By Allison Fan, age 17
They’re everywhere. On your social media page and wedged between episodes of your favorite TV show. On the backs of snack containers and the fronts of billboards. Today, ads have become an inescapable aspect of our lives. But their flashy exteriors bely a much darker reality about the American ideal of beauty. The unrealistic beauty standards perpetuated by models in advertisements are causing women to have negative body image and to fixate on their outward appearance instead of inner qualities.
From a young age, girls are exposed to images of women with unattainable bodies. “Young women are consuming something like 10,000 messages a day from brands,” said Jane Cunningham, co-founder of PrettyLittleHead, a research agency that specializes in understanding female consumer audiences. “Think about the collective impact that can have when the same things are being said over and over again, which are usually: Be thinner, be blonder, be more feminine, be hairless, be whiter.” In fact, the ideal that equates thinness with beauty has become so widespread in American society that 50% of three to six year olds are worried about their weight.
Advertisements not only fuel women’s negative perceptions of their own appearance but also lead them to believe that it is the only part of them that matters. Many times, in order to make their products appear desirable, companies will have advertisements featuring people living their best lives: happily married with adorable children, basking on pristine beaches, or donning luxurious clothing. At the center of all of this is often a model or actress with a tiny waist, long legs, flawless skin, and a perfect face.
“A woman is conditioned to view her face as a mask and her body as an object, as things separate from and more important than her real self,” said Jean Kilbourne in her article “Beauty...and the Beast of Advertising”. The message is unspoken but clear: in order to be happy, successful, and loved, you need to be pretty first.
In a society that is immersed in advertisements, it’s all the more necessary for businesses to be conscious of the kinds of messages they are conveying. Instead of glorifying one particular body type, it is time we celebrate women of all shapes and sizes. Instead of capitalizing on insecurities, it is time we inspire confidence.
Of course, our current toxic beauty standards are not stemming solely from advertisements, and it will not be simple or easy to change something that has become so firmly entrenched in seemingly every part of our lives. But while creating advertisements that portray healthier, more realistic women may not completely solve this issue, it will certainly be a huge step in the right direction.
Works Cited
Altman, Mara. “Yes, Marketing Is Still Sexist.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Aug. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/26/us/marketing-industry-sexism-brandsplaining.html.
Roeder, Amy. “Advertising's Toxic Effect on Eating and Body Image.” Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health , 28 Mar. 2020, https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/advertisings-toxic-effect-on-eating-and-body-image/.
Torres, Nicole. “Advertising Makes Us Unhappy.” Harvard Business Review, 27 Aug. 2021, https://hbr.org/2020/01/advertising-makes-us-unhappy.
Kilbourne, Jean. “Beauty...and the Beast of Advertising.” Beauty...and the Beast of Advertising | Center for Media Literacy | Empowerment through Education | CML MediaLit Kit ™ |, http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/beautyand-beast-advertising.
Comments