Friday, February 16, 2007
Should "skinny mirrors" be banned from clothing stores?
Boing Boing: "The Architectures of Control in Design blog has a great post about a Member of the European Parliament's campaign to end the use of 'skinny mirrors' in fashion stores. Some stores in the UK reportedly use these deceptive mirrors to make you feel like you look better in your potential new clothes than you really do."
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5 comments:
This is unacceptable that the stores would do this. However, it isn’t very hard to see why. The basic thought of this is genius from a marketing standpoint. To use this as they did was what I would consider a mutually beneficial situation. They made money and the customer left feeling much better about themselves. It raises the question is it really so wrong to use funhouse mirrors harmlessly in a clothing store?
I wonder what the customer goes home feeling like. They felt skinnier in the store and then they go home and try on the same outfit to find that they somehow became larger. It's a tricky area. Yes it is good to make people feel better about themselves, but by hiding problems?
Wow... I think that is hilarious! Although, for already quite skinny people... what would we look like? Sticks? I don't know if I'd buy clothing that makes me look like a stick... Also, how "thinning" can the mirror really be and have people not notice? I mean really, I think there's a point where you look at the mirror and think... huh... I swear I wasn't that thin in the last store I was in... I think people allow themselves to believe that the clothing can really be THAT thinning...
I feel like although this would boost sales and even momentarily increase the self-esteem of the customer, it can only ultimately lead to unhappiness. What happens when you get home with your new slim look and realize you actually don't look quite so hot? The chance of you returning the clothing is slim, but really, how can this be a good thing for one's self-image. Messing with the mind, rarely a good thing...
I can understand why a store would do this. And for the shorter population (maybe for the rest it too) I know that mirrors can do all sorts of weird things with your self-image. I hate looking in the mirrors in the dance studios because I feel like it makes me look like a square; on the other hand, mirrors that only reflect above my waist I have no problem with. Not really a fan of magnifying mirrors though. I think I'd like a slimming mirror, but then all the mirrors in my life would have to be slimming to keep up the image...
I wonder if there is some sort of 'standard' for the concave-ness (or whatever word I'm looking for) of a mirror.
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