Did you know that the average person is exposed to around 5,000 advertisements a day (Johnson, 2006)? Seeing that many advertisements one has to wonder how ads affect us. I personally believe that ads have a great impact on our body image. And if these ads are affecting our body image is it for better or worse?
I believe that in our society we have increasingly put more and more emphasis on how we look, I believe that there is a direct link between advertising, and how we feel about how we look. Health and beauty products are among the top most advertised product category. If body image was less important to our society would health and beauty advertising be more or less dominant? On a daily basis we see advertisements for a new weight loss program or for a new makeup; these advertisements create a need for health and beauty products. Some of these advertisements show before or after pictures, the before and after pictures work because we have been influenced to think that a particular image is better than another.
("Weight loss plan," 2011)
I was curious to know if we as a society had a particular image of what looks good and what looks bad, so I asked my four year old cousin Bayley (she’s a female), “Who is pretty?” Bayley replied to me, “Barbie.” Even at the age of 4, Bayley is aware of our society’s beliefs concerning beauty. I believe most people would agree that Barbie is pretty, but Barbie is a doll that would be over seven feet tall is real life (Page, 2008). Does this show that we do have a skewed image of what and who is pretty?
("Happy birthday barbie," 2009)
Work Cited
Happy birthday barbie [Web log message]. (2009, March 9). Retrieved from http://timepass2kstylee.blogspot.com/2009/03/happy-birthday-barbie.html
Johnson, C.A. (2006). Cutting through advertising clutter. CBS News, Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/17/sunday/main2015684.shtml
Page, S. (2008, March 2). What if barbie were a real woman?. Peace Love Lungs, Retrieved from http://www.peacelovelunges.com/sports-fitness/ask-sam/what-if-barbie-were-a-real-woman/
Weight loss plan. (2011). [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.weightloss-plan-review.us/
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