A Distorted Perception of Beauty: Media’s Influence on Body Image

A Distorted Perception of Beauty: Media’s Influence on Body Image

In today’s society, young women are developing a distorted perception of beauty because of the affects of media: advertising, magazines, and television and movies. Almost every image in the media features a picture of a young woman who is edited almost beyond recognition. It seems that every image of a young woman is the media’s “perfect lie,” that is hardly any image is pure or untouched. This perfect lie negatively effects young women’s perception of their look, style, and body. These false images cause severe consequences in young women’s physical and emotional aspects, negatively effecting how they perceive themselves. Today’s media images in advertising and magazines give young women a false and inadequate view of self body image. Dove’s Model to Billboard Campaign Video and Time Lapse Photoshop video represent the negative effects the media has on body image all across the country. Media’s images play with young girls insecurities and make them feel like they need to look like the woman in the picture.

Dove’s Model to Billboard Campaign video and Time Lapse Photoshop demonstrate the process of creating the “perfect woman.” The videos show the editing process companies use in order to create a picture of a young woman who all other women will strive to look like. This process creates a false picture. The woman in the picture isn’t actually real; she’s edited to seem perfect and flawless. The editing companies completely change almost every feature of the woman, almost beyond recognition. Dove’s Model to Billboard Campaign video shows a woman getting her picture taken for a makeup product. After the picture was taken, the video shows the editing process before ...

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...ieve that look, like eating disorders. Many women will eat very little, or sometimes even go days without eating so they can look like the woman in the picture. Eating disorders cause a number of health problems that can cause a huge detriment to a young woman’s life. Media’s images of a woman with an almost unrealistic body type don’t help with the issue of eating disorders. Media’s influence also causes women to develop self-esteem issues. Many women lose confidence in the way they look which leads them to think that they aren’t good enough or pretty enough like the women in the pictures in magazines and advertisements. These type of issues from media inhibit women from living a healthy, happy life because they’re always worried about their appearance, body, and style because they don’t look like that girl featured in Teen Vogue, People Magazine, or Cosmopolitan.