How Social Media's Advertisements Changes The Body

In our society, we tell little girls to love and to be true to oneself. As they grow up, this message begins to disappear because our culture contradicts this idea. As girls enter the world, they are already confined with how the media set unrealistic standards for the female population. This leads girls to harm their own body, including eating disorders such as bulimia, and anorexia. The most prominent cause of these acts is advertisements. Advertisements are everywhere and they have the power to promote, sell, encourage, and give unrealistic ideals of the common people. Advertisements and media images have a negative effect on the way women view their body image which leads to self-harm.

It is proven that models nowadays weigh 23% less than the average woman.Girls believe that to have the ideal body, you need to be toned and slim, wheres for guys being muscular is the definition of perfection. The problem starts to become much severe , when it ultimately leads to serious habits such as eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and in most cases, suicidal attempts.

Body image has changed throughout the years. The feeling that you have to have this perfect body has grown. Body image is an issue in today’s society especially through the media outlets.

Women’s Body Image (www.wellesley.edu/Health/BodyImage) helped demonstrates the young influence of magazines. Those days when girls strive to be something they weren’t, were probably the most crucial days in body imaging. They succumbed into the pressure of looking how everyone else wants them to look. Such teeny bopper magazines sell to many young girls the idea of beauty. Teen Magazine is the princess of that royal court. In every young woman, or man’s mind, there is this longing to be desired. To be desired, you must be attractive. To be attractive, you have to look like that girl on page seventy-one in the latest Teen Magazine (Women’s Body Image).

In a recent survey done by the National institute on Media and the Family, fifth graders, ten year old boys and girls told researchers they were dissatisfied with their own bodies after watching a music video by Britney Spears or a clip from the TV show “Friends.”(4) If this isn’t shocking enough, the research group reported that at the age of thirteen, fifty-three percent of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” This grows to seventy-eight percent by the time the girls reach seventeen. Also, eating disorders are beginning to start at an alarming young age. Statistics show that girls are developing eating disorders at the age of six.(1) Young girls that are exposed to appearance focused television programs, and magazine shows feel that they need to look like the models that they see. Most of these girls are not even have fully developed bodies yet and are already trying to perfect themselves. One girl had even shared how one of her best friends discovered that her fifth grade cousin was bulimic. Girls at that age should not even be concerned with their bodies yet and eating disorders being developed is a harsh wake up call as to how young girls everywhere are being effected by the media each and everyday.

For example, in the article “Advertising and Image” researchers say that 23% of models weigh less than the average female and because of this 80% of 10-year old girls report having dieted. This happens because teens try to become just like the models on tv and magazine ads.

These young women feel an overwhelming need to make their bodies “better” in order to look like a model in a magazine. This may seem harmless, but it leads to young women turning to extremely excessive exercise routines and restricted eating in order to obtain their dream bodies (Fitzsimmons-Craft p. 144). Habits such as these lead to plenty of health problems, including dehydration, anorexia, and bulimia. The combination of body dissatisfaction and social comparison is toxic to young women’s physical and mental health.

Even though this source is all from a survey, it is still a reliable source he cites many different facts from all different surveys. He cites different people’s opinions and things that have happened to other people, so some of the facts are people’s opinions. David Garner uses rhetorical questions to get the reader see how body image is a very big deal. He states "What impact does our mood have on our feelings about our body?" This helps build an emotional attachment to the author's claim.

As exposure to the male body expands, the demand for “chiseled” bodies greatens. In recent years, the number of memberships and frequency of visits to health clubs has increased (Luciano 3). In one year alone, four billion dollars was spent on exercise equipment and health club memberships. “An estimated eighty-five million Americans, mostly male, are doing some sort of weight

This raises the question about gender difference and the concept of body image and prevalence of

(Heubeck 2006) For many young people, especially girls, the ideal continues to chase them as they grow into young women. Young girls begin to internalize the stereotypes and judge themselves by media’s impossible standards. The power that the media holds in impacting the lives of young girls is detrimental and eventually affects their body image, their satisfaction of their own body, and portrayal of their body as an object.

Women inherently have had it more difficult than men. In today’s society body figure is a huge effigy especially when it’s a girl. People are hasty to judge skinny girls and overweight girls,

Our tweens and early teens are a time when children become more aware of celebrities and media images — as well as how other kids look and how they fit in. Girls and boys might start to compare themselves with other people or media images. All of this can affect how they feel about themselves and their bodies even as they grow into young adults. When the kids grow into young adults, they get social media, they have all these sources to media. They see all these people with the body thats perfect. In their eyes, they are not perfect. They are not accepted. They are not good enough. What they are wanting is to be accepted and wanted and good enough. So the young women look up all these at home workouts and healthy food. All these young men hit the gym and pre workout.

Only 9% of women are confident with their body image. Body image has its pros and cons, it is a very controversial topic. Also, everyone has a different perspective about body image, all based on experience. Young girls are more scared of becoming fat than losing a parent, which shouldn’t be true. After all, social media affects the way we see body image, good and bad. Either, raising or even lowering self esteem and confidence on body image. Body image is controversial because it has pros and cons.

Body image is a major concern amongst the majority, primarily the youth of the female population, ranging from as young as five years old to tertiary students, ’74.4% of the normal-weight women stated that they thought about their weight or appearance ‘all the time’ or ‘frequently’’ (Brown University, unknown).