The Perfect Body Campaign : Advertisement

The first factor she believes has influence on the body image of black women and young girls is the celebrities shown in the media. In her essay, she mentions celebrities within black culture that are shown in the media as beauty ideals. Her examples included actresses, musicians, and models who are thin. There are also TV shows and ads that are shown to consumers. She gives an example of a show called “The Parkers” which follows a woman with a full-figured body. The show portrays her as a loud, ghetto woman who is constantly denied by a black college professor. The man constantly squirms away from her and goes after women with thin body figures.

As an African-American The Perfect “Body” ad personifies some aspects of American society that needs to change. First the ad features women with very European facial features and hair, most of whom are Caucasian with

In the context of physical appearance, black woman are only featured with body parts- mainly their “large, rotund behind” (Perry 137). The presentation of the face is mainly limited to white or lighter-complexioned women. The highest idealization of women is one that possesses a “‘high-status’ face combined with a highly sexualized body read by the viewer as the body of a poor or working-class woman” (Perry 137). Perry further substantiates her claim by stating that “women are created or valued by how many fantasy elements have been pieced together in their bodies” (137). She debunks the opposition arguing that the bodies of black women are appreciated by pointing out that only a minority of black women have such attributes, and those without are pressured and struggle to achieve such proportions.

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.

In Killing Us Softly, Kilbourne gives the example of the common advertising image of a black women in a jungle setting, wearing a leopard skin. In most media, white women are considered the “standard model” of what is desirable, both from the perspective of what a women should look like, and

This may seem a basically simple task, though her spin and the overall diction she uses to describe what she sees in the first few sentences suggest what will follow. For example, “…slender body, flawless (and more often than not white) skin; delicate, even facial features enhanced by makeup, carefully coifed hair…” Para 2). She then provides anecdotes from teens regarding their own body image before delving into the beginning of the 20th century, where she draws upon Brumberg’s 1997 book, “The Body Project. An Intimate History of American Girls”; a starting point for the conversation ahead. Lipkin then begins a chronicle of certain diseases associated with poor body image followed by the response of a specific cosmetic branding company. Lipkin closes her article by not providing a clear solution to the problem, but rather reinforcing the idea that women are seen as, “…both bait and targets…” (Para

The media is one of the leading causes of self esteem and body image issues in not only women but men as well. This is due to the fact that thousands of advertisements contain messages about physical attractiveness and beauty. Examples include: commercials for clothes, cosmetics, weight loss, hair removal, laser surgery and physical fitness. The effects of advertising on body image have been studied by researchers, psychologists, marketing professionals and more. Researchers, Mary Martin and James Gentry found that teen directed advertising negatively impacts self-esteem. The advertising industry is setting unrealistic expectations for teens about their physical appearances by using models with "perfect bodies." The modeling industry today has put many pressures on models, causing them disorders of both mental and physical illness. These disorders then creating the look of the “perfect body” have now lead to unrealistic expectations of body image for society.

In society today, misleading images of women surround us everywhere; promoting that successful women are supposed to be thin, high-fashion, and Caucasian. Of course, this promotes sexist, racist, and classist ideologies, but this seems like what society wants to be. An example of this would be an ad for Ralph Lauren featured in a recent issue of Elle magazine. In this ad, an attractive, young, Caucasian woman, who appears to be wealthy and thin, is sitting with her chin slightly on her hand while slouching a little on the side. She appears to be in a room with dark gray walls and dark gray floors, making herself, her outfit, bag, and bench be the main focus of the ad. Based on the seductive look

A before and after Photo-shopped image is shown. The visual irony portrayed in the image is that the before shot shows a slim, perfect woman and the second shot is a heavy set, regular woman. This contradicts what is typically shown in the media. Instead of perfecting the image to conform to society’s perfect woman, the after image is more

Advertising uses a lot of different techniques to show the public the perfect female image. Body doubles and computer retouching are two examples of how advertisers are able to “doctor” images. The majority of women we see in magazines, music videos. and movies do not appear in reality, as we perceive them in the media. We may actually believe we are looking at one woman’s body when we are actually looking at sections of three or four women’s bodies, which, when spliced together, shows us the best parts of each women’s body as the final product. Women cannot attain these impossible standards of attractiveness. Young girls learn very quickly that they must spend much time, energy, and money on achieving these standards.

We are constantly surrounded by images of the “perfect” woman. She is tall, thin and beautiful. She rarely looks older than 25, has a flawless body, and her hair and clothes are always perfect. She is not human. She is often shown in pieces – a stomach, a pair of legs, a beautifully made up eye or mouth. Our culture judges women, and women judge themselves, against this standard. It is forgotten that “beauty pornography”, as Wolf says, focuses on underweight models that are usually 15 to 20 years old. Flaws, wrinkles and other problems are airbrushed out of the picture.

The generation of today worry on the physical look due to the amount of advertisement there is about getting the “perfect body” that society believes. This is also a good thing for some people to watch what they eat and help themselves from any medical problem but it also affects people in a bad way that it causes them to get in bad health conditions such as an eating disorder. People are being discriminated on how they look and how they choose to look if they decide to change their bodies in a healthy manner or not so healthy.

The “Alli Weight Loss Plan” advertisement in the January 18th 2010 issue of People magazine is effective because of the informational packed two-page spread, the vibrant multicolored picture, and the way the bold banner intertwines with the emotion in the picture.

"Does this make me look fat?” Everyone at one time or another has experienced this iconic question in some way. Your best friend may have asked it, as she was getting ready for a date or maybe you muttered these words to yourself as you stared disapprovingly into a mirror; either way, this six-word question alludes to a standard of beauty that everyone strives to meet. A standard of beauty that is almost impossible to meet. The definition of beauty has evolved greatly over the years and it differs from culture to culture. Today, western culture idolizes the woman who is “thin, large breasted, and white (tanned, but not too brown)” (WVFV, pg. 220). This woman is one that millions of women strive to look like in

The models look bold and confident. They do not look afraid to embrace their size. Undoubtedly, the models look comfortable in their lingerie and are not fearful to show off their body. In the image shown, the models are advertising for the brand, Lane Bryant. Lane Bryant is a United States retail women’s clothing store chain focusing on plus-size clothing. The image is using a peripheral route of persuasion technique. This route involves being persuaded in a manner that is not based on the arguments or the message content. (Petty). The image chosen have no message content or any facts along with the advertisement. The only words on the advertisement are “ImNoAngel” From part 1, I have mentioned that Victoria Secret models are known as ‘Angels’ and Lane Bryant advertisement is implying that models do not have to be slim or ‘angel-like’ The advertisement is encouraging woman to be comfortable in their size and embrace them. It implies that it is unquestionably acceptable to be a plus size woman. A woman should not feel inferior or compare themselves to slim models to fit in the norm.