Blog Posts by Intent.com

Dove Ad

By Chelsea Roff

Have I mentioned how much I love Dove? No, not the sweet little song-bird kind of Dove. The Dove responsible for making many of the personal care products in your bathroom... and more importantly, the Dove responsible for blowing the top off popular misconceptions about beauty with its "Campaign for Real Beauty."

In 2004, the company set out to enlist "real women" models (i.e. not just women with a BMI that qualifies them for an eating disorder) to simultaneously market Dove's products and re-frame mainstream messages about beauty. Their goal was "to make more women feel beautiful every day by widening stereotypical views of beauty." I'll admit, I did have some reservations about that campaign initially (hey, skinny women are "real women" too!), but I think the overall impact of the campaign was commendable. Dove, in my mind, proved what many in advertising and the media have long claimed impossible: Curvy, racially diverse, older, and (gasp!) healthy women can sell

By Chelsea Roff

As if women didn't already have enough body parts to worry about shaving, waxing, and -- YES -- bleaching, a new commercial for a product called Clean and Dry Intimate Wash wants women to lighten up their apparently too-dark lady parts as well.

In the commercial, a notably light-skinned Indian couple sits down for a morning cup of coffee. But something about the dynamic between them is undoubtedly off. The husband can't even bring himself look at his wife, much less drink his coffee. The woman appears uncomfortable and self-conscious. Fortunately, Clean and Dry Intimate Wash swoops in to the rescue. The woman takes a shower and POOF! comes out with a new, improved, and (of course) much fairer vagina. Her husband now gazes at her lustily. Because, you know, no one wants a woman with a dark vagina.


Watch the video of the commercial here.

What the heck were the makers of this product thinking? Here's what one ad executive had to say:

It is hard to

Ron Sombilon Gallery"You're crawling through the desert in search of the oasis of a better body."

Those are the words of Loren Bassett, a 41-year old yoga instructor in Manhattan who teaches yoga in a room so hot it might as well be a sauna. Bassett's approach reflects a growing trend in the fitness industry to crank up the heat on traditional work-outs. Gone 75-degree gyms and large fans in aerobics classes. According to New York Times, fitness junkies in New York and Los Angeles increasingly want to do their yoga, pilates, cycling, and other types of work-out in extreme heat... no matter what the risk.

via the New York Times:

For these religious exercisers, based mostly in New York and Los Angeles, only sweltering temperatures produce adequate workouts: a jackhammering heart rate, pliable muscles and a psychologically satisfying sweat that devotees describe as "detoxing." So gyms and studios are trying to lure them with ever hotter, harder yoga classes, in addition to roasted versions

Beets

People either love beets or they hate them, mostly because they haven't discovered all the wonderful ways to enjoy beets. I, personally, am in the LOVE BEETS camp. I still remember the first time I ate them as a child. I wanted them every day after that. Whether you already love them, or just haven't discovered their marvels, here are 7 reasons to eat more beets.

1. Beets are high in nutrients such as folate, manganese, potassium, and vitamin C, making them an excellent source of nutrients, and a particularly good choice for pregnant women who have higher folate needs during pregnancy.

2. In their uncooked state, beets also contain an important compound called betaine, which research has shown reduces several compounds linked to inflammation in the body. In other words, it's a great anti-inflammatory food that helps protect us from the effects of aging and disease.

3. Beets are one of Nature's miracles in the prevention of cancer. The fiber found in beets seems to

BrainBy Intent Blogger Betsy Chasse

Have you ever looked up LOVE in the dictionary? I did tonight. How interesting one 4 letter word can have so many meanings. There are at least 9 different definitions of LOVE. My favorite being a score in tennis, by the way. I also find it interesting that it's firstly, a noun, when often it feels like a verb or an adjective. It can be considered all of the above, which seems sort of fitting for this particular word, don't you think.

Such a powerful word, love, yet we throw it around like a football on Thanksgiving. I love that sweater, I love sushi, I love you. It's used for so many things it seems to me to have lost all it's power.

It's so easily purrs from our lips, "I looooovvvve youuu". It's so easily posted in our Facebook status. I'm starting to notice that there is a direct correlation to the number of times a husband or wife posts about their love for their companion in their Facebook status and divorce, I'm not kidding. This week alone I've

Napping is good for your brain.In a recent TED talk, University of California Psychology and Neuroscience Professor, Matthew Walker, gives three good reasons to believe we all become psychotic when we sleep:

1. You see things that simply were not there (you hallucinate).

2. You believe things that could not possibly be true (you become delusional).

3. When you wake up, you probably forget most if not all of what happened (you experience amnesia).

Watch the complete video here.

Matthew Walker is one of my scientific heroes. The man has literally it his mission to prove that midday naps are a vital to learning and that dreams aid in emotional processing. How cool is that? I was talking to a friend yesterday about how in America (and much of the "modernized" world), we really devalue the importance of sleep in an effort to be more productive. In most cultures throughout history, there has been time set aside -- usually right after lunch -- for people to rest, digest, have a little siesta before getting back to

Healing from a break up takes time and patience. Two things I never seem to have, but am learning, thanks to, well, a break up!

A little over a year ago my marriage ended. After the shock wore off, which for me lasted about 3 weeks, I did what I usually do- research.

I like instructions. I like to do lists. I like to have a plan and I didn't seem to have any of those for dealing with the hurt and betrayal caused by my divorce. I wasn't surprised that I got divorced. I think I saw that coming. But even so, it didn't hurt any less.

There were plenty of books and I read a couple, but who has time to read every book! I felt overwhelmed by all the information and advice coming my way. I was angry with God, I was angry at anything " spiritual". I didn't want to hear another person tell me to mediate on it. I just wanted someone to take my hand and lead me out of the tunnel of darkness I found myself in. When everyone around you thinks you're the leader, it's hard to find

Safecosmetics.orgAll morning, my Facebook feed has been inundated with links to a disturbing new infographic about the toxic ingredients in our personal care products. Lead. Aluminum. Heavy metals. In baby shampoo.

FACT: Adults are exposed to an average 126 chemical ingredients daily through the use of personal care products. 61% of top-brand lipsticks contain cancer-causing heavy metals, 82% of children's shampoos contain formaldehyde, and 89% of ingredients in products currently sold on the market have never been tested for safety.

Surprised? Not me. I stumbled into this information on the web a couple years ago, on a blog called No More Dirty Looks. I was so aghast at the findings of those clinical studies when I read them that I tossed out every make-up product I owned. I wondered why it wasn't being talked about on Good Morning America, in the New York Times, on Capitol Hill for heaven's sake. I thought of all the women in my family who had died of cancer. I felt betrayed. Why hadn't I