MAC Puts Female Bodybuilder in a Cosmetics Ad

Ninety-nine percent of female fashion and body-related advertising hews to the same basic Western expression of ideal feminine beauty—i.e., slim to the point of waifish. Not this MAC cosmetics ad. It stars Serbian-American competitive body builder Jelena Abbou, whose body type is distinctly more sculpted than your average mascara model. "Strike a powerful pose, stand out and redefine the notion of beauty in a color collection too irresistible to ignore," says the copy. Jezebel points out the risks of such an approach: "A man with a six-pack is supposed to be sexy; a woman with a six-pack is supposed to be 'mannish.'