Media's Negative Influence On Women

As seen in films like Killing Us Softly 4 and Miss Representation, we can see how much media and advertisements affect everyone consciously and subconsciously. Through images and advertisements, women’s bodies are hacked apart to sell products. This has a negative effect body image and self-confidence in young girls and women all over the world. It is extremely important to understand the extent to which circulating images of women in media affect standards and expectations of women in our society in order to hopefully cease to create such degrading images. Our society hurts itself by producing the types of images we see in media and advertisements today, yet it has done very little to try to reverse the messages put out. For the sake of our

society, it is very important to understand what message these images put out, how it affects women and our society as a whole, and how society can improve media as to promote better body images.
The effects of media on society can be seen in multiple aspects of life such as one’s perception of body image.

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

statistics are startling and need to be addressed.
Though most people are aware of these concerning statistics and feel something needs to change, the large media companies and CEO’s do not want to change the way they advertise. Advertisement is all about getting people to want to buy new things, whether it is clothes, shoes, makeup, handbags, etc. They advertise a look that people then associate with being hot, trendy, and then they go buy these products in order to attain the look advertised. If companies stopped advertising in a way that makes people want to be like what they see in the advertisements, then these companies loose profits. So while those affected by subliminal messages in advertising want these companies to cut back on the photoshopping and airbrushing, these companies are going to do whatever it takes to sell their product, unfortunately at the expense of peoples health and lives.
Another major aspect of life that media has a huge effect on is one’s self-confidence with their body image or their self-worth. According to The Sundial, “Researchers find that the more time people spend on social media, the more depressed they become when comparing their lives to others” (Perez, 2015). This is incredibly important since we are seeing huge amounts of time being spent watching television and on social media. By constantly seeing artificial perfection through advertisements, television, and social media, young girls and adolescents begin to view themselves as less because they do not look like the girls in the pictures. The Journal of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Studies says, “self-esteem levels have also been linked to body satisfaction. Usually when one is low the other is low as well” (Russello, 2013). So when media displays an unachievable body type, people in society develop unattainable standards, therefore, feel bad about their current body. This low body satisfaction then leads to less satisfaction with oneself as a whole. This lack of satisfaction then leads to other mental health issues such as eating disorders, depression, and can lead people to attempt or commit suicide. This is incredibly detrimental to society as it leads to more and more people unhappy with themselves, their body’s, their lives, etc.
What ethical approaches can be applied in order to find the best solution to the issues that media causes? The Common Good Approach, as well as the Utilitarian Approach, can be applied to the ethics of this dilemma. However, the Utilitarian Approach stresses more the importance of doing the greatest good or “least harm for all who are effected- customers, employees, shareholders, the community, and the environment” (A Framework, 2015). If you apply the Utilitarian Approach, the least harm would mean to change the way our society advertises. The least harm needs to then come to the consumers, people of society, thus sacrificing the abilities of media companies. With less photoshopping, less airbrushing, less artificial perfection, kids and adolescents in our society will not see such false body images. By seeing less photoshopping and airbrushing in media, it does not promote unattainable physical looks, thus hopefully leading to better self-image in people. If the looks displayed in media and advertisements were more realistic, people using those products would look closer to the images they see. This would hopefully lead to better ideas of self-image and ultimately lead to fewer eating disorders and self-confidence issues within our society.
On the other hand, the Common Good Approach “suggests that the interlocking relationships of society are the basis of ethical reasoning and that respect and compassion for all others-especially the vulnerable-are requirements of such reasoning. This approach also calls attention to the common conditions that are important to the welfare of everyone” (A Framework, 2015). If you apply the Common Good Approach, one could argue for society and large companies to meet in the middle. By meeting somewhere in the middle, the images projected onto society are less false, less photoshopped than they currently are, but companies and CEO’s still get to create demand for the products they are trying to sell. This fulfills the ideas of the Common Good Approach because the companies are still allowed to advertise and sell their products, but people in society are not seeing such unattainable body images. Unlike the Utilitarian Approach, it does not find a solution that causes the least harm to one group, but instead finds the least harmful solution to all parties involved. If society cannot agree that today’s images are increasingly harmful to children and adolescents, they can surely try to find common ground as to benefit everyone to the best of their ability.
It is also important to acknowledge that media can have a negative effect on boys and men as well. In contrast to media’s effect on girls to slim down, boys want to bulk up and ‘Man Up’. According to Common Sense Media, “boys are encouraged at an early age to think that being a man and being physically strong go hand in hand” (Knorr, 2015). This idea of a man is constantly perpetuated through images of very physically strong men with chiseled abs and perfect tans. These ideas lead to “crash diets, over-exercising, smoking, or even taking dangerous supplements” (Knorr, 2015). Similarly to eating disorders in females, these trends caused by media in males are not healthy. Mirror Mirror reports that “a survey conducted by Psychology Today found that men believe their appearance is much more important to women than women report it is; for instance, men believe if they lose their hair women will not want to date them, even though many women say they are willing to date bald men” (Body Image Men). This shows us that body image affects everyone, even those whom we do not even realize could be so affected.
As we can see, media’s images affect everyone, and definitely not in the most positive way. In addition to the Common Good Approach and the Utilitarian Approach, the Rights Approach can also be applied. The Rights Approach comes from “the belief that humans have a dignity based on their human nature per se or on their ability to choose freely what they do with their lives. On the basis of such dignity, they have a right to be treated as ends and not merely as means to other ends” (A Framework, 2015). By applying the Rights Approach, one could argue that everyone in society deserves to not be shown false ideals of beauty in every aspect of their lives. They deserve healthy body images and a society that does not promote unhealthy ideals. People in our society deserve to be able to have healthy body images and healthy mental health over the importance of these large companies need to make money and sell their products.
It is obvious that something about the way that we advertise and project images in media needs to change. But what can we do about it? We can see that kids and adolescents are vulnerable to media and the messages media puts forth. Since kids often cannot differentiate between what is real and what is not, it is extremely important to limit exposure to media by not watching as much television or limiting time on the internet. However, because it is impossible to limit all exposure to media, Anne Morris and Debra Katzman discuss the importance of talking to children and adolescents about what they see in media as to help them see the reality behind media (Morris & Katzman, 2003). If children and adolescents understand more about the media that they are seeing and understand the ways in which it falsely advertises, then maybe they will not be as likely to experience the negative effects that media causes. It would also help if media promoted better health and more positive body image content so that children and adolescents can see healthy body image instead of photoshopped bodies.
Through all this we can see that multiple ethical approaches can be applied.

But what would be the best one that finds the best solution to the issues at hand? The Utilitarian Approach is the best ethical approach to apply since it argues for the best solution. It argues to change the way media advertises as to reduce eating disorders in children and adolescents, but to also increase body image of girls and boys in our society. This may have to come at the expense of the revenue generated by the advertising companies, but it is a trade-off that more positively effects our society as a whole. Using this model, people in society succeed over corporations. It is more important that people in our society are happy and healthy than it is for these huge corporations to get money and sell their

products.
There are many companies today that are starting this shift towards media and advertising of ‘the real woman’. Companies such as Aerie use images of women that have not been altered, photoshopped, or airbrushed. These images show women’s ‘flaws’ such as their curves and dimples and pores. Aerie’s unretouched ads started in the spring of 2014 and is called the #Aerie REAL Campaign. Aerie describes the ads as “challenging supermodel standards by featuring unretouched models in their latest collection of bras, undies and apparel” (Krupnick, 2014). Aerie acknowledges that “one ad campaign will not solve the complicated relationship between young women’s self-esteems and images of women in media. But when a brand beloved by teen girls shows off its cute bras and undies on bodies with real rolls, lines and curves, it can certainly help” (Krupnick, 2014). While it is true that one company cannot completely change the industry, it gets the ball rolling for other companies to join the fight for more body positive images in our society.
In addition to the more body positive images being put forth through the #AerieREAL campaign, Aerie actually reported an increase in sales since starting. They report “the lingerie brand’s 2015 sales were up 20%; in Q4 of last year, they rose 26%” (Colon, 2016). This shows that using the Utilitarian Approach does not necessarily have to come at the cost of the brands income, but that in fact it could very well boost sales for a company. The least amount of harm still goes to the customers and the consumers, but we can see that harm does not necessarily have to come to the brands.
Some other companies that have joined alongside Aerie in the move toward using fewer retouched photos in their companies. These companies include Modcloth, Seventeen Magazine, and Darling Magazine. While Aerie is probably the most recognized for starting their commitment to producing fewer edited photos, Seventeen magazine actually vowed to stop “Photoshopping their models back in 2012 when Julia Bluhm, a 14 year old from Maine, organized a petition with over 84,000 signatures that demanded at least one unaltered photo spread per issue” (Oliver, 2015). Seventeen Magazine actually responded to this petition by vowing to digitally alter anything in the photos of their editorial pages.
Similarly to Seventeen Magazines pledge to reduce edited photos on their brand, on their website, Modcloth has agreed to
1. To do their best not to change the shape, size, proportion, color and/or remove/enhance the physical features, of the people in our ads in post-production.
2. To be honest about ads that are materially Photoshopped, by adding a “Truth in Advertising” label to these ads.
3. Not to run Photoshopped ads in media where children under 13 might see them. (Oliver, 2015).
Because of rules like these set by companies like Modcloth, media can begin to shift their images to ones that abide by these rules. If there is less changing of shape, size, proportion, etc. then the images that children and adolescents in our society are seeing will not promote low self-esteem and body image.
However, I do find one thing still to be problematic about this approach that Modcloth has taken. Rule number 3 only applies to children under 13. The negative effects caused by seeing photoshopped images through media are not limited to children before the age of 13. The effects of photoshopped images can be seen in people of any age. While Modcloth’s approach is a step in the right direction, we can see that companies still have a long way to go in understanding how the images they project affect people and how to prevent that.
These brands show that it is possible to move towards media with less photoshopping, less airbrushing, and less editing. Though these brands have taken a huge step towards the cause, there is still a long way to go. I hope that other companies in today’s society follow the lead of these companies towards less editing in media and towards more positive body images in our society. It is important to change the negatives before we are too stuck in our ways.