Missing Link
We admit that we are biased. We believe that Miss Earth is in a different league to the other international beauty pageants. While they may raise a lot of funds for good causes, this is somewhat incidental to the main objective of making money for the organisers. The cynical will say that Miss Earth is no different, except that it is exploiting the Zeitgeist of environmental concern. We invite you to discern that the underlying purpose of Miss Earth is to give voice to the largely ignored feminine archetypes. Their words caution us to care for the planet that sustains us and encourage us to transcend our destructive, patriarchal culture. We will say no more. Below are extracts from Wikipedia.
Miss Universe
Miss Universe is an annual international beauty contest run by the Miss Universe Organization. Along with its rival contests – Miss World and Miss Earth – this pageant is one of the most publicized beauty contests in the world.
The contest was founded in 1952 by California clothing company Pacific Mills. The pageant became part of Kayser-Roth and then Gulf and Western Industries, before being acquired by Donald Trump in 1996.
In 1998, Miss Universe changed its name from Miss Universe, Inc. to Miss Universe Organization and the headquarters moved from Long Beach, Los Angeles to New York City that year. Donald Trump brought in a new team of professionals to the contest headed by its new CEO, Molly Miles, and president Maureen Reidy. Miles coined the slogan “Redefined for Today” for promotion of the pageants. That year, the new Miss Universe logo was born: The Woman with the Stars, which is still used today.
The current Miss Universe is Stefanía Fernández, from Venezuela. She won the title on August 23, 2009.
Miss World
The Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley’s wife, Julia Morley, co-chairs the pageant.
Alongside its rival Miss Universe and Miss Earth contests, this pageant is one of the most publicised beauty contests in the world.
The winner spends a year travelling to represent the Miss World Organization and its various causes. Traditionally, Miss World lives in London during her reign.
The Miss World Organization owns and manages the annual Miss World Finals, a competition that has grown into one of the World’s biggest. Since its launch in 1951, the Miss World Organization has raised more than £250 million for children’s charities. Miss World is franchised in more than 100 countries. Miss World, Limited is a privately held firm, and thus figures for its earnings, expenses and charitable contributions are not publicly available.
Aside from raising millions of pounds for charities around the globe under the banner of its ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ program, Miss World is also credited with directly influencing a dramatic increase in tourism in Sanya, China, host of the Miss World finals from 2003-05.
Miss Earth
Miss Earth is an annual international beauty pageant promoting environmental awareness. Along with Miss Universe and Miss World contests, Miss Earth is one of the three largest beauty pageants in the world in terms of the number of national-level competitions to participate in the world finals and is one of the most publicized beauty contests in the world. The reigning titleholders dedicate their year to promote environmental projects and to address issues concerning the environment.
In 2006, the Miss Earth pageant started to cohost the United Nations Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth, an annual international environment awards established in 2005 by the United Nations to recognize outstanding environmental achievers and leaders at a policy level.
The current Miss Earth titleholder is Larissa Ramos from Brazil who was crowned in the Philippines on November 22, 2009. The Miss Earth 2010, the tenth edition of the pageant, will be held in Vietnam and will continue to host the pageant in even-numbered years from 2010 until 2020.
The Miss Earth Foundation is a non-stock, non-profit organization, which serves as the environmental-social-humanitarian outreach arm of Miss Earth contest. It was established to institutionalize the environmental mission of Miss Earth. The Miss Earth grand winner travels and works worldwide for the Miss Earth Foundation and is very often selected as a spokesperson for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Check out the highlights of Miss Earth 2009.