Body Image Research Paper

Erica K. Culler
Professor Adam Renchen
English 100 Section 84 16 October 2012
Body Image in Advertising, a Two-Faced Industry Body image for women and girls in the US is a sensitive and controversial issue. The trend became the thinner the better with the entrance of the supermodel Twiggy onto the fashion scene. This mind set became the norm in advertising, and with it a great deal of negative backlash surrounding body image and women. The thought was if you weren’t skinny then you weren’t attractive or healthy. Advertising in this regard has had a major impact in American culture and values. Affecting a woman’s or young girl’s self-esteem, and because men are inundated with these images as well it could affect the type of mate she’ll
attract. It brought a great deal of negative perceptions for women that don’t fit the thin woman mold. This type of advertising, in part can cause some women to question their own beauty, and fosters such disorders as anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating disorders. These types of ads have been known to create a distorted sense of body image for men and women, but the impact on women historically have been greater. It plays a major part in our values surrounding body image and shapes how we view ourselves and others around us. Society’s view on this subject has pretty much been set in stone since the 1960’s, until advertisers saw the need to think outside the box and changed their strategy by “helping?” women to view themselves in a positive way. Creating a shift in societal attitudes and values surrounding non-traditional body image, bolstering our self-esteem, pushing us to accept our average body sizes, and gave us a thin defense mechanism to the beauty and fashion industries age old tradition of bony is beautiful, which left some women feeling inadequate.
These types campaigns erupted onto the advertising scene round about the early 2000’s, bringing the trendy advertising approach of appealing to the non-traditional beauty, and the plethora of body types that come along with that inclusion. It employed Aristotle’s pathos appeal as an intrinsic tool in its arsenal of advertising operations. These campaigns became successful as evidenced by the Dove Real Beauty campaign and self-esteem awareness push.
The campaign featured plus size women in their underwear, older women with wrinkles, promoting self-acceptance and they played on our values as mothers with the self-esteem campaign and the infamous “Dove Evolution” video. The video featured a woman going from dull, plain and ugly to supermodel with all the ad trickery happening before our very eyes. Upon first glance Dove became this socially conscious company that cared about our self-esteem and wanting to change society’s idea of true beauty. Dove effectively said we dare to embrace a non-traditional image. Nike jumped on the band wagon with the introduction of “My Butt is Big” ad.
The ads vantage point came from a close up view, and features a bright white background, with three splotches of pink, orange and lavender round portions.
The first two splotches are large and placed behind the woman’s body, one to the right of the lower back and the other just below the woman’s rear end, the second one appearing just below the derriere forming the letter C. Nothing of the body is showing except the mid-section, and it comes from the side back view. She wears white fitted extremely short shorts, and takes up the whole edge of the left side of the ad. The color of the body is gray, and has a shadow overtone. The text is placed directly behind the woman’s body on the same level as the buttocks, on the right side of the ad. The first four words of the text are larger than the rest and are pink. The text is narrated by the woman giving the pros of why her big fanny is an advantage. The “Just Do It” text is pink instead of black like the rest of the text, and the website NIKEWOMEN.COM is written in black and the font size the same as the other text in the ad. The website address ended the text portion of the ad. The last thing appearing in the ad is the third splotch of color, on the right side bottom directly under the text. The splotch resembled a Miss Pacman, with an open mouth, a partial
view.
The close vantage point suggests an intimate perspective; the colors of the splotches are traditional girly colors and promote an “I am a femme fatale” and targets this audience. The bright white background and girly colors are meant to contrast against the body image, which is gray to take away the race question and whom the big butt belongs to. The text appears on the same level as the hinny, and is shaped like a hinny for emphases and visual effect, also suggesting real women have curves. The tone of the text is somewhat in your face with its attitude and narration, keeping in time with the mind-set of daring to go outside the traditional idea of beauty and “I’m beautiful just the way I am.” The text says I like my big butt and if you don’t like it you “are invited to kiss it.” This ad is meant to foster self-confidence and bring about a change in society’s perception of the non-traditional beauty, but does it really do that?
Digging deeper into this trend, it’s clear to see advertisers use this important social issue to make a buck, and change public perception of the company being advertised simultaneously. This approach to advertising can have a positive effect, but mostly it tends to segregate this part of society. This is evident by the touch-ups deemed necessary on the photographs in Dove’s Real Beauty campaign and the use of plus size models in their ads but saying out of the other side of their mouth you need to buy our products to change those same cellulite thighs featured in this campaign. For these reasons advertisers are two-faced villains right out of Gotham City.
Nike didn’t push a product in its “My Butt is Big” ad, but it did say you are different and made the large derriere an oddity of sorts.
An entity of its own, to be singled out and set apart just like the days of racial segregation in the US school system, and perpetuating this mind set by putting these women on the defense. All the while doing it under the guise of encouraging our self-esteem and natural beauty is good. Advertisers know no bound with these deceptive practices. These tactics are tacky and unscrupulous, seeking to insert in the public’s mind that Nike embraces the non-traditional beauty, and this is the attitude of the woman that wears or uses Nike products, when in reality Nike is just like every other company that seeks to increase capital. These campaigns are nothing more than manipulative marketing schemes that don’t give a flip about our self-esteem just their bottom-line which is capital
gain.