Just about one year ago the Bare Platypus included a post about The Vanishing Coppertone Girl . In that selection, we lamented that the cartoon graphic of a little girl having her swimsuit pulled down to reveal her fully bare bottom in the familiar advertisement had been replaced by a girl revealing less and less skin. We noted that the end cap display now included a picture of a girl wearing a sundress with the little dog running alongside of her. Our post tracked the slow morphing from "nude to prude" for this product mascot.
The mascot has morphed again.
Now, both the display and product bottles themselves depict the familiar dog tugging down the hem of the little girl's sun dress as if to add an emphasis of modesty. Remember when moms gave a tug on their daughter's dress or skirt to pull it below the knee? Toto (or whatever the dog's name) seems to be doing it too.
The Platypuses live South of the Mason-Dixon line so we see suncare products promoted throughout the year. We saw the latest version of Ms. Coppertone the other day and had to sigh once again. To recap: Our culture now rejects sun exposure and the more innocent nudity presented by a cartoon drawing... a drawing that was perfectly acceptable when Eisenhower was in the White House.
Does this cultural shift mean anything for nudism? We think it does!
I see a coming danger. Beaches which became nude or CO because they were remote and difficult to find, are going to be closed and staffed to enforce the closure in the name of "saving tax money" when they were never staffed before. Watch out, the beach you hike for an hour to reach may be next.
ReplyDelete