Media 's Influence On Society

In the article “Never Just Pictures,” the author, Susan Bordo, addresses the cultural reasons behind the rise in eating disorders. She asserts that modern media and advertising campaigns have played an integral role in this increase. Though unfortunate, the media’s focus is not on the well-being of its viewers, but on the level of cash flow they provide. The advertising moguls use their agencies as double edged swords; they will make ads for McDonalds, then go in the next room and conduct a photo-shoot with a six-foot-two, eighty pound woman. The world of advertising needs to realize their work is being seen by millions of people and is affecting some of those people in extremely negative ways.

In fact, media is contributing to many false advertisements and unrealistic images that cause eating disorders. Media gives us these false beauty standards by making teens think they have to be thin and tall. Meanwhile, many teens want to be like the models and they try to be thin but instead of doing it the healthy way. The way they do it is to skip meals and that develops eating disorders. For instance, Arnett says, “Marketing and advertisement agencies focus on models such as tall, thin women or a muscular man with a chiseled jawbone when casting for photo shoots and television commercial” (265.) Therefore, we experience and seen is that the media do give us a false beauty standard which makes teens want to do everything that is possible to become like models. This has contributed

Women around the world face overwhelming oppressions in their daily lives. That is not news to anyone and these oppressions have occurred for so much of history, that it is often times overlooked by the mass majority; even the younger generations of women do not know the types of oppressions that they will soon have to face. To combat this, FCKH8.com, a well known organization that sells t-shirts and other merchandise with witty anti-racism, anti-homophobic, and pro-feminist catchphrases on them, created the video, “Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism”. As the title implies, the video contains little girls, ages six through eleven, aggressively yelling “FUCK,” towards the camera while rattling off facts and statistics about some of the oppressions women face because of their gender. The comment section of this video is erratic; the viewers often have conflicting views about the meaning of the video as well as whether or not it was successful in its purpose. One thing is for sure, the video makes an impact by using several rhetorical devices including word choice, pathos and logos; all which separate it from other pro-feminism videos that exist.

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

Eating disorders have become a major problem throughout the world, specifically in the United States. The key factor that has an influence on eating disorders is the media. Including people of all ages and genders, up to twenty-four million people suffer from an eating disorder in the United States (ANAD np). This is a huge problem in the world today but what makes it so much worse is the fact that it can be prevented and it is in our control to change it. Young adults look to these celebrities, which are often their role models, and try to look just like them. What they fail to remember is the fact that celebrities have a lot of money, money that can afford nutritionists and personal trainers. They also fail to remember the extensive measures the celebrities may have to go through to look the way they do. An example of extensive measures can be considered plastic surgery. Ultimately, this creates a false goal that is almost unattainable for the “average” or “regular” person. Overall, the media has overtaken a huge impact on what the “ideal” body image has become today. Eating disorders are still on the rise and it is proven that an eating disorder such as anorexia affects up to 5 percent of women from ages 15-30 years old ("Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association np"). This may not seem that significant but it is also not considering other eating disorders such as bulimia. All in all, eating disorders

Magazine advertisements cause eating disorders. In the article “Skinny models 'send unhealthy message'”, it states ”In 1998, a survey by the Bread for Life campaign, cited by the Eating Disorders Association, showed that 89% of women between 18 and 24 wanted more "average sized" models used in magazines.” It also says, “"Advertising, in particular, may influence young people's perception of fashion and beauty and attitudes towards food. Young women may compare themselves to extremely thin models,

Media holds such high standards in today 's society, and media as a whole has gotten so much power throughout the years. There are so many different forms of media in today 's world: newspapers, magazines, televisions, the hundreds of websites on the Internet, social media applications, computers, and novels. Media advertises thousands of different things, but something that has stayed consistent over the years is advertisement on body image. Media advertises a specific body type, pushes different dietary needs to achieve this body type and thus creating the standard of in order to be beautiful, this particular body type must be achieved. However, what advertisers seem to be neglecting is the effect their advertisements are having on its viewers. The constant push to achieve a certain body type has affected the health of thousands of people around the world, and directly affecting the eating disorder epidemic.

Media has greatly evolved since starting, but has bad evolved with it? Print media, digital media, and now social media surround everybody today. Media surround us when we go to the store and see magazines, when we sit and home and watch TV, and especially when we go online. Over time, media has created its own idea of beauty. Medias influence on body image can’t be overlooked. Media and eating disorders have a cause and effect relationship. In Helens article, “Eating Disorders: A growing problem on college campuses”, she expresses that, “In today’s media-saturated world, young women are bombarded with one message: be thin” (Helen, 2014, Paragraph 9). Today media shows that to beautiful you have to be an unhealthy weight. If media doesn’t change its view of beautiful, then the rate of eating disorders triggered by media will go up. We need to figure out a way to help now.

People want to achieve a better looking version of themselves, furthermore the increase of ads for diet foods and products can cause them to feel the need to purchase these products. The article, Eating Disorder and the Role of the media, states that it found a significant increase in advertisements for diet foods and diet products for the years 1973-1996. (Spettigue and Henderson 1) This shows us that the “ideal” body image change over generations also causing products to increase due to newer trends replace older trends. Generations are only momentarily while “ideal” body images change by becoming more skinnier and with higher expectations. This can lead to the increase of diet products. Also in the article, Body Image of Women, it states

The media plays a tremendous part in our everyday lives. It affects how we eat, how we dress, and our self-esteem. Whether it’s a heavily photo shopped model in a magazine, or a fad diet that encourages unhealthy beauty standards. The stress that these standards place on men and women have been heavily correlated with increases in eating disorders. The perpetuation of being extremely thin in the media has a huge impact on young people and children especially, because they are still learning what is considered normal, and will attempt to copy the esthetics of what they see in magazines if they aren’t taught what is a healthy body to have. Mass media portrays men and women to impossible standards that could never be reached

As technology advances media becomes more prominent in our society and culture. In the world today, pictures of thin models and photoshopped advertisements are hanging everywhere and impossible to escape. Media constantly pushes these unrealistic images and advertisements on both women and girls pressuring them to live up to an unattainable beauty standard. [Although the world knows that the media has many negative effects, society still clings to it for entertainment, but the time has come to take a stand and start making the necessary changes to resolve these issues such as, the negative correlation on self-esteem levels, the development of eating disorders, and the negative influences on children.] Fix Thesis

“Healthy body image is not something that you 're going to learn from fashion magazines,” (Shapiro) said Erin Heatherton, a Victoria Secret’s model since 2008. Media influence has increased considerably over the past three decades, whether it’s been through television, social media, or tabloids. The number of televisions has also increased in America since the 1950’s and most American have access to a television. Consequently, the images and attitudes are portrayed to the viewers. The seemingly “perfect” actors and actresses presented on television become the goals the viewers want achieve. Why is this goal unachievable? Due to the fact the seemingly perfect models have a team of make-up artist, hairdressers, and personal trainers. The media wrongly redefines healthy body image. According to Heatherton, who was raked number 15 of 25 sexiest models in 2013 agrees that healthy body image is not something one learns from media. Although, Victoria Secret’s Angles contribute to the skewed definition of “healthy” she recognizes its fault. Magazines are photoshopped-- digitally altered, to create flawless images that attract consumers for financial gain. Media has altered the “healthy” body, increased eating disorders, and placed an injurious importance on appearance.

According to the National Eating Disorder Association the media has a major influence on what a woman’s body should look like. Every print and television advertisement suggests that the ideal body is extremely thin. However, most women cannot achieve having a super-thin body that the media favors. The resulting failure leads to negative feelings about one’s self and can begin a downward spiral toward an eating disorder (National Eating Disorders Association).

“The attention-grabbing pictures of various high-flying supermodels and actors on different magazine covers and advertisements go a long way in influencing our choices” (Bagley). The media is highly affective to everyone, although they promote an improper image of living. Research proved says those with low self-esteem are most influenced by media. Media is not the only culprit behind eating disorders. However, that does not mean that they have no part in eating disorders. Media is omnipresent and challenging it can halt the constant pressure on people to be perfect (Bagley). Socio-cultural influences, like the false images of thin women have been researched to distort eating and cause un-satisfaction of an individual’s body. However, it

In our society, the media play a critical role, they provide us with definitions about who we are as a nation, they reinforce our values and norms and they perpetuate certain ways of seeing the world and the people within the world. The media have provided us with image of prescription and description. They tell us how society sees us and tell us how to behave in society with the help of media hegemony which is “a condition that occurs when dominant groups in society control the mass media, largely through ownership” (John V. Pavlik). With media hegemony in our media conveys and reinforces negative stereotypes of a group of people. Users online is posting, uploading photos, videos, and commenting without considering how it vilifies other groups or persons. Since images are present around us everywhere we go. Our mind consumes and registers these images without a consent. Whether we want to view these images or not our subconscious uses them to construct our social behavior. Not only do these mediated images penetrate our minds, but they shape and re-create the world we live in and the way we view it. The danger lies in stereotypes that are integrated into these online photo, video and messages are used to spread hate. This online user is using propaganda which is “the regular dissemination of a belief, doctrine, cause or information, with the intent to mold public opinion (Pavlik)”to share this belief. However, the liking for freedom of expression has led to appearance of