Anorexia In Advertising

Many people would argue that they personally feel exempt from the influences of advertising. But if this is the case, then why is the advertising industry grossing over $250 billion a year? The American living in the United States is typically exposed to over 3,00 advertisements in a single day, which means that he or she will spend two years of their lives watching television commercials. Advertisements are everywhere and we cannot avoid them. We see advertisements in schools, buildings, billboards, airplanes, bust stops, and so on. Not only are advertisements selling advertisements, but they’re selling values and beliefs, sexuality, images, and the normalcy of believing who we should be because an advertisement said so. Advertisements can create environments, but sometimes these environments can become toxic when consumers buy into its toxicity. One of the biggest toxicities of advertisements is the portrayal of women in advertisements. Though standards of beauty vary over time and by cultures, it seems as though the advertising industry is still buying into “the beauty myth.” This is notion that “the quality of beauty objectively and universally exists.” Though there have been strides to break this notion and attack how advertising has objectified women, it seems as though advertisements are objectifying women more and more. In most advertisements, we are not seeing women being depicted as who they really are, but being portrayed and objectified to be someone that they

Advertisements we see it all the time, some of them we ignore and some it gets our attention. Advertisements have many different pictures from food, people, clothing, cars and they are located everywhere in order to sell their product. But what if I told you that they have hidden messages projected throw them in many ways, and that we do not see it right of way. When it comes to advertisement in magazine and commercials, men are often portray as strong and big showing the image of power, but in the other hand women for a very long time have been portray in different ways as weak or a toy for sexual advertisement. In addition Kilbourne mention in her video “Killing us softy 4” they advertise images that show violence, sexuality and health issues.

Lauren Greenfield is a photojournalist that created the expose, Girl Culture, in 2002. Elline Lipkin says in her article “Girls’ Body’s, Girls’ Selves”, “The girls in Greenfield’s photos often see themselves as too thin, too fat, not stylish enough, too trendy, attractive or ugly or desirable or hideous” (596). When advertisements use edited or photoshopped images to sell a product it causes effects like what is seen in Greenfield's images. Advertisements make consumers believe that their products will make them more desirable. When that product doesn’t have that effect it makes the customer believe that something is wrong with them. Queue the, “Honey does this dress make me look fat?” This is especially harmful to younger girls that are more likely to be insecure about their bodies and try harder to fit in. It can even go so far as to cause eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. The media puts out images of extremely thin and fit women which can only be achieved by digital editing and photoshop. The young girl flipping through the magazine has no idea that the pictures she’s seeing aren’t real and aren’t achievable and it ruins her self image.

The film “Killing Us Softly 4,” by Jean Kilbourne elaborates on the fact that women and the female physique are over-analyzed, objectified, scrutinized, and treated as a means for financial profit by advertisements in our current society. Ironically enough, there are about 3000 ads shown to an individual on a daily basis (Kilbourne 2010). As stated in the film, editors use multiple photos of women to devise an impossible body type, implementing an image of who and what women are in our current society, and this is all done with the aid of Photoshop; the images are constructed, they are not real (Kilbourne 2010). It has been noted that 75% of women have an eating disorder; this seems to be an unfortunate pattern within groups of young

For women, advertising exemplifies the ideal female body. According to Kilbourne, young girls are taught from a very early age that they need to spend lots of time and money to achieve this “physical perfection.” But realistically this cannot be achieved. The ideal woman’s body is Caucasian, very skinny, big breasts, no flaws, and pretty much no pores. This cannot be achieved because it is physically impossible to look like this; the illusion comes from the secret world of Photoshop. No woman is beautiful enough so they leave it to technology to create perfection. The supermodel Cindy Crawford said, “I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford!” She knew the realities of Photoshop and body image, and more women and girls need to become aware of this as well.

We have all heard, “you are what you eat”; however, and maybe more importantly, you want to be what you watch or read. How does today’s advertising impact on your body image? The shaping of our concept of the ideal body image begins at a young age and continues though adulthood. It begins with our toys; that first Barbie you received on your sixth birthday; the one with the long blond flowing hair and the perfect curves that could wear any outfit. Thinking back to that day, I reflect on the times I stared in the mirror, wishing I looked liked my Barbie and knew if I lost weight I would attract my perfect Ken. As I matured and put away my

Magazines, and ads have beauty tips, models, and weight lose tips. All of these resources have ways to make women expect more from themselves even if they are already attractive and do not need to lose weight, it is a way for women obtain an eating disorder.“I have yet to meet a female over about age 13 (and often it’s more like about age 10) who hasn’t looked at pictures of women in advertisements or other media and thought,’“I wish I looked like that’” (Powell). These types of conditions also happen in commercials. Seeing an underweight model on television is like seeing the person in real life, but just on a screen. This can cause women and girls to admire the models and start to hope for a thin body like theirs. One study found that teenage girls who watched TV commercials depicting underweight models lost self-confidence and became more dissatisfied with their own bodies (YWCA). Not only do these women and girls obtain an eating disorder, they could also become low in self -esteem making them insecure about their body. This can trigger the start of Anorexia. Out of all the resources mentioned including ads, magazines, commercials, and models, models happen to be the greatest impact starting eating

Banning beauty advertisements would decrease significantly the percentage of anorexic and bulimic women. Media is creating a false image of how real women supposed to look. Media affects woman physically and emotionally. Making them create a false image of perfection about how a real woman should look; thin and young. The most famous trends are being used by extremely thin and the prettiest women. This is considered to be the ideal women. Women will start comparing themselves to this model,

One way to prevent the rate of females developing low self-esteem and eating disorders is by making more positive TV commercials. It would be extremely difficult to get rid of the commercials with unrealistic expectations. However, ones with a positive message that promote a healthy body can be made. Commercials with women of all races, ethnicities, shapes and sizes should be more prevalent in the media (like the Dove® Real Beauty Campaign). There should also be more advertisements showing how the ideal body is socially constructed.

This advertisement is an image that demonstrates an illustration of a fashion sketch that is drawn in exaggerated proportions and next to it, a sensible demonstration of an existing female with the same measurements as if she was the sketch. This campaign is about stopping the spread of anorexia and Photoshop of models in unrealistic manner that does not meet any ones quota but feels impossible yet desirable to achieve. This is the standards the fashion industry has set. You are not a sketch is a simplistic advertisement making the viewer aware to take health and body figure more serious.

Advertising sells more than a product; it sells values, images, concepts of love, romance, success, popularity, worth, and even normality. This puts a large negative impact on society because of social standards. These standards begin to force men and women to feel insecure, anxious, and hatred toward their bodies. Seven million girls and women under the age of twenty-five suffer from eating disorders and sixteen percent of high school boys also suffer from eating disorders, because of society’s ideal image of beauty (Photoshop in Advertising). In modeling, most agencies require women to be at least 5’9, size 0-6, and around 14-21 years of age (Model Requirements). Even though plus sizes start at size 14 in women’s, a runway models plus size starts at size 6. To top this off, almost every single

“The average American is exposed to over three-thousand ads every single day, and will spend two years of his or her life watching television commercials” (Kilbourne). Everyday people are exposed to billboards, television commercials, influential mall kiosks, and magazine images that portray beautiful, flawless, perfect women selling a product. The women in these advertisements have had their hair, makeup, and even their body profile altered in order to look a certain way. That altered image is what Americans think beauty should be. Advertisement companies are continuously photoshopping women in their advertisements, giving a false idea of what women should look like; this is wrong and it needs to be banned in the United States.

They found that some advertisers take for granted some ideas of gender and vulnerability which informs their choices in business and creativity. Within others, they found concern about how women would be affected by certain ads but little awareness was held for how men could be affected by these same ads. In the end the research brought to the surface a gender dichotomy, as well as a myriad of different ethical responses toward gendered images they had used. The researchers hoped through further research to create more accountability and professional guidelines toward gender in advertising without having to rely solely on

Sex sells is what companies tell themselves. They put a young female model wearing shorts that are too short and a top that doesn't fully cover her breasts as their selling technology. They do this to attract the viewer's attention. By adding sex in advertisements it is creating an increase in eating disorders, encourages a common view of beauty and deceives viewers. Having sex in advertisement is not doing anything good for women, so it shouldn't be needed.

One of the reasons eating disorders may occur is, advertisements. You see them on the