Due To The Extensive Amount Of Harm That Photo Manipulation

Advertising is an over 200$ billion industry and according to Jean Kilbourne, people are exposed to over 3000 advertisements a day. Advertisements are everywhere so there is no escaping them; they are on TV, magazines, billboards, etc. These ads tell women and girls that what’s most important is how they look, and they surround us with the image of "ideal female beauty". However, this flawlessness cannot be achieved. It’s a look that’s been created through Photoshop, airbrushing, cosmetics, and computer retouching. There have been many studies done that have found a clear link between exposure to the thin ideal in the mass media to body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization, and eating disorders among women. Body dissatisfaction is negative thoughts that a person has about his or her own body. Thin ideal internalization is when a person believes that thinness is equivalent to attractiveness and will lead to positive life outcomes. Less than 5% of women actually have the body type that is shown of

Various studies have demonstrated that when women are shown both photographs or TV commercials with extremely slender models they indicate an increase in dissatisfaction with their body (Crouch & Degelman, 1998). A study regarding social media specifically, was conducted by researchers at the University of Haifa on 248 girls ages 12 to 19; they found that the more time girls spent looking at pictures on Facebook, the more they suffered from eating disorders such as Anorexia, as well as other conditions including a heightened urge to diet and lose weight (University of Haifa, 2011). Media access is

The average American woman is 5’4” and weighs 140 pounds, while the average American model is 5’11” and weighs 117 pounds (Chojnacki, 2017). Those models’ digitally enhanced pictures are published in magazines, posted online, and shown on television. Individuals scroll past filtered images of the “thin ideal”, flip through the pages and images of magazines as they stand in check out lines, and are drawn to advertisements of beautiful, happy, and skinny people. All of these encounters happen several times daily without even thinking twice about the message that is being sent. The enormous audience that the media can now reach due to advancing technology is both a blessing and a curse. Technology has allowed the public to connect with people thousands of miles away at the touch of a button and

Over the years the size of female models in advertising has decreased significantly. Today the average model ways up to 23% less than an average women. The use of Photoshop adds to this by creating perfect skin unattainable even with makeup, along with making the models appear even thinner. Given that these women often set the standard for beauty wouldn’t this lower women’s self-esteem. These “perfect” and unrealistic models in advertising negatively affect body image (the way we see our own body) and distort our idea of beauty. Negative body image can lead to depression, the development of eating disorders, or the abuse of weight loss drugs or anabolic steroids.

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.

In the article, “Skinny Models In Ads Cause Immediate Anger, Depression In Women” it says, “Led by Dr. Leora Pinhas, researchers asked 118 female university students about their mood, body satisfaction and eating patterns. One week later, the women were asked the same questions immediately after viewing a series of ads, with half of the women being exposed to ads from popular women's magazines while the others looked at images which contained no pictures of people. ‘The experimental group responded immediately with depression and hostility after viewing the "ideal women" shown in these ads,’ says Pinhas, a lecturer in U of T's department of psychiatry. ‘And this was only after viewing 20 pictures..”’ CNN also states, “One study found that one in four people is depressed about their body, another found that almost a third of women say they would sacrifice a year of life to achieve the ideal body weight and shape, and almost half of girls in a recent survey think the pressure to look good is the worst part of being female.” This demonstrates that after an experiment conducted by Dr. Leora Pinhas, researches found out that after women viewed 20 pictures from magazine ads they felt depressed when they saw the “ideal woman” in the ad. One in four people are depressed because of the way they look. This can go to the extremes. Women would do anything they can to look a certain

“Companies should absolutely stand up against Photoshop, especially those that once endorsed it and now see the damage it has caused,” Legleitner said. You may be left wondering: “What damage?”. The damage left from the use of photoshop is immense and it extends much farther than what may come to mind. A research study done by Heather R. Gallivan, PsyD, LP Park Nicollet Melrose Center found that “53% of 13 year-old American girls are unhappy with their bodies. This number grows to 78% by the time girls reach 17.” Her research shows that at approximately the age of 12 girls will have the most confidence in their body and then as the years progress of their youth that confidence will plummet. Another statistic that Gallivan shared was that in 2010 the Girl Scouts Organization did a survey with over one-thousand girls ages 13-17, the results noted that: “ 9 out of 10 girls felt pressure by fashion and media industries to be skinny.” It further explained that 60% of girls compare themselves to the models and use the images put out by magazines as an ideal body to strive for. Women and girls that feel this unethical influence by the fashion industry often times go through impacts including: depression, eating disorders, anxiety or even as terrible as suicidality. Knowing that women face emotional and physical impacts based off the unrealistic edited images put out by their brand should be disheartening to the companies at fault.

The media needs to stop being the judge of what beauty is because everyone is pressured to look like the photoshopped version of the people the media portrays. Bad body imaging can lead to mental and eating disorders, and “fear of becoming fat” has become a common phenomenon.

As this generation has easy access to social media, culminating to 95.9% of girls having access to the internet, it is no wonder that these girls have easy access to view these “ideal” images. There is a cause and effect, which can be seen through sites like Facebook and Instagram, as users are more prone to body obsession than non-users. Second, no one is immune to these beauty ideals, even the women who started it all. The women who post these photos, have internal problems as well, such as eating disorders and unhealthy fitness habits. These “role models” are achieving these beauty ideals in unhealthy ways, which is not a positive message to send to viewers. Third, we have massive studies and data to show the damages of social media, but it is the individual stories that people can

The media group that retouches images skews the “normal” body image of people through many of its outlets, including models in advertising and magazines, and actors in TV and movie productions. “The average model portrayed in the media is approximately 5’11” and 120 pounds. By contrast, the average American woman is 5’4” and 140 pounds” (Holmstrom, 2004). This statistic shows how the media manipulates consumers into believing that because they are not what the average model looks like, they are not living up to a certain standard which implies that they need to look like that to be beautiful. Another research fact that shows a similar concept is that, “In the United States, 94% of female characters in television programs are thinner than the average American woman, with whom the media frequently associate happiness, desirability, and success in life” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This association of female thinness and happiness, desirability and success makes consumers believe they must achieve this unrealistic thinness to achieve more ultimate goals and fulfillment in life. “The media also explicitly instruct how to attain thin bodies by dieting, exercising, and body-contouring surgery, encouraging female consumers to believe that they can and should be thin” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This idealization of thinness in the media is seen so much, and is extremely harmful to women’s self confidence and is often associated with body image dissatisfaction, which can be a precursor to social anxiety, depression, eating disturbances, and poor self-esteem (Yamamiya et al.,

Looking good and being in shape is a top priority of today’s adults. According to the American Society of Plastic surgery (ASPA) 14.6 million cosmetic surgery procedures were performed in the United States in 2012. This is a 5 percent increase since 2011. The constant media advertisement of weight loss, sex appeal, and cosmetically enhanced beauty often leads to unrealistic standards of beauty and dissatisfaction in personal appearance. This overexposure to Hollywood beauty causes women to wonder how come they don’t look like that and often leaves them questioning what they can do to have a picture perfect body and face. According to the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), the promotion of unhealthy standards of beauty by the media often leads to depression and dissatisfaction in personal appearance (Chittom 3). Media have a negative impact on women’s body image and how women respond to the media’s portrayal of what is beautiful by advertisements emphasizing the importance of physical attractiveness, using Photoshop and airbrushing techniques to alter images people see in advertisements, and disregarding healthy living.

The manipulation of photographs creates an unrealistic beauty standard that no one can achieve, not even those in the images. 98.3 percent of images we regularly see in magazines and in advertisements, are digitally altered to make the subject more desirable. Too often the subject is a woman objectified in order to promote a product. In turn, teenage girls see the pictures and compare themselves to them. They want to be the ‘ideal’ woman seen so frequently in the media, but because the image has been manipulated this results in an ideal that can not be naturally achieved. Consequentially, 53 percent of thirteen year old girls feel unhappy with their body. This increases to 78 percent by the age of seventeen. It is unfair that people are forced to see these pictures and learn to associate them with beauty. As a result, women are

Technology allows the photographers to photoshop their models so they are flawless. Photoshop gives them the power to make someone look like a completely different person. From a young age, girls have looked at magazines and the internet of all their favorite celebrities. They admire these people. Little do they know, that they are retouched before the editors publish the magazine. Society has given us unrealistic standards to meet. Girls will flip through a magazine and look at one of their favorite celebrities and want to be like them. To do that they will inspect every part of them so they can be exactly like them. 91 percent of women are dieting to achieve their ideal body. 47 percent of girls fifth through twelfth graders lose weight because of pictures in magazines. 69 percent of girls are influenced by magazine photographs. Women’s magazines had 10.5 times more weight loss articles than men’s. Girls believe that this is really what they look like, but in reality, they don’t. Although the person might be skinny, toned, and pretty, they might not be as skinny, toned, or pretty as they look in pictures. Photoshop allows you to do anything to an object. Making someone skinnier isn’t something hard for these editors. Young girls who look at these magazines will admire celebrities and long to look like them. Teenagers especially will wish to be like models because they want to impress a boy. High standards for “perfect” bodies starts from a

As well as being misogynistic, the images are not representative of woman but rather representative of the male gaze that is forced upon woman. In the media, we constantly see slim, tanned, beautiful woman representing the female demographic, however this is highly detrimental as woman feel extreme pressure to live up to the standards of female beauty set by media and society. This is often impossible as images are so photoshopped and edited that beauty standards become unrealistic and unattainable. The images convey the message that woman are to be looked upon rather than respected. The images show woman as being attractive rather than strong and

Once the consumers have seen the advertisements released by producers the images have gone through a variety of changes and are not in there natural state. Photoshop shows unrealistic body standards which may cause eating disorders and other forms of self-harm. One might argue that Photoshop does not cause eating disorder. This may be true but eating orders can be caused indirectly by Photoshop. Advertisements have unintended affects that can cause consumers harm. Eating disorders have lasting psychological effects. According to National Eating Disorders Association, “People with a negative body image have a greater likelihood of developing an eating disorder and are more likely to suffer from feelings of depression, isolation, low self-esteem and obsessions with weight loss,” (NEDA). Negative body image can become a lifelong battle and may be hard to change because we are constantly being shown propaganda with unrealistic standards all around