to engage -- not condemn." Our kids take more cues from us parents than we realize. I don't like the thought that sketchers are advertising in this way to little girls, but it can be a teaching moment if the commerical catches our kids' eyes. Often, if we don't react to it the kids might not even notice. We parents just have to be vigilant in keeping on top of all that goes into our kids' minds.

That being said, last year I bought a pair of Walmart Danskin shaper shoes and love them. The sole shape I think is a good thing and is quite comfortable. Why not let my daughter wear them if they are good for her? And there is nothing wrong with muscles being in shape -- that's healthy as long as it is in balance with what matters -- God and living for Him. The appearance just shouldn't be the focus.

We Christians need to guard against banning things that can benefit our lives because of a little detail. Sometimes the banning gets ridiculous and isn't a good witness at all.

While I completely agree with Nicole's perspective on this ad, I think she missed one additional point. Skechers is a company that uses child slave labor in other countries to manufacture these shoes, shoes that they are now marketing to children here in the US. For me, that is reason enough to avoid this company entirely.

For more information on Skechers and to see other companies' report cards as it relates to fair labor practices, please visit notforsale.org.

Using sexuality to sell to sub-teens is nothing new. It is harmful,demeaning and pervasive. But then having Pastor Huckabee backing up Ted Nugent on "Cat Scratch Fever" is also harmful and demeaning.

@Jane there have been different opinions on the use of shaper shoes, particularly in children. You may want to check this article out for more info: http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/truth-about-toning-shoes
@Alex: thank you for raising awareness about fair labor and providing that resource. I will definitely check it out in the future.

My daughter is seven, and the cultural idea that she "should" be worried about anything other than baby dolls scares me. More and more, we expect our children to respond like, act like, and dress like mini-adults. I should hope it would be a long time before she faces teenaged pressures but the sad fact is, we live in a twisted kind of world, and this is just one indication. The problem with this commercial and branding specifically is that she is NOT being told it's about being healthy, she's being told it's about being sexy, perhaps not in so many words, but definitely in so many perceptions. Thanks, Nicole!

Great blog post. So scary that corporations are targeting our baby girls.

But now I'm concerned. I bought these very shoes last week because 1) they were marked way, way down 2) they reminded me of the old earth-shoes I wore back in the seventies and they made me feel like breaking out my love beads and peace signs again 3) they made my aching arches feel good again.

A non-sagging butt would have been a bonus, but I wasn't holding my breath. There's only so much even the most optimistic of us can hope for out of a new pair of sneakers.

Turns out I'm able to walk miles and miles without my feet hurting in these puppies. Love that.

But the biggest bonus is that now that I'M wearing them, my thirteen-year-old granddaughter says that she will never, ever be caught dead in a pair of them.

So my advice on how to best fight this ridiculous targeting of our girl-children, is for uncool moms and extremely uncool grandmothers to buy these things (on sale) and wear them OUT. They'll become unpopular so fast it will make the manufacturer's heads swim.

I'll let you know if the butt thing works out.

With childhood obesity at epidemic rates, I'm surprised that you would worry about the message to kids to 'shape up'. I think you're reading way too much into this ad, we absolutely should be encouraging our kids to get out and get exercise. And like it or not, we ALL care about what we look like, and there's nothing wrong with that! God made us beautifully - why shouldn't we want to feel that way? And we all know that if we are wearing something we don't think is pretty - we don't feel pretty. It is only effective marketing because it APPEALS to what we ALREADY believe. If your little girl isn't motivated by getting in shape, being healthy, "having fun and looking good" - then she won't be interested in the product. The majority of the programs kids develop about their self image comes from the mom and how she behaves.

The commercial is only designed to create an interest - but if the program isn't there, the interest will be fleeting. We all need to take responsibility for the messages we send to our kids, rather than play the victim role and decide that we're so put upon by the media. They only make money because we buy it. And fortunately, millions of people are employed because they make money. So keep the focus on what you teach your kids, and then let the little girls have fun with pretty shoes for crying out loud! :)

@Angela: I'm all for exercise, but I think the term "shape up" implies exactly what it says: that the focus as women is on shaping, toning, whatever. Skechers, and particularly, shape-ups, seem to focus much more on sex appeal than actual health and fitness. I completely agree with you that the messages to girls come primarily through moms, which is why, as a mom, I need to check my own heart when it comes to the barrage of media encouraging women to focus on toned butts rather than holistic health.
I disagree with you about marketing appealing to what we already believe when it comes to girls. Picking up the message to my girl that she's "got everything a girl wants" because "she's looking good and having fun" is a message that I, as a Christian, want to make sure I hear and engage with her--before it's sunk so deeply into her that she doesn't even recognize it as a "belief"--but as truth.

If it helps with posture, and shaping muscles, Im for it. I have about 3 pairs and get compliments on the shape of my legs all the time. I am 58. I bought them on the knowledge u burn more calories using them.. Im for that..Oh and I had my pair before Kim ever set foot in one.

This is so sad. I don't know much about the shoes themselves or the possible benefits, but health has definitely been misconstrued here. I have made so many concerted efforts to shield myself from various forms of media that tell me I have to look a certain way. Even though I'm all for exercise and eating well, I am so easily sucked into the world of looking perfect in a size 0 jeans. I worry for my own daughter, and hope that the Lord has worked enough in my life so that my own attitude towards health and the body will affect her positively. My own mother, although she always said I looked perfect, consistently was hard on herself, eventually leading her to battle anorexia. So I would venture to say if WE are not careful with what we allow ourselves to view and "buy into," then our daughters and nieces will pick up more on OUR PERSONAL attitudes than that of the media. It's wonderful that your 6-year-old's attraction to the shoes were pure and practical; it speaks volumes of the way you are raising her.

Great post, Nicole. When I saw this ad, I nearly fell off the sofa. It really sickened and saddened me.... I mean, honestly. Our little girls need to "shape up"? That's just gross. Compare this ad with the ads about getting outside and playing....one is about health the other is about sex appeal.

If the ad showed how the shoes made your legs stronger and better able to kick a ball or ride a horse, I'd not be so annoyed... Can people just give girls a break?

Great reminder Nicole that it's important not just to teach our girls (and BOYS!) what the Truth is, but also how to process the other messages around us.

@evenonesparrow: thanks for the compliment. I hope I'm learning to hold my tongue and make sure I know where my daughter is coming from before I steamroll her with my (adult-lens) understanding of what's happening in this commercial.
@caryn: exactly. Why can't shoes be about being strong and jumping and enjoying the body that God has given. But of course, we cannot expect culture to convey those messages. That's where we come in as parents--and I do think our responsibility is to filter those messages, ask good questions, and be good observers of exactly how culture might be shaping (up?) our girls AND boys.

I am sooooooo with your precious daughter,“I like them because those would be good on the playground and easy to tie.” I want to hang out with her! :o) Thanks for writing.

Nicole - I too like your exhortation to engage and not condemn. I have a feeling to engage takes a lot more effort and a lot more care. Also, your daughter's comment brought tears to my eyes. Oh that we might be innocent in what is evil (romans 16:9). Thanks bud.

Thought provoking post, Nicole. Companies seem to market body-image items younger and younger these days. It's no wonder that girls as young as age 7 now look like they are 15. There is no distinction in age across clothing any more. No respect for keeping young girls modestly dressed--which truly should be respected when we are talking elementary school here. At the same time, however, there are no lines drawn as we age up. Women that used to be considered "professional age" (30+) are also seen dressing like teenagers, wearing similar clothing, buying from the same stores, etc. It's as if 15 is the "perfect" body no matter what age you are. If you're younger, they push you upwards. If you are older, they push you downwards. It's disturbing from both sides.

I really enjoyed your thoughts on how this could be a teaching point for the young ladies of the rising generation. My guess is that this marketing plan has little to no intentions of catching the eye of a 7 year old past the cartoon that is suitable for their viewing. It is probably more specifically directed towards the fears of an insecure mother who misguided desires for how their daughter should develop into a woman by the age of 8. I liked your daughter's response of which to me sounded like "Mom why are showing me this commercial?" Sounds like she has learned well how to be a kid.

Thanks Nicole. Really like the idea of engaging instead of condemning. My daughter, who is four and a half, said she saw them on the news and didn't want to look taller. I was glad to hear that but hadn't quite thought of what to tell her about them and the message they were putting out there.

@David: I wholeheartedly agree. No seven year old I know buys her own sneakers...so the real "consumer" are the parents (read: moms) who decide to purchase the shoes. And I think this commercial does a good job of drawing the kid in while simultaneously targeting mom ("you want your daughter to be shaped-up, right???") Thanks for pointing out what we need to be most aware of: our own insecurities and how they shape our parenting.

wow. this is really sad that they would want to shape up a little girl at all! Little girls should be little girls. . .not sex objects with a tone butt or anything. my word.

As a mother of a precious 4 yr old daughter, I agree with you Nicole. There is cause for concern when the sex-crazed society is trickling down to the children in the single digit age groups. In addition to the other comments, I have an issue with the boys dressed in junk food (might as well put them in clown suits) being left in the dust by the girls in hot sneakers. While the sex images of women has been an ongoing problem confronted by us, I'm also sensitive to the increase in the devaluing of boys and men in media imagery of commercials, sitcoms, etc. This is equally as detrimental. Thanks for bringing this marketing campaign to our attention.

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

Hermenuetics

twitter updates

What Is Her.meneutics?

interests

writers

Free Newsletters

books we're reading

blogs we're watching

A Sketchy Ad from Skechers Shape-Ups

Comments

recent posts

Archives

Hermenuetics

twitter updates

What Is Her.meneutics?

interests

writers

Free Newsletters

books we're reading

blogs we're watching

A Sketchy Ad from Skechers Shape-Ups

Comments

recent posts

tags

Archives