Rhetorical Analysis Of Fitness Advertisements

Ethos, the appeal to credibility. There are many examples of ethos in this ad; one of them would be the use of doctors in the advertisement. During the commercial, the audience sees the doctors conducting research,

Have you ever been watching television and a commercial for Hydroxycut comes on featuring a male or female who went from 250 pounds to 150 pounds and looks like a fitness model just from using Hydroxycut? Although these results may seem extreme this is what many fitness advertisements promote; portraying unrealistic body images and displaying false results. Fitness advertising can be found in print and broadcast forms. While fitness advertising can be viewed as having both positives and negatives, I believe fitness advertising is negative. This paper will discuss the negatives of fitness advertising, to include creating negative body images and promoting false results. It will, also, address the counterarguments against fitness advertising being negative.

In “Feeding Hard Bodies: Food and Masculinities in Men’s Fitness Magazines” Fabio Parasecoli addresses the increasing popularity of men’s health and body image. Many magazines, including Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle and Fitness, are targeted toward men of all ages who wish to improve their physical appearance. The particular body ideal they reinforce is one of high muscle and low fat, a body that can be hard to achieve for the average man. Therefore, specific nutrition is the key in obtaining the ideal body. Men are now becoming more aware of their appearance, body image and body health. With the standards, dedications and effort put into obtaining the ideal body type, food industry is giving men easier ways to get and maintain

Advertisement of diet pills generally entails one or both of two appeals: their 'quick fix' strategy, and their composition of 'natural' substances. Magazine advertisement of Hydroxycut, which can be found in many women's magazines, focuses on the first method. At first glance, the full-page ad presents a young woman, obviously pleased with the effects of the treatment. Beside her smiling facade are photographs comparing her figures before and after taking the pills. The 'before' image depicts an unhappy, overweight, unfit, pale, disheveled individual. In contrast, the 'after' photo shows a happy, thin, fit, tan, made-up woman. Above these pictures, in bold type, is the quotation, "Losing 31 pounds was so easy with Hydroxycut!" Under this statement, the advertisement claims that Hydroxycut helps you "lose fat fast."

Today in modern society, we are driven by social forces. Not only do we strive for human approval and companionship, we also thrive on social media. The media plays such a pivotal role in what we buy, eat, wear, etc. that we are conditioning ourselves to fit the mold for the “perfect” or “ideal” body type. This social construct has been a pressing issue for many years regarding the female physique, but not as much has been said on behalf of men. When confronted with appearance based advertisements, men are more likely to experience muscle dissatisfaction, weight disparities, and anger and/or anxiety toward showing their body in public. This paper will address these facets of the media’s effect on male body image as well as presenting what has been done to address this quietly debilitating issue.

“Evolving Ideals of Male Body Image as Seen Through Action Toys” points out clearly that this pressure to conform exists for men today as well as for women. While Barbie dolls and GI Joe action figures are not the one and only reason that the majority of people feel insecure about how they look, they are a piece to the much larger puzzle. It is speculated that it takes a large number of combined factors that cause a specific person feel insecure about how they look. Countless times it is something that we unknowingly see or hear that effect how we think about ourselves. If we are always self-concise about how we look we are more likely to buy something that we observe in an advertisement, which claims to transform us to look better. Unfortunately the images that we have and are trying to obtain are unobtainable, so as a result, we continue to invest and spend time in pursuit of this alleged

An old saying that comes into play when just glancing at this advertisement, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” is an old saying pediatricians would say to their miniature patients. Who would know this could grab attention of people just watching TV? “An Apple a Day” illustrates four Granny Smith apples on one side of the ad while a slice of a Granny Smith apple sits on the other side of the ad. The product the advertiser is selling has more to offer than the other companies which, is shown by the whole apples and the slice of an apple. The small description underneath the Granny Smith apples has a formal, yet demanding tone that provides information about the product. In the fine print, it has some details on how their company is “one of the best. “Then below the small caption is a large, bold black logo followed by the contact information of the company all directed towards drivers. “An Apple a Day” is trying to connect with middle-class drivers looking for better quality insurance for an inexpensive price.

Images of female bodies are everywhere. Women, and their bodies, sell everything from food to cars. Women's magazines are full of articles urging women to fit a certain mold. While standing in a grocery store line you can see all different magazines promoting fashion, weight loss, and the latest diet. Although the magazines differ, they all seemingly convey the same idea: if you have the perfect body image you can have it all…the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career. The media, whether TV, print, or Internet advertising, seems to play a huge role in influencing women of all ages; from adolescence and teens, to women in their twenties and thirties, as well as

The American gym franchise, “Equinox” is a luxury gym facility that holds over 80 locations across the United States. When a consumer first sees this advertisement, it is likely that one of the first things they will notice is the unclothed, god-like man lying in a pile of one hundred dollar bills. When looking at the man and the money, both a male and female audience can apply dominant hegemonic discourse, feeling envy for this man. They are living vicariously through the ad and hope to someday become the man in the ad or even be “with” the man in the ad. In this advertisement the man has no literal connection to the gym, but acts as a symbol. When one sees this man, they can make an arbitrary connection that he goes to Equinox, which is why he is in such good shape. Something in their brain is triggered that makes them think, “If I went to Equinox, I could have a body and a lifestyle like him.” The man and the money denote a lavish and luxurious lifestyle; however, and the Equinox brand at the bottom of the advertisement

This sexual objectification around sports and personal health is also seen in majority of health magazines painted with bodybuilding advisements through advice on fat reductions, muscle building, and tanning formulas that even if women had a sense of control over their bodies, they are being expressed and distorted in a manner that threatens their own health. Victoria Secret is iconic for promoting underweight models on the verge of being diagnosed with anorexia. In 2014, Victoria Secret released their Perfect Body sports ad featuring multiple white women with edited unachievable toned bodies in feminine recognized sports. The desire to satisfy society’s sex-role expectation influences the decisions women make regarding their sport of choice.

According to Connell, true masculinity is “almost always thought to proceed from men’s bodies” (Connell, 1995:45), and subsequently intimately links ideas of health and self-construction. Stibbe explains that the primary goal of the Men’s Health magazine is about increasing muscle size and decreasing fat percentage (Stibbe, 2004:37), and this is further echoed by the use of ‘The Perfect Shape Issue’, ‘BIG MUSCLE SECRETS’, ‘THE ONLY 4 WORKOUTS YOU NEED’, and ‘DESIGN YOUR BODY – The Complete Blueprint for Physical Perfection’ and ’30-MINUTE FAT BLAST!’ on the cover of the August 2015 issue.

​It is undeniable that the body changes many times throughout the length of adulthood. Education is one indicator that a person has began their journey into adulthood. Attending a University is a time when many men and women set out on their own to find their own identity and place in the world. Part of that identity is body image. Tiggemann and Zaccardo (2015) conducted research that aimed to investigate the impact of fitspiration images on college women’s body image. Participants included 130 female college students ages seventeen though thirty who were randomly assigned to view either a set of Instagram fitspiration images or a control set of travel images. Fitspiration is a social media term used to describe media images of men and women who are extremely thin, fit, and toned. These images are used to inspire fitness and healthy life styles among people through the use of social media. Several aspects of fitspiration raise some concern. The majority of men and women in the images display one scrupulous body shape. Although these images are less thin and more muscular than that of fashion models typically found in magazines, it is still an unattainable ideal for most men and women (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Men and women use these “inspirational” images to motivate themselves to lose weight, go to the gym, and eat healthy wholesome foods. As understood through the social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954) people have an innate motivation to compare themselves to

Hydroxycut is another weight loss solution claiming to better their customers’ lives. The commercial has background music singing the words “I wanna live free” saying that by being thin one now has freedom that they didn’t have before. As the music is playing, it begins showing a various number of their customers dancing in their brand new, perfect bodies holding a picture of their old self. It also shows how many pounds they have lost from their product. Many weight loss products that show before and after pictures photoshop the pictures and just use actors. The weight loss company wants to make their

There has been a decline of self-acceptance due to the stereotypical men and women portrayed by the many forms of media in the world. The majority of media today often present the perfect body to the public, hoping that consumers will strive to achieve fitness using a certain product or idea. While this form of advertising may somewhat increase a product's market share, many people suffer from inner conflicts as a result of failure to achieve the body of a top athlete or fashion model. “Adolescents worry how they compare and appear to their friends and others. Looks and physical appearance are highly important! Teenagers want to look like the stars and pop

This ad claims that Lean Source supplements are “different” from other diet pills because they are effective and clinically proven. Words such as “effective and clinically proven” are used in strategic advertising and are very convincing, because they assure the consumer that the product is legitimate and tested so that he will not need to worry about experiencing side effects.