Bad Body Image

Advertisements are everywhere: on television, internet, billboards, etc.! But some advertisements aren’t the best in portraying their message; some tend to portray the wrong one. Ads send out the message that women require a “perfect” body, are unclothed to be attractive and grab attention, and use certain products be appealing. These types of commercials and billboards are hurtful to women as they send messages that are wrong and cause damage to their self-esteem, body image, and their actual bodies.
Female models that are on billboards in Times Square have what you call a “perfect body.” But the ads that portray the perfect body don’t have a diverse body type and cause women to try to obtain that body type and hurt their body image. Victoria’s
The message it was sending was not that they have a large selection of bras, but that their models have perfect bodies. It caused uproar and a petition on Change.org was sent out to change the slogan of the campaign as “contributes to a culture that encourages serious health problems such as negative body image and eating disorders" (Bahadur). The effects of this poorly worded slogan gave off the wrong message and could cause women to strive for that specific body type. In a study by Teen People, which surveyed girls, “27%... felt that the media pressures them to have a perfect body.” In a study done by Dr. Eric Stice, Dr. Diane Spangler, and Dr. W. Stewart Agras showed that girls that already had body problems showed more “dieting, body dissatisfaction, anxiety and bulimic symptoms like binging and purging” (Goode). If one already had body image issues and felt the pressure from the media, they would end up dieting or subsequently develop an eating disorder. Another example of a wrong message sent through the media is the thigh gap controversy at Urban Outfitters. On the Urban Outfitters website, they were selling a pair of mesh briefs; but the model had a thigh gap, “a space between a woman's upper thighs, so her legs don't touch when in a neutral position”
In the “late-19th century and early-20th century, skin-lightening became increasingly popular among black women in America” (Scherker). For lovelier and lighter skin, women of color could lighten their skin to be appealing and maybe find someone who likes the “new them.” Instead of being comfortable in the skin they were born in, they used a cream that contains chemicals that are banned in major countries, like Australia and Japan. It shows that being natural is not good enough. People buy these products to alter themselves to look pleasant in public. However, it doesn’t promote a positive body image. The ads and products are not showing people in their natural skins. They are photo shopped and airbrushed, because they are in the industry, where you must look attractive to the public. A normal person on a normal day doesn’t look like a model in a photo shoot. These beauty products aim to achieve that goal, but in reality, it is taking away from the naturalness that every woman should be comfortable and confident