Hydroxycut Advertisements and Their Effects on Young Women
Chastain Black
Instructor Reyes
English 102
29 April 2012
Hydroxycut Advertisements and Their Effects on Young Women Iovative Health Sciences, Inc. is the owner of the diet supplement brand Hydroxycut. The company advertises through numerous media channels to reach its countless viewers. The Hydroxycut advertisements are most commonly visual images like commercials, billboards, and print ads that carry a voice all their own. With teen girls and young women being the majority of Hydroxycut’s audience it is only natural to focus on them and how Hydroxycut advertisements affect them. At this unripe but blossoming age, body image, how they see themselves, as well as how others see them is what primarily influences their self-esteem. Iovative Health Sciences, Inc. is mindful of this scenario, so they use it to their advantage by preying on young women’s insecurities and exploiting them. The British psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, and journalist of the article Losing Bodies, Susie Orbach explains, “So deep and so pervasive is the sense that our bodies are not okay as they are that private organizations see profitable opportunities […]” (par.10). Day after day young women are exposed to Hydroxycut advertisements that tell them how they should think, feel, and look using convincing strategies to add to the already media induced thin ideal body image. Hydroxycut visual ads take part in molding this thin ideal and implementing it into the minds of teen girls and young women prompting them to turn to more drastic measures like eating disorders to fit this media influenced cultural standard.
If one looks at the advertisements promoting the Hydroxycut brand they will see that the job of the marketing department is to create an idea of what the perfect body should look like; this is done using models as their prototypes. Many depictions of the prototypes used in the ads are misrepresented and deceptive; this creates false impressions in the minds of these females. Mia
Instructor Reyes
English 102
29 April 2012
Hydroxycut Advertisements and Their Effects on Young Women Iovative Health Sciences, Inc. is the owner of the diet supplement brand Hydroxycut. The company advertises through numerous media channels to reach its countless viewers. The Hydroxycut advertisements are most commonly visual images like commercials, billboards, and print ads that carry a voice all their own. With teen girls and young women being the majority of Hydroxycut’s audience it is only natural to focus on them and how Hydroxycut advertisements affect them. At this unripe but blossoming age, body image, how they see themselves, as well as how others see them is what primarily influences their self-esteem. Iovative Health Sciences, Inc. is mindful of this scenario, so they use it to their advantage by preying on young women’s insecurities and exploiting them. The British psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, and journalist of the article Losing Bodies, Susie Orbach explains, “So deep and so pervasive is the sense that our bodies are not okay as they are that private organizations see profitable opportunities […]” (par.10). Day after day young women are exposed to Hydroxycut advertisements that tell them how they should think, feel, and look using convincing strategies to add to the already media induced thin ideal body image. Hydroxycut visual ads take part in molding this thin ideal and implementing it into the minds of teen girls and young women prompting them to turn to more drastic measures like eating disorders to fit this media influenced cultural standard.
If one looks at the advertisements promoting the Hydroxycut brand they will see that the job of the marketing department is to create an idea of what the perfect body should look like; this is done using models as their prototypes. Many depictions of the prototypes used in the ads are misrepresented and deceptive; this creates false impressions in the minds of these females. Mia
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