Body Image in the Media :: Advertising Papers

How does the media influence our body pictorial matter? In what forms, does the media influence our perceptions about our body? These were the two questions that I asked myself in order to do the research paper and the panel discussion. In my opinion, I would agree that the media does influence and promote women and men to believe that the cultures standards for body image are ideal. Hence, the phrases, thin is in and the perfect body are two examples of eye-catching headlines that I observed in many women magazines. I learned that the media influences us through goggle box, fashion and health magazines, music videos, film, commercials, and various other advertisements. Sadly, as a result, this repeated exposure, the thin ideal, can lead many young girls in triggering eating disorders, depression, low self-esteem, stress, and suicide. After acquiring this relevant information, I decided to focus my research on what type of media influences unsophisticated school children and t he adolescent teenager. The tether central types of media that I found that did indeed influence body image are Fashion magazines, famous top-models and actresses, and teenage or young adult women in the music industry.According to the Seretean Center for Health Promotion, the term, body image has been coined to describe a persons inner sense of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the physical appearance of her/his body. (From The wellness Column, April 1, 1996.) In my research, I found that many young girls are dissatisfied with their bodies and many strive to look like the waif-thin models or actresses one sees on television or in fashion magazines. There was a lot of information and facts on body and image that I found on the Internet. However, one website, ripe Think Foundation, supported my belief that the media, magazines in particular, do indeed influence young girls to be thin in order to be popular and well-favoured in our society. For example, I was in alarmed t o learn that eighty percent of 10-year-old American girls diet more than five million Americans suffer from eating disorders and ninety percent of those are adolescent and young adult women the number one magic wish for young girls age 11-17 is to be thinner and between elementary and high school, the percentage of girls in the U.S. who are happy with the way I am drops from 60% to 29%.