"Beauty is not what you see on the outside, it's what lies within." This is what we are taught throughout our childhood. However, by the time a person is in their teens, they have seen thousands of advertisements in the media, which stress the "perfect image." These advertisements send a message that this is how women are "supposed" to look. When women see these advertisements, many times they feel ashamed they do not look the way that the models do. But, should women feel like this? Most advertisements are not even directed toward beauty products. For instance, there are many commercials on television that focus on skinny, big-breasted, gorgeous women. However, the product being sold has nothing to do with the women themselves. If the product the advertisement is trying to sell is not a beauty product then why is the main focus on the attractive women? The answer to this question is: body image sells. American society has an obsession with the "perfect image" and advertisers flaunt this in persuading people to buy their products, knowing the negative affect on their viewers.
The definition of the "ideal body" has changed drastically throughout the years. Until recently, a well-rounded woman was considered most desirable, mainly because they were considered the most fertile. In the Victorian Era, if a woman was stick-thin, she was considered sickly. In the early 1900's the corseted, hour-glass look became fashionable. However, by the 1920's, the ideal body shape was quickly starting to slim down. The flat-chested, slim-hipped appearance was now in style. Yet, it was the full-figured shapes of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield turning heads in the fifties and sixties. This quickly segued into the scrawny Twiggy look. ...
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...mount of production, but have also modernized their style. Clothing for plus sized women use tot resemble a tent, now, they are sexy and revealing outfits. A high quality example of the new sexy style is the plus size clothing brands created by one of the most desirable celebrities, Jennifer Lopez. Her new clothing line is called JLO Lovelies, and it features plus size clothing for all ages.
Companies will always need a way to earn money, and as of right now, their way of doing that is by keeping women dissatisfied with their bodies. Companies do not earn money by telling their viewers that they are perfect the way they are, but that they need to purchase their product to achieve perfection. Therefore, even with the new demand for realistic sizes in models and clothing, women will still desperately desire the nearly unattainable image that the media sells.
The plain truth, however, is that things have not always been this way. If you take a look to back in the 1950s, the iconic sex symbol Marilyn Monroe epitomized the typical standard of beauty as she flaunted a size 14. “She was every man’s dream girl and the envy of every other woman. She was beautiful, charming and exuded the aura of an angel—or so we hear”(Waters 2). We are constantly evolving our thoughts of what is ideal and because of this, there is ...
Marilyn Monroe created a legendary image and was one of the most beautiful women of her time. Today, Kate Upton is almost the same size and some refer to her as “fat.” The ideal image fifty years ago was much more attainable than today’s standard extremely tall and thin models. What has changed in society to make us think this way? Modeling has changed drastically from an image that was curvy and healthy to an image that is very thin and hard to achieve.
The media is a fascinating tool; it can deliver entertainment, self-help, intellectual knowledge, information, and a variety of other positive influences; however, despite its advances for the good of our society is has a particular blemish in its physique that targets young women. This blemish is seen in the unrealistic body images that it presents, and the inconsiderate method of delivery that forces its audience into interest and attendance. Women are bombarded with messages from every media source to change their bodies, buy specific products and redefine their opinion of beauty to the point where it becomes not only a psychological disease, but a physical one as well.
Every branch of advertising is based on this idea, directly or indirectly. For example, magazines only use pictures of skinny people in the front page to catch reader’s attention. As well as the TV does with the commercials of different products, and most of the time are diet products, presented by celebrities that are really skinny, and good-looking, inviting women to use them to look in the same way. In Julie Mehta’s article “Pretty Unreal,” the author Jessica Weiner states, “If you feel good about yourself, how many products will you buy? So [Advertisers] have to make you feel like you need what they’re selling by using unrealistic images” (2). Unfortunately women still doesn’t notice this fact.
Throughout time the evolution of American advertising has drastically changed. What hasn’t changed is the way that women are being presented. From the roaring twenties to modern time magazine ads have always advocated the main focus to be a woman’s beauty. As time goes by the advertisement industry focuses more on things like big breasts, tiny waists, long legs, and of course beauty. For instance, Chanel, a perfume line, constantly misrepresents their models in there ads by making the main focus to be their bodies.
Models of Rubens, Rembrandt, Gaugin and Matisse were all rounded, plump women.A plump and healthy women was admired as it reflected wealth and success.(14). Where as images of women have become slimmer since the 1950’s according to Jennifer A. (Australian journal of nutrition and dietetics).
The media has had an increasingly destructive effect on young people who are becoming worryingly obsessed with their body image. The media is saturated in sexual imagery in which young people have to face every day. The sheer volume of sexual imagery in the media today has resulted in the vast majority of young people to become hooked on looking as near to perfection everyday by using the latest products and buying the latest fashions. This used to be enough but lately the next step to achieving perfection is cosmetic surgery. Everyone wants to look attractive, especially teenagers who are not only put under massive strain to succeed but to look beautiful and climb the ranks of the social ladder, and it seems that the only way to achieve the much desired beauty is to turn to drastic measures.
Mass media is designed to reach large audiences through the use of technology. Its purpose is
What is the perfect body type? Throughout our adolescence ages into the adult hood stage many of young women struggle to answer this question. Our idea of what the perfect body type is ever changing however it is always influenced by the Medias perception of what the perfect body image should look like. We all idolize these images we see on television and in magazines and some of us would do anything to look just like them. This image forces us to have self esteem issues.These advertisements are damaging both our mental and physical state of being Many young girls who take extreme measures to live up to the Medias perception of the perfect body type are more likely to develop one of the many body image disorders. The average age a girl starts to diet is eight ("Media and Eating Disorders" 1). When a girl becomes obsessed with dieting and looking better, they can easily become anorexic or bulimic. 79% of teenage girls who vomit are dedicated readers of woman's magazines ("Media and Eating Disorders" 2). The Medias standard of perfection puts stress and pressure on young girls to become skinner. Eating disorders, excessive exercise, and depression are a result of the Medias influence on their self image. The media have negatively influenced the self image of young girls by forcing their unrealistic perception of what women should look like onto them .
Magazines (Ads) and pratically all areas of the media focus on the idea of perfection and that without beauty you have nothing and you are nothing, making it the all time goal for everyone. However, the main target audience are women who want or feel the need to look like the women in media because those women look happy, are popular, and successful. Problem with this is this ideal goal is unrealistic and unreachable which puts a great un-needed strain. Advertisments think about every aspect the colors used, the people, the environment and the words even the tinest aspects are carefully planned to portray a wanted feeling or meaning to hit the target audience in order for them to buy the product. They aim at trying to convience the female population
Advertisements can make people insecure about their body and facial features. Many companies do not know that if by posting the advertisement if it will hurt the viewer's feelings and in most cases they do. Companies such as Old Spice, Victoria Secret, and Peta have body shamed and this shows that even well-known companies also make mistakes. In Jean Kilbourne’s article “Jesus is a Brand of Jeans”, I agree with her when she says that “...advertising often turns people into objects. Women’s bodies—and men’s bodies too these days—are dismembered, packaged and used to sell everything from chainsaws to chewing gum, champagne to shampoo. . . .[Girls] cannot possibly escape the message that their bodies are objects and imperfect objects at that.
...r young, impressionable mind will have been exposed to more than 77,000 advertisements, according to an international study. Last week, it confirmed the link between the images of female perfection that dominate the media and increasing cases of low self-esteem among young women..” (Shields,2007). The propaganda techniques such as liking, sex appeal, and celebrity endorsements are used in advertisements constantly. Commercials on television, billboards, magazines, and various other advertisement types are everywhere you look in America, and sadly it has become very important for women of all ages to try to be perfect. We come into contact with these messages every day, and the beauty industry is getting bigger and bigger. Propaganda has molded our worldly perception of beauty and will only continue to hurt us and gain from our lack of self-esteem if we allow it to.
The media and many advertisments influence, or at least try to influence viewers and listeners. Beauty advertisments particulary uses skinny, long-haired models, with beautiful soft, and smooth skin with a beautiful eye color texture that complements the product being advertised. The people who work in the field of advertising use beautiful models for make-up, clothing, and for a representation of what an individual young lady, or man should be, or look like. Beauty advertisments often target young girls, making them insecure and feel worthless about themselves when their fine just the way they are. Advertisers make it very broad about the product that they're selling, and having a model present for the advertisment to attract other young ladies who feel that wearing make-up and beautiful wardrobe will make them beautiful, and look like the presenters, or models on television.
Women do this to try and pursuit the impossible standard of perfection. We should be able to look within ourselves for a sense of beauty and confidence regardless of what fashion advertising is saying. Finding your inner beauty is not easy for most young ladies. No advertisement should make you feel like your body is not good enough for this world. People worry about being so perfect that they don’t recognize the true beauty inside them. You need to be able to learn and love your body no matter what size or shape you are. An unrealistic photoshopped advertisement is changing us to believe that you can’t be happy until your body looks a certain
Advertising creates a mythical dream world where there are no problems, everyone is beautiful, and has money to spare. Advertisements depict the way in which people think women and men are “supposed to be” (Cortese 52). Women are shown all these images as role models, which are unattainable. Females are not able to be happy with their bodies because everyday in the media they are told that they are not beautiful. The average American woman is 5 feet tall and weighs 142 pounds. When is the last time you saw a women meeting these qualifications in any advertisement? The truth is most people don't have the genetic potential to be the idealized shape and size in our culture (“Every”). Women are doomed from the beginning.