Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir #48: Long Time Running

[quartz]

Nor does she really care about "authenticity (is beautiful)" , her motto for Nivia.

SFAIK Tessa grew up in a wealthy family. She also grew up in a tiny town. So it seems to me she's led rather a sheltered and privileged life. I doubt she has much awareness of the struggles that so many women face. I've never heard that she has done community outreach work with women.

Population of her tiny town is about 400,000.

 

[sap5]

Population of her tiny town is about 400,000.

It's all relative, isn't it? My town is 800,000 and I consider it tiny.

 

[JasperBoy]

Isn’t she from Strathroy? Current population about 21,000.

 

[quartz]

Isn’t she from Strathroy? Current population about 21,000.

London.

 

[marbri]

Ah yes, Tessa, that little soulless pampered princess from some rural country club that never experienced or amounted to anything in her life desperately trying to be an influencer. I mean why even bother talking about someone so worthless?

 

[quartz]

She also lived for several years in teensy weeny Montreal and currently in minuscule Toronto. Basically there’s only 30 people in all of Canada.

 

[Brenda_Bottems]

I suspect many comments here are rooted in jealousy and resentment. Perhaps some rogue Davis+White fans as well.

Just because your life is insignificant,trifling, and monotonous does not give you carte blanche to pounce on Tessa for her exceptionally well-photographed successes.

I hope she is able to get back onto the ice soon so the biddies may pause the criticism.

-BB

 

[marbri]

She also lived for several years in teensy weeny Montreal and currently in minuscule Toronto. Basically there’s only 30 people in all of Canada.

Well Tokyo has over 37,000,000 people and Montreal less than 2 million so you know that's basically a farm in comparison...

 

[quartz]

Well Tokyo has over 37,000,000 people and Montreal less than 2 million so you know that's basically a farm in comparison...

In Canada if you have one cow you can legally call it a farm and be eligible for 16 million dollars in federal funding.

 

[marbri]

In Canada if you have one cow you can legally call it a farm and be eligible for 16 million dollars in federal funding.

So Tessa just needs to buy a cow and she won't have to hawk dry shampoo anymore? Who knew..

 

[quartz]

So Tessa just needs to buy a cow and she won't have to hawk dry shampoo anymore? Who knew..

And you get more for a brown cow which gives the more desirable chocolate milk.



(Oh, wait, no. That’s the US where they have those cows.)

 

[marbri]

And you get more for a brown cow which gives the more desirable chocolate milk.



(Oh, wait, no. That’s the US where they have those cows.)

So Tessa could just fling her Golden Lasso over the Windsor border and snare one of those! It's all starting to make sense now!

 

[Sonata]

I bet if she posted that she will be appearing as Wonder Woman at a local mall to hand out free dry shampoo, there would need to be crowd control measures put into place.

Sadly, I would be one of those people - I love Wonder Woman, I love Tessa and I love free stuff.

Glad to see this thread jumping again. It’s been an overall respectful conversation and interesting to read analyses about social media strategy.

I’ve no doubt Tessa has experienced unwanted attention and struggled with body image. Some of these awkward moments made it onto their tv series.

Also I do seem to have heard from either Scott or Tessa in a recent interview that they are still in regular contact. The fact that they don’t interact regularly on social media is fine to me - if they’re truly in contact, they won’t have frequent conversations on social media for show.

 

[sap5]

Sadly, I would be one of those people - I love Wonder Woman, I love Tessa and I love free stuff.

Glad to see this thread jumping again. It’s been an overall respectful conversation and interesting to read analyses about social media strategy.

I’ve no doubt Tessa has experienced unwanted attention and struggled with body image. Some of these awkward moments made it onto their tv series.

Also I do seem to have heard from either Scott or Tessa in a recent interview that they are still in regular contact. The fact that they don’t interact regularly on social media is fine to me - if they’re truly in contact, they won’t have frequent conversations on social media for show.

I like the conversation too. It's easier to talk and learn about different viewpoints on a discussion board than it is on other forums, I find. I may not agree with everyone, but at least I can ask questions and try to understand where everyone is coming from.

 

[sap5]

She also lived for several years in teensy weeny Montreal and currently in minuscule Toronto. Basically there’s only 30 people in all of Canada.

Every time I realize that Canada's entire population is less than the state of California, my mind is blown.

 

[chantilly]

There definitely seems to be a LOT of assumptions in this thread about a lot of things; Tessa's personality, background, current relationship with Scott, World POV etc.

The discussion around social media is interesting here. I can see some people's point about it being a lot of ads etc, but I also see lots of non ad related things so...

I also see Kashi as somewhat a female empowerment product, as it revolves around nutrition, self care and healthy eating. And women are notorious for taking care of others before themselves. It's been the topic of tv talk shows, magazine articles and self help books for years.

As does the Nivea contract. I believe the last commercial I saw was about connecting with the next generation of skaters.

I agree the whole " branding" craze can be off -putting, but it's just what is done nowadays. Skin care lines, make up lines, clothing lines, food brands seem to be the status quo for female athletes and celebrities. And a lot of them are involved in doing many contracts. Being ubiquitous seems to be the thing now.

And Dry Shampoo is a new craze too. I remember using it years ago when I was still a teen but it never caught on. But now it's back and huge. It's been connected to women on the go and sometime having no time to wash her hair the traditional way.

As for the Barbie discussion, I played with Barbies a LOT and they all had jobs and careers. As for the body image criticism, it's a valid point, but an absolute drop in the bucket of issues around creating impossible body image. There's way more damage done around that IMO in the fashion industry, Hollywood and the music industry than Barbie has ever done.

And if I were a female athlete in a slightly less popular sport, which lacks in federal funding, support and endorsements, and was approached by the Mattel company, to produce a doll in my likeness that celebrates my achievements and can be enjoyed by aspirational girls for years to come, I'd jump at the chance. And be honoured by it.

I think that what there seems to be lacking right now is a happy medium between the idea of taking personal care and pride in one's appearance, embracing and indulging in current fashion and trends, and the idea that women are being some kind of unwilling slaves to unrealistic ideas of feminine beauty and worth.

Just my two cents.

 

[chantilly]

We are about one tenth the population of USA. We are 37-38 million in the whole country, while you are 300 million.

 

[sap5]

So Tessa could just fling her Golden Lasso over the Windsor border and snare one of those! It's all starting to make sense now!

I really want to see her flying in her invisible plane. I always loved how WW's plane was invisible, yet you could still see her in it.

 

[chantilly]

Every time I realize that Canada's entire population is less than the state of California, my mind is blown.

We are about one tenth the population of USA. We are 37-38 million in the whole country, while you are 300 million.

 

[chantilly]

I really want to see her flying in her invisible plane. I always loved how WW's plane was invisible, yet you could still see her in it.

Wonder Woman was and IMO continues to be a great role model for women. She just also happens to be stunningly beautiful.

 

[sap5]

For me, I don't mind that she posts so many ads -- it's more that I don't get a sense of why these brands are important to her. I know they must be, because she has said that she is very particular about with whom she chooses to align.

 

[Cachoo]

I don’t have a positive or negative opinion about this issue but I do think it is fantastic that some figure skaters are admired enough to garner these endorsements. God knows they don’t have the earning power of many in other sports.

 

[AR130]

I don’t think Tessa’s path thus far should surprise anyone. She’s never expressed an interest in remaining in skating after she was done competing, and this sort of brand/ad/modeling stuff is in line with her projects before they retired. She’s very famous in Canada, well spoken and very pretty, so she’s a good fit for Canada marketing for all kinds of brands. I’m impressed at how much sponsor work she continues to get almost 4 years out from competing — that’s very impressive.

As for her mission statement of empowering girls, it’s a been an effective tag line and a lot of media profiles (including the ones of Scott starting at IAM) have adopted it as a shorthand for what she is doing now. Again savvy marketing herself as she wants to be seen. Is she living up to it? In some ways, yes — she’s not marketing diet supplements or doing stuff that would make her a bad role model. And she promotes good body image in a sport that is terrible on that front.

A lot of brands — including some that she works with — have used feel good, progressive-lite catchphrases as marketing. I don’t think this is Tessa’s fault, but I don’t think I would personally give it credit as some great stride forward for feminism or directly empowering girls. But just being a visible female athlete who has reached the top of her sport is plenty empowering, I think.

(I think it’s fair to say that brands that pick a conventionally attractive, young white female athlete who could be a model anyway to carry the message of female empowerment aren’t exactly going out on a limb to support female athletes. Like I’ll find it more compelling when the spokesperson is not someone who ticks all the conventional model boxes. But that issue is one about society and not created by Tessa or her fault in any way.)

 

[sap5]

I can see Tessa get lots of sponsors for decades to come, tbh. There are not a lot of athletes who have the perfect combination of traits Tessa has, so she won't be easy to replace.

 

[AR130]

I can see Tessa get lots of sponsors for decades to come, tbh. There are not a lot of athletes who have the perfect combination of traits Tessa has, so she won't be easy to replace.

Agree. Especially in the Canadian market. It’s not often you get someone who is a GOAT athlete who looks and sounds like Tessa. I wonder how long she will stick with it.

 

[marie1616]

It's the same in Germany where Katarina Witt still has multiple endorsements and appears in major talkshows and TV events. The only problem I see with it is that current skaters have not a single ad. I don't know if this might happen in Canada but I felt really bad for e.g. Aljona/Bruno/Robin, Lindemann, Winkler/Lohse who all had international success but couldn't make a lot of money of it.

 

[AR130]

I think that’s a good point. Both Tessa and Katarina have incredible accomplishments as skaters. But the elephant in the room (with Tessa?) is that it’s a lot easier to get those endorsements as a conventionally attractive white woman with those accomplishments. In tennis, Maria Sharapova got more endorsements than Serena Williams for years despite Serena being a far more accomplished player. It is changing — both Serena and Naomi Osaka are getting more endorsements now. Skating is less diverse to begin with, but hopefully things will trend towards more inclusion.

That said, Katarina in the German market is a great comparison — I suspect that Tessa will have sponsor ads in Canada for as long as she wants them.

 

[screech]

To me, Tessa sounds like the thing people do where they make sure to speak with a smile forced on their face. I've always found that her voice is not naturally warm, though she is eloquent. It gives her a bit of an air of phoniness IMO, however that's just me.

While I don't love all her advertisements, huge kudos to her for capitalizing on the opportunities presented to her. And it does bring attention to figure skating, which isn't seeing the numbers in Canada that it did in the past.

 

[AR130]

To me, Tessa sounds like the thing people do where they make sure to speak with a smile forced on their face. I've always found that her voice is not naturally warm, though she is eloquent. It gives her a bit of an air of phoniness IMO, however that's just me.

While I don't love all her advertisements, huge kudos to her for capitalizing on the opportunities presented to her. And it does bring attention to figure skating, which isn't seeing the numbers in Canada that it did in the past.

I get not particularly connecting with Tessa tbh. While the VM chemistry was fun to watch on and off the ice, a lot of that fun for me was the spontaneity Scott brought to things. Even back then, Tessa tended to stick to her talking points and not give away much. It makes her a good brand spokesperson since she will get those PR talking points out, but not a particularly interesting listen otherwise.

 

[Judy]

Neither my sister nor I nor any kid we knew was paying a bit of attention to a plastic doll’s proportions. If a child is looking at a plastic doll and thinking body proportions, the problem is not the doll.

Lol neither neither was I. it was just fun. I never thought oh wow I want to look like a plastic doll when I grow up.