The average individual is exposed to about 5,000 advertisements per day. In a world where we are constantly surrounded by billboards, commercials, magazines, and fashion advertisements, it is safe to say that media has a huge impact on our society and daily lives. Whether you are browsing through the internet or walking down the street, you can not simply scape advertisements. It is the norm to see amazingly beautiful models with slim bodies featured in advertisements. Advertising is not just about earning money for the corporate world anymore, as our society is fast progressing to brainwashing and selling ideas instead. The power of media is far too great and has many negative influences on the people of our society, especially on young females as it can damage their self-esteem, alter their sense of body image, and create sexual expectations from women.
Firstly, the image of the “perfect girl” has created a huge negative impact on females’ self-esteem, especially on young girls. The image of the thin and flawless women is seen in many advertisements; however, what is not seen is the Photoshop and touchups that are done behind the scenes. It is evident that when faced with such great enforcement from media, the public feels less perfect and continuously strives to look better to fit to the ideal image. It is when media puts such high standards on beauty that for most females, such beauty would be naturally and physically unattainable. When women are presented with such beautiful models on advertisements continuously, they can start comparing themselves with those images and consequently lose their self-confidence. Such comparisons are more evident in young girls and teens. For example, the teen obsession with the young celebrity, Kylie Jenner, has impacted many girls’ self-confidence. Jenner, who had lip fillers at the age of 17 and recently modeled for Puma and Balmain has become a huge role model for teens. Due to this influence, many teens are wishing to have their lips enhanced to the point of starting a well-known challenge on Instagram called “The Kylie lip challenge”. According to the “Global News”, “The Kylie lip challenge” has encouraged teenagers to insert their lips into a shot glass, small jar or bottle, suck out the air and create a vacuum hoping to end up with pouty lips like the reality TV star. Some attempts have gone awry as girls end up with bruises, soreness and even torn skin.” Such media obsession in our world today has led to many females being emotionally and physically confused.
Secondly, today’s media has made many females alert about their body image. Many young girls are experiencing a sense of body hatred due to constant exposure to slim models. Numerous studies have shown that obsession to media saturated with the ideal thin body images has created a sense of body dissatisfaction, eating disorders and anorexia amongst women. Eating disorders are most common in young girls of 12 to 26 years of age. According to ...
