Anorexia In Advertising
The anxiety girls and women experience from feeling unattractive is arguably one of the most pervasive and damaging consequence of advertising. The media shows only one body type in advertisements - that of a very tall and thin woman - a woman who would meet the criteria for anorexia as 15% below normal weight (class movie). Ad companies sell this image, alter photos digitally, and associate perfection with thinness. In reality, this abnormal slim body shape is unattainable for most women. Advertising constantly sells the myth that women can and should achieve physical perfection to live happy lives. Nowadays "physical perfection" is an unhealthy thinness that very few women can attain. This causes problems in the form of eating disorders. In fact, according to Caring online" "We live in a thin obsessed world where skinny models are idolized and 60% of high-school girls want to loose weight." Advertising companies use
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not only unbelievably thin models for their ads, but they also enhance the pictures using technology.
Physical perfection is so hard obtain that many times, even these "beautiful" women are deemed not good enough for advertisements.
That's why photos are altered afterwards to remove any lines, bumps, or lumps. This raises the standard for perfection even more. A result of these marketing tactics is anorexic women. Men are much less affected by this disease, as only 10% of victims are males. According to the class movie, fifteen to twenty-four year-old women are most vulnerable to this and other disorders, such as bulimia.
Most females' bodies can't physically become so thin. After all diets and alternative methods, both women and men tend to develop eating disorders. People see these disorders as the easy way of fitting in, achieving that "perfect" look, or even keeping their jobs. Advertising company's show models that are thin, and the digitally remove any flaw they might have. This gives off the illusion that being thin is a major aspect of being so perfect. Advertising is major contributing factor to the amount of people with eating
disorders.
While ads will continue to display the image of their idea of a "perfect" person, people will continue to compare themselves to the models. This will continue to support eating disorders. Companies will continue to sell this image, alter their photographs, and associate perfection with thinness while people will continue to die. According to Jean Kilbourne, how will a woman ever reach "perfection" without these disorders, considering that the average woman in the US today is 5'4" and 140 pounds and the average model is 5'11" and weighs only 117 pounds???
SOURCES http://www.mediaed.org/videos/MediaAndHealth/SlimHopes/studyguide/SlimHopes.pdf - (Jean Kilbourne)
http://www.caringonline.com/eatdis/misc/hall_val.htm - (Caring online)
not only unbelievably thin models for their ads, but they also enhance the pictures using technology.
Physical perfection is so hard obtain that many times, even these "beautiful" women are deemed not good enough for advertisements.
That's why photos are altered afterwards to remove any lines, bumps, or lumps. This raises the standard for perfection even more. A result of these marketing tactics is anorexic women. Men are much less affected by this disease, as only 10% of victims are males. According to the class movie, fifteen to twenty-four year-old women are most vulnerable to this and other disorders, such as bulimia.
Most females' bodies can't physically become so thin. After all diets and alternative methods, both women and men tend to develop eating disorders. People see these disorders as the easy way of fitting in, achieving that "perfect" look, or even keeping their jobs. Advertising company's show models that are thin, and the digitally remove any flaw they might have. This gives off the illusion that being thin is a major aspect of being so perfect. Advertising is major contributing factor to the amount of people with eating
disorders.
While ads will continue to display the image of their idea of a "perfect" person, people will continue to compare themselves to the models. This will continue to support eating disorders. Companies will continue to sell this image, alter their photographs, and associate perfection with thinness while people will continue to die. According to Jean Kilbourne, how will a woman ever reach "perfection" without these disorders, considering that the average woman in the US today is 5'4" and 140 pounds and the average model is 5'11" and weighs only 117 pounds???
SOURCES http://www.mediaed.org/videos/MediaAndHealth/SlimHopes/studyguide/SlimHopes.pdf - (Jean Kilbourne)
http://www.caringonline.com/eatdis/misc/hall_val.htm - (Caring online)