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Effects of social media and body image
Media Impact on Teenagers
Positive effects of advertising on children
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Our media continues to flood the marketplace with advertisements portraying our young teens much older than their age. Woman’s body images have been the focus of advertising for generations. However, now the focus is more directed to the younger teenage girls instead of woman. Young girls are often displayed provocatively while eating messy triple decker hamburgers, or sipping a diet sodas on an oversized motorcycles. As a result, young teens are dressing older than their age, trying to compete with this ideal media image. By allowing younger girls and teens to be portrayed as grown woman in advertisements, our teens are losing their young innocence. With society’s increasing tolerance, this epidemic will continue to exploit our young daughters, sisters and friends. Young teens feel an enormous amount of pressure to obtain the ‘ideal’ perfect body. Trying to emulate the advertisements seen in the media and magazines. As a result, more girls and woman are developing eating disorders. Media can no longer dictate how our young teenage girls should look.
The media also portrays y...
It has recently been brought up that media influences girls in pre-adolescence, which is highly likely since most young girls idolize Barbie (Rintala & Mustajoki, 1992). “Were Barbie a flesh-and-blood woman, her waist would be 39% smaller than that of anorexic patients, and her body weight would be so low that she would not be able to menstruate” (Rintala & Mustajoki, 1992). Most young girls wish that they could look like Barbie when they grew up, but if they knew the reality of having her measurements, their perceptions would probably change. Children frequently fantasize about who they will be, what they will do, and how they will look when they grow into adulthood. Advertisers use women that are abnormally thin, and even airbrush them to make them appear thinner.
In recent years, sociologists, psychologists, and medical experts have gone to great lengths about the growing problem of body image. This literature review examines the sociological impact of media-induced body image on women, specifically women under the age of 18. Although most individuals make light of the ideal body image most will agree that today’s pop-culture is inherently hurting the youth by representing false images and unhealthy habits. The paper compares the media-induced ideal body image with significant role models of today’s youth and the surrounding historical icons of pop-culture while exploring various sociological perspectives surrounding this issue.
It is evident that today’s advertisements for teen clothing are neither healthy, nor ethical, to use as a way to attract teen consumers; however, companies are getting away with this behavior, because their effective and inappropriate advertisements are merely innuendos. The modern label placed on teens is said to be the primary contender for the cause of eating disorders, suicide, bullying, and depression. Fortunately, groups of teens are getting together to put an end to these unethical advertisements and the messages the ads give off to teens; because of their efforts, the amount of effect that advertisements have on teens now, may dramatically plummet sometime in the near future. In my opinion, it is crucial that us teens make a profound alteration to the way teen merchandise is advertised, which in turn will end the knavish behavior of ...
Our society today is heavily influenced by the media and the imagery it shows. Though it may be indirect, the media provides unhealthy messages about ideal body sizes, gender attractiveness, and weight control that make women view themselves in a negative way. Magazines, television, and movies influence teenage girls on what they believe their body image should be. The images they show set the standard of what is considered physically attractive in our society. With the use of photoshop, media depicts falsified images of models and actresses to create a perfected look that is unattainable by the average woman. This creates a desire among teenage girls to look like these stars that are often shown. When teenage girls look at these images, they compare themselves to those images, and then judge themselves based on these comparisons. These judgements can potentially lead to eating disorders. In order to prevent the risk of eating disorders among teenage girls, the media should depict a typical image of people, rather than idolizing a specific standard of beauty.
The image of Disney’s ravishing princess marrying her perfect Prince Charming has infatuated young girl for decades. These delightful movies present role models for young girls influencing them to dress up as their favorite princesses in the image of their Disney princess models. Many parents regard this imaginative act of child's play as charming or innocent. However, there has been much speculation about the media’s message directed towards young girls. The most prevalent source of this worry is abundant in animated films (Travail). Although animated movies are exciting for young children, recent studies have shown that these films are causing a spike in body dissatisfaction in girls. Throughout the past century negative body image among young girls has been driven by Disney’s animated movies, Barbie dolls, and Barbie’s new animated films.
One major issue that continues to arise from the influence of media on children in our society is issues with eating disorders. According to National Eating Disorders, 80% of Americans watch television for over three hours daily (Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders). Being exposed to this much media daily exposes young kids and adolescents to skewed ideas of beauty and skewed standards of body image. Children and Adolescents are also constantly exposed to these images through advertising online, on billboards, in magazines, on transportation, etc. The images we see in the media are not even physically possible without the help of photo-shopping. Because of this, many kids and adolescents try to achieve the same appearance and end up developing eating disorders. An ongoing study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood institute shows that 40% of girls 9 and 10 years old have tried to lose weight (Teen Health and Media). Girls ages 9 and 10 years old should not even be remotely worried about their weight, yet being exposed to constant media in today’s society has led to severe body image issues. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated disorders, 8 million people in the US have an eating disorder, 90% of those are women, and they usually begin in teens but may begin as early as 8 years old. (Teen Health and Media). These
By viewing sexy ads, females are urged to express themselves through their bodies. Research has shown that females who view media as a means of assessment for body image are likely to experience unhappiness with their body. Even girls who are raised in loving homes by supportive parents grow up in a toxic cultural environment. They are at risk for self-harm, eating disorders and addictions. Countless numbers of young girls are actively trying to lose weight by dieting, use of laxatives, vomiting, or taking diet pills.
Jeane Kilbourne’s pioneering work in challenging gender bias in advertising has shed light on the detrimental effects it imposes on the youth. She demonstrates how ads perpetuate harmful stereotypes, reinforcing “traditional” ideals and roles. Kilbourne expresses how these advertising companies are contributing to societal issues such as body dysmorphia/ dissatisfaction, unhealthy relationships, and low self-esteem. By confronting these biases head-on, Kilbourne advocates for social change to foster a safer and more inclusive environment for the youth. Advertising plays a significant role in shaping societal perceptions, especially among the youth, regarding their body image and social comparison.
According to the American Eating Disorder Association, approximately half a million teenagers struggle with eating disorders or disordered eating. In this paper, eating disorders and their possible causes were selected for further research. This was a subject of interest because as seen above, statistics show that eating disorders are relatively common among Americans, and yet, it is continues to remain an under funded research area. Unlike some diseases, eating disorders have no correlation with age (including us) or gender, affecting individuals of all age and gender groups for different reasons. With the display of desired appearances in the media, societal pressures on the youth today, to remain thin, remain uncontrolled.This has resulted in an increase in the prevalence of eating disorders within the past several decades.
Photoshopping in advertisements appealing to teenagers has a long lasting impact on the lives of teenagers. Teenagers internalize these unrealistic photoshopped images of models in the media. This can have a negative impact on their self esteem and create eating disorders. Photoshop artists’ use this software to create a false image of what society has deemed as perfect. Huffington Post recently exposed Target’s excessive use of Photoshop in their online swimsuit line advertised for teenagers. It was obvious that the photograph of the teen model was stretched to make her limbs longer and skinnier, and the Huffington Post reported that “the model is missing a piece of her crotch.” (Feldman, 2014) The purpose of the missing crotch was to use the software to create deception of the thigh gap, a new trend of skinny by having your thighs not touch. This advertisement was appalling because Target photoshopped junior models who appeal to young girls. Jamie Feldman, a writer for the Huffington Post, states “The only thing worse than photoshopping adult models is photoshopping junior models, who market to young girls.” (Feldman, 2014) This issue matters because teenagers, especially young girls, are pressured to achieve this unattainable beauty that is portrayed in advertisements geared towards teenagers.
In today’s world, advertising reaches and influences teens in both negative and positive ways. Teens are bombarded with ads through television, teen magazines, radio, and the internet. Advertisers know teen’s buying power and their willingness to spend their money. Many companies even hire teens to be “consultants” and trendspotters. They want to know what teens are thinking and their likes and dislikes. Some feel this is a good thing and that teens are letting companies know what they want. On the other hand, many believe all this advertising to teens has a negative impact on them. Ads show models with “perfect” bodies. “Every year, the average adolescent sees over 5,000 advertisements mentioning attractiveness” (Haugen). Some feel this leads to teens having low self-esteem, while others argue that it does not have an effect. These people believe teens have the power and control in the advertising world.
No matter how serious the impacts of eating disorders are, the fashion industry still continues to give out the products called “doll clothes” (The Sunday Telegraph, 2009) to young women. People in our society do not want to see teenagers with “jutting bones and no breasts or hips” (The Sunday Telegraph, 2009). We really want to see girls with healthy body image. Clearly, there is a need to curtail the cases of teenagers suffering from body image pressures immediately (Kennedy, 2010).
It seems like every little girl dreams of becoming a model. They want to be thin and pretty like the models they see on television and in magazines. Often the desire becomes an obsession and young girls see "thinness" as being a needed characteristic. For many girls, the teenage years are spent trying to acquire this look. Females are trying diets and are exercising like it is a competition to see who can lose the most weight the quickest. The obsession of many young girls over their appearance or weight has led to a growing number of people who have developed an eating disorder to try to deal with their lack of self-esteem or other related problems.
It is a common consensus within today’s America that teenagers are looking and acting older, younger. The rise of social media and sexualized clothing marketed to young girls has young girls look older and more provocative than ever. However, despite the fact that young girls are physically presenting as older, it is still morally incorrect to sexualize them. This is due to the fact that young girls are sexualizing themselves in accordance with societal pressure, not because they are emotionally mature enough to receive sexual attention, especially that from older men.
If a young woman or girl were to open Time magazine to find the advertisements I have created for you about positive body image, I feel that more mother’s and daughters will continue to view your magazine as a reliable weekly news source. What is the purpose of using original Victoria’s Secret ads that put a faulty image into the minds of young women? Freshman biologist Megan Miller argues, “Body image is such a huge issue now. Young girls are so impressionable and when they see everyone ‘oooing and awing’ over the models, it’s going to get into their heads whether they want it to or