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Feel Good When You Look in the Mirror
The image of beauty is projected on women through
advertisements on TV, magazines, newspapers, billboards and
the internet, and why shouldn’t it be? Beauty products produce
hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue each year. The
diet industry alone yields $33 billion dollars a year. Advertisers
emphasize the importance of physical attractiveness in order
to sell products ranging from beer to a piece of cloth that
picks up dirt like magic. The constant exposure to the perfect
women portrayed in ads influences women to be image conscious
and obsess over physical appearance.
The average woman sees 400 to 600 advertisements
per day and over half of those advertisements use beauty as
an appeal to buy. In 1996, international ad agency Saatchi
and Saatchi found that ads cause women to fear being unattractive
or old. Advertisers operate under the notion that unattainable
desire drives product consumption. Today’s fashion model weighs
23% less than the average female, yet 69% of girls say that
they are influenced by these models. Women of all ages spend
money on make-up, hair products, clothing and lingerie with
the hope of reaching perfection. Those women that aren’t content
to use beauty enhancers turn to plastic surgery because surgery
makes wrinkle removal, dramatic weight loss and bigger breasts
possible, for a price. Certain diet plans have their clients
buy expensive packaged foods that must be eaten every day
for every meal. Women pay because they want to be as attractive
as the women they encounter in advertisements every day.
If the cover of Maxim features a beautiful,
scantily clad woman, then why doesn’t Cosmopolitan’s have
a muscular man without his shirt? Women want to look at other
women. They want to look at whatever famous actress that’s
gracing the cover for the month. Women are interested in her
make-up brand, hairdresser and where she buys her clothing
because they hope that those products will turn them into
their favorite celebrity. Advertisers capitalize on this train
of thought. In a sample of undergraduate and graduate students
from Stanford, 68% of women felt worse about their appearance
after looking through a women’s magazine. When a woman feels
bad about herself she is more likely to go out and spend money
on beauty products that she believes will make her feel better.
Instead of making a woman feel better about her natural body,
the media encourages her to strive towards an unreasonable
goal.
The media influences women from an early age.
A study of Saturday morning toy commercials found that 50%
of commercials aimed at girls spoke about physical attractiveness,
while no commercials for boys did the same. The importance
of physical attractiveness is promoted through advertisements
aimed at children and teens. Young girls play dress up and
put on their mother’s make-up as a game, but they’re really
looking for someone to call them pretty. By the time a girl
is 17, she has seen 250,000 ads through the media. The media
targets girls just as they are developing and are looking
to feel accepted. Half of ads in teen magazines use beauty
as a selling point. A study done by Teen People found that
27% of girls feel media pressure to be perfect. It is no wonder
that 90% of people suffering from an eating disorder are female.
The pressure created by the media causes women
to feel insecure, in turn creating billions in revenue for
the beauty market. I am one of those women who add to the
money made off of insecurities. I believe that I spend upwards
of $1,000 each year on my hair, make-up and clothes. Whenever
I leave my house, my make-up and hair have to be done, and
I know that I’m not alone. No matter where I go I see women
like me. People dress up to go to the supermarket, the gym,
or school, places where dressing up is impractical. I find
myself asking “Who are they trying to impress?” Some might
be quick to answer “men,” but this is the case only some of
the time. Women dress up for themselves because they want
to feel attractive. When they go out they want to compare
themselves to every other woman around them and be able to
think “I look better than her.”
While some outfits, particularly revealing ones,
will attract men, for the most part every man is looking for
something different. Attraction is different for every person,
regardless of sex, and includes more than looks. Not every
woman has to be a tall blond with breasts like grapefruits,
although the media wants women to believe that.
Nothing in the advertisement world encourages
self confidence in women. The constant exposures to women
with perfect skin and bodies that are featured in ads don’t
help the average woman. Advertisers depend on women to feel
bad about their body image in order to sell beauty products.
So don’t feel bad when you look in the mirror; that’s what
they want.
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About the Author:
Dana Krupinsky - I'm a writing student.
Contact: Zephora41230@aol.com
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