naked yoga advertisements
Once again I have seen Kathryn Buddig naked.
I didn’t go looking for her, I was innocently reading Yoga Journal Magazine, and flipped the page. There she is AGAIN wearing nothing but great lighting and the yoga accessories she’s selling.
I am no prude. I am a Scorpio! But this is too much. I know it’s not a popular view because she is a “yoga star” but I am really tired of her nude ads every month. One is shocking and gets the point across, but one every month is like having a pin-up calendar.
Now there’s another; the shakti mat has gone from the cool sadhu in its ad to a photograph of a topless woman laying in the mat, hands covering her breasts.
Do we need these in our yoga mags? Do I need another reminder that my body is not that body?
Do I need to be prodded by yoga teachers now that if I buy THIS yoga product my body will be perfect like theirs?
No, thanks. I can get that in any fashion magazine, and lately i have been getting just as much yoga in those same fashion rags.
We don’t need sex to sell yoga. But apparently we need sex to sell silly yoga products. Maybe Yoga Journal will be off my renew list this time. It’s become less about yoga and more about “yoga cool”.
UPDATE: I have posted again about this recently since Yoga Journal’s receipt of a letter about this very subject from Judith Hansen Lasater. You can read that new post here.
darla cooks 
Could not agree more–pretty and nude is nice and the marketing axiom that sex sells is true but on my yoga journey, I ain’t buying nude sex.
I agree 100%… however what I think is interesting is that these ads are definitely targeted at women. don’t see a lot of naked yogi men ads out there. Also, interestingly enough, in other female “sports” (should we classify it in that category) we don’t see the same kind of blatant sexual advertising….
and I do believe it’s because Yoga in the west is being viewed as a more “feminine” activity and thus treated with the same paradigm of other female activities… such as sexist advertising. Which is sad really.
great post 🙂
(found it through your tweet- i’m coffeeandyoga 🙂 )
Blessings!
Lisa
thanks for commenting Lisa. what you say is true, this is exactly what it’s about. i suppose it was only a matter of time before it creeped into yoga ads.
actually there are many yoga teachers out there posing with out their clothes in yoga poses. i dont think it’s sexy- and i dont think it is necessary in yoga. i dont get it. in my opinion it brings them and what they are doing down. how long before we see firefly pose nude and featured in Penthouse?
I just now saw this. It also makes me (larger people) feel like their not good enough or pretty enough to do yoga sometimes. Not that I feel like that all the time but it is enough. Im not skinny but I think Im pretty decent at yoga.
I would love to see some real women doing yoga in ads. That would be nice.