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ADVERTISING & YOUTH/
BODY IMAGE
source: www.mediascope.org/pubs/
ibriefs/bia.htm
www.healthyplace.com/Communities/
Eating_Disorders/men_2.asp
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Advertisers often emphasise sexuality and the importance of physical attractiveness in an attempt to sell products… - the average woman sees 400 to 600 advertisements per day, and by the time she is 17 years old, she has received over 250,000 commercial messages through the media. It has been estimated that young women see more images of beautiful women in one day than their mothers saw through their entire adolescence. Only 9% of commercials have a direct statement about beauty, but many more implicitly emphasise the importance of beauty - particularly those that target women and girls;
- one study of Saturday morning toy commercials found that 50% of commercials aimed at girls spoke about physical attractiveness, while none of the commercials aimed at boys referred to appearance. Other studies found 50% of advertisements in teen girl magazines and 56% of TV commercials aimed at female viewers used beauty as a product appeal;
- ads emphasise thinness as a standard for female beauty, and the bodies idealised in the media are frequently atypical of normal, healthy women. In fact, today's fashion models weigh 23% less than the average female, and a young woman between the ages of 18-34 has a 7% chance of being as slim as a catwalk model and a 1% chance of being as thin as a supermodel. However, 69% of girls in one study said that magazine models influence their idea of the perfect body shape, and the pervasive acceptance of this unrealistic body type creates an impractical standard for the majority of women;
- a recent survey of 2,000 teenage girls in Britain found that 70% dislike their faces and only 8% are happy with their body. Two-thirds think their lives would improve dramatically if they lost weight. Most said they were made to feel bad about their bodies by images of ‘perfect’ celebrities; (1)
- by age hirteen, 53% of American girls are unhappy with their bodies, but by age seventeen 78% are dissatisfied. By far the majority of adult women in the US are not happy with their breasts. The proof of that is that so many women (well over 200,000 in year 2002) choose breast implants, a risky procedure that can impair their health and forces them to have several surgeries afterwards and eventually have the implants removed; (2)
- a recent survey conducted by a fashion magazine in Scotland asked young girls of that country (average age: only 14) what they would do to make themselves look more attractive. The surprising results showed nice clothes and the latest hairstyles are being replaced by something far more permanent: plastic surgery. Of the 2,000 girls questioned, 4 out of 10 said they would consider plastic surgery to make themselves slimmer. Why? Pressure from celebrities ranked high on the list of motivating factors, along with comments from other boys; (3)
- on television, there is the constant bombardment from advertising and programming, as well as some more direct messages, like 2004 MTV show, I Want A Famous Face. This program prompted the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) to release an official news statement in an attempt to caution viewers. (4)
Advertising images have also been recently accused of setting unrealistic ideals for males, and men and boys are beginning to risk their health to achieve the well-built media standard…- it has been estimated that about 45% of Western men are unhappy with their bodies to some degree, compared with only 15% some 25 years ago;
- in a recent study from a research group called Children Now, boys ages 10 to 17 were asked about their insight on male characters on TV. Their responses indicated that society’s stereotypes on males were identified as violent and angry, mostly shown in the workforce “leaders and problem solvers…funny confident, successful and athletic…and it’s rare to see men or boys crying or otherwise showing vulnerability”; (5)
- men in the USA and Europe are more likely to overestimate female desire for muscular mates than their East Asian counterparts, says a study published in February 2005 in the American Journal of Psychiatry. One reason for the difference could be that Western males, unlike Asians, are bombarded with images of muscular men in advertisements. From 1958 to 1998, about 20% of US print ads showed undressed female models, according to the researchers' analysis of two leading American women's magazines. The share of undressed male models rose from 3% in the 1950s to 35% in the 1990s, the study said;
- in May 2004, researchers at the University of Central Florida released a study saying men who watched TV commercials with muscular actors felt unhappy about their own physiques. This ‘culture of muscularity’ can be linked to eating disorders and steroid abuse, the researchers said.
The media markets desire. And by reproducing ideals that are absurdly out of line with what real bodies really do look like, the media perpetuates a market for frustration and disappointment… - considering that – only in the United States - the diet industry alone generates US$40 billion in revenue, advertisers have been successful with their marketing strategy; (6)
- the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health found that of 13,003 women in their 18-22 age cohort, 74% reported wanting to weigh less, with only 25% of women in the 'healthy weight' category being happy with their weight. The study also revealed that 48% of the women had dieted to lose weight in the previous year; (7)
- common on television, in print ads and on the Internet are the ‘before and after’ testimonials - personal accounts of success - in support of a product or service, many with before and after photographs. Typically, in the ‘before’ photos, the person appears with poor posture, a neutral facial expression, unkempt hair, unfashionable clothes and washed-out skin tones. The ‘after’ photos generally are better lit. The person stands with shoulders held back, tummy tucked in, wearing smarter-looking clothes and is carefully made up, coiffed and smiling;
- in the last 10 years, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has brought over 100 cases against manufacturers for false and misleading claims and advertising. A Texas-based company selling the ‘Body Solutions Evening Weight Formula’, advertised on the radio that you could shed unwanted pounds in your sleep without having to change your diet or exercise. In 2002, it was heard on more than 650 radio stations with over 700 endorsers in 110 US cities, making it one of the largest radio advertisers in the country. In only three years of operation, the company amassed US$155 million in revenue, most of it lost to the millions of consumers who believed you could ‘lose weight while you sleep’.
(1) [ medialit.med.sc.edu/teen_mag_suicide_link.htm]
(2) [ www.007b.com/body_image_breasts_puberty.php]
(3) An article on the study printed in The Scotsman newspaper, makes another important point: not only do young girls worship the figures of celebrities, but often their mothers do as well. [ www.parentstv.org/ptc/publications/rgcolumns/2005/0118.asp]
(4) [ www.plasticsurgery.org/news_room/press_releases/New-Reality-TV-Programs-Create-Unhealthy-Unrealistic-Expectations.cfm]
(5) Unknown Author 2005, reported in [ home.utm.utoronto.ca/~ni_tran/AssignStereotype.htm]
(6) It has been estimated that of the 70 million Americans who go on some kind of diet program every year, a slim percentage (5 to 10%) will successfully shed the weight and keep it off. By the year 2006, diet industry’s revenues are estimated to top US$48 billion.
(7) Kenardy J, Brown WJ & Vogt E., “Dieting and health in young Australian women”, in European Eating Disorders Review, 2001, Vol. 9 No 4, p 242-254. [ www.womhealth.org.au/studentfactsheets/bodyimage.htm]
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