What Is The Effect Of Advertising On Thin Body Image

Body image encompasses how we perceive our bodies, how we feel about our physical experience as well as how we think and talk about our bodies, our sense of how other people view our bodies, our sense of our bodies in physical space, and our level of connectedness to our bodies. Over the past three decades, while America has gotten heavier, the "ideal woman" presented in the media has become thinner. Teenagers are the heaviest users of mass media, and American women are taught at a young age to take desperate measures in the form of extreme dieting to control their

The first one features thin models, the second one shows average-size models, and the third one shows no models. The authors try to prove that the exposure of thin ideal bodies in the media does negatively impacts young women’s body images. It was concluded that women that were exposed to thin ideal bodies resulted in a higher body-focused anxiety than those who are exposed to average-size models and no models. This article will be able to support my thesis because it shows the negative effects of exposure of thin ideal bodies to the female public and my thesis is about the negative impacts of ideal bodies exposure on self-esteem and self-image. This article will be used in the psychology section of the

One reason mass media is so effective at portraying unrealistic body types as normal is because the mass media helps to set what is perceived as normal. In an article about the mass media’s role in body image disturbance and eating disorders, J. Kevin Thompson and Leslie Heinberg state, “A sociocultural model emphasizes that the current societal standard for thinness, as well as other difficult-to-achieve standards of beauty

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.

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.,

Therefore, the commendation of such look and shape commercializes unhealthy body image and procreates eating disorders. Unfortunately, at present the commercialism of a perfect body is encountered by almost everyone on everyday basis. The public is bombarded daily with images of glamorously thin women in commercials, on billboards, in movies in magazines and etc?According to Melanie Katzman, a consultant psychologist from New York, the media has actively defined the thin ideal as success and treats the body as a commodity. (Rhona MacDonald, 2001) It is evident that the persistent advocating of the media and the society produced a constant pursuit of thinness, which became a new religion. A study conducted by Harvard researchers has revealed the effect of media and magazines on adolescent girls in high schools. The children were exposed to fashion magazines and television commercials, and a while after were given self-rating surveys. The study found that sixty-nine percent of the girls said that magazine pictures

The authors state that “[b]oth social cognitive theory (SCT) and the ‘matching principle’ suggest that if women depicted in the media were more similar in body size to women in the general population, exposure to media imagery might not result in negative body image” (Diedrichs and Lee 1275). recommendations for an increase in models’ body size and shape diversity will not harm product sells but will promote positive body image. In the study, “[c]ontrary to the ‘thinness sells’ assertion, advertisements depicting average-size models were rated as positively on these criteria as those displaying thin models” (Diedrichs and Lee 1277). The media has a huge impact on what kind of body image, positive or negative, is instilled in the consumer and should take the initiative to try to only promote positive body image while promoting their products. While most research aims to address the influence of the mass media on body image, this study takes an ecological approach to promoting positive body image in hopes to encourage diversity in advertisements. The media has been criticized for depicting the thin woman as ideal and some may argue that the images create an unrealistic expectation for young women, which causes body dissatisfaction and disordered eating; however, there are also studies

Media is thought to be a risk factor for developing anorexia. The messages and images in the media expose women to ideas of the ‘ideal women’ being thin and attractive. Many women think that being thin is the only way to be considered attractive (Henderson & Spettigue, 2004).

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).

A female should not feel insecure with her body when she is comfortable in her own skin, whether or not she weights 130 pounds or 150 pounds at 5’5”. According to Rehab’s study of the evolution of the female figure over one hundred years, “the body shapes of the most admired models have remained consistently slimmer than that of the average American woman.” Due to the significant increase in mass media throughout the twentieth century of the United States, there has been a noteworthy impact on the popular image of women. A woman being dissatisfied with their body is a everyday trend around the world where as

Nedc (national eating disorders collaboration, 2017) define body image as the perception that a person has of their physical self and the thoughts and feelings that result from that perception. Nedc (2017) also states that these feelings can be positive, negative or both and are influenced by individual and environmental factors. Research from Allie Kovar (2009) demonstrates the negative impacts that the media is having on teenage girl’s perception of body image. Allie Kovar (2009) claims that today in our culture, the “thin ideal” is portrayed in every avenue of the media including magazines, television shows, movies, and commercials all portray attractive woman as being extremely thin.

I often find myself criticizing my physical appearance, especially after looking at some online pictures, which I see through Instagram or Facebook. I find myself adoring the pictures of perfectly thin women that are depicted in the media and asking myself the reason of media’s depictions and presentations of those women as “better” compared to women who are regarded as average-weighted. This “perfect body image” has been created by the media and has been affected many women in regards of their perspectives about their physical appearances and relatedly their worth to themselves and to the society. It is extremely crucial to understand the importance of the manipulation of the media instruments on women and realize the relationship between those perfect body images and women’s self-esteem and self-worth to themselves.

Social media plays an immense role in the way that stereotypes about attractiveness is conveyed in regards to body image. As Gerbner and Gross wrote in 1976, the cultivation theory states that high frequency viewers of television are more susceptible to media messages and the belief that they are real and valid. The subjection to social media can cause an idealistic view amongst young girls and women alike. Among the mechanisms of human agency none is more central or pervasive than beliefs of personal efficacy (Bandura, 1997). This belief that these body types are achievable can lead to females being dissatisfied within their own skin. The result of the discontent can potentially lead to eating disorders. Body dissatisfaction occurs when views of the body are negative and involves a perceived discrepancy between a person 's assessment of their actual and ideal body (Cash and Szymanski, 1995 and Grogan, 2008). It is estimated that approximately 50% of adolescent girls report being unhappy with their bodies (Bearman, Presnell, & Martinez, 2006). Surveys have revealed that the exposure to social media can cause body dissatisfaction, eating disorder symptoms’ and the concept that thin is “beautiful” amongst young girls and women (Botta 1999; Harrison and Hefner 2006; and Stice et al. 1994). With media influence, the question is the strength of the effect, studies indicate the effects are small in scale; they are likely to operate in accordance with particular differences in

Women tend to be more dissatisfied with their bodies than males (Kasey L. Serdar, 2015) and this dissatisfaction stems from a warped view of themselves in addition to the warped view of what they should look like to fit the media’s standard. Women view themselves as larger and less attractive than they actually are. This is most likely due to the fact that when a woman views herself as attractive society tells her she vain and cocky. It is an emotional standard that women are not supposed to realize their own beauty. “[I]t is not the Photoshopped female who is our enemy; we do a good enough job destroying ourselves on our own”(Dan Reimold, 2014), this quote puts into words that women are their own worst enemy. This causes women to be more sensitive to how the are viewed and if they fit the mold which escalates the problem of the media set image

There have been many different studies that have found that exposure to the skinny ideal or ‘perfect body’ in the media plays a role in creating distorted body perceptions, dieting, and eating disorder symptoms, which can lead to anorexia nervosa in vulnerable women and young girls. One of these studies examined factors related to reduced eating problems in teenage girls who included such things as increasing thin ideal internalization,