Role of Advertisement on Body Image - Essay Example

Role of Advertisement on Body Image It is undeniable that advertisements are a major part of our society and it is at the access of everyone in our surroundings. Media and body image are closely related because of their direct impact on each other. Body image is not only concerned with women but it has an impact on men as well. Advertisement plays an important role as it makes men and women of all ages to think about themselves, as to how they look in the society and what should they do to carry an elegant body image. It is not surprising that the physical appearance is a part of beauty in societal standards and it can influence the decision of an individual about what should be done with his or her body. Both males and females see many advertisements on a daily basis, and they try to copy the image that is portrayed to them and try their best to make themselves similar to those individuals whom they find attractive as it is a part of our nature. It is in human nature to look beautiful and presentable in the society; the media certainly set standards of beauty in terms of the latest trend but most importantly it is the person’s own view as to how he looks towards the ads and the advertisers should not be blamed for any falsehood they promote. The idea of beauty and to look beautiful is a perception of one’s mind, which is mainly derived from advertisements. The ads affect the human mind to think about their looks in the society. “There is nothing more rare, nor more beautiful, than a woman being unapologetically herself; comfortable in her perfect imperfection. To me, that is the true essence of beauty” (Maraboli 112). According to the above-mentioned quote, natural looks are more beautiful and people should feel comfortable about themselves and their looks. On the contrary, in order to look good, they try different things. People change their hairstyles, hair colors, color of eyes to meet their needs. Many of them are worried about their weight as looking slim is considered as part of beauty. People use different techniques to look slim and without proper consultation they start skipping meals to which they refer as dieting. Skipping meals lead to severe disorders such as Anorexia, an eating disorder in which a person refuses to eat because they think they are too fat. Looking slim is a human perception of beauty, which is forced in their minds by ads. There are other things as well which people find attractive, and consider it as part of beauty. These changes in their body are permanent like tattoos and piercing. People have tattoos on their bodies either to show their love towards someone or they find it beautiful and think it reflects them. A muscular man may have a tattoo of a dragon on his biceps, which many along with him will find attractive, and it also becomes a part of his robust personality. Similarly, some find piercing as part of beauty and are of the view that piercing makes them look more beautiful. Piercing at times is taken to an extreme level such as lips and tongue piercing which quite contrary many people do not find attractive at all. It can be clearly said that body image and looking beautiful is all about a person’s own perception (Alfano and OBrien). Beauty is a state of mind anything that provides pleasure to your mind can be stated as beauty. It is a concept, which differs from one individual to another. Everyone wants to look good and wants an ideal body because of human nature. We all get dressed up properly and make sure our hair is properly made as we want to be presentable and have a desirable image in the society. Some people put extra effort for their perfect body image as their viewpoint towards beauty is different from others. The concept of beauty depends on what a person likes when he/she looks at a media character if they find the body of that character desirable they wish and work hard to get a body like that, or some may find hair color and hair style attractive and try to copy it. It’s all about a person’s view about beauty (Alfano and OBrien). Media through different channels advertise their product. The focus of these advertisements is to show what type of people uses their products and what is trending in the present world. The images that are attractive to eyes are selected to influence the minds of viewers. People try to change everything about them such as hair color, color of eyes and weight to achieve the looks of their desired role models. Media sets standards for beauty as to what image should be carried on in accordance with the latest trends. Media dictate beauty through technological manners because the image we see in the ads is not 100 % real. Editing of images is done to make it more beautiful and pleasant to eyes. Photo manipulation is to make them look thinner, taller and eyes more beautiful which alter the images of models. Models are given inspirational look by these techniques. The editing of images plays a vital role to make the model look more attractive. The viewers of the ads do not look at such manipulation done by the editors or photographers instead they focus on the beauty of the models (Alfano and OBrien). It is observed that media leaves a negative impact on a person’s mind. Most women experience some dissatisfaction with their physical appearance and are more affected by the ultra thin ideal. Teenagers also get a negative impact of the advertisement as they set up unrealistic expectation about their physical appearances. Many women also end up with eating disorders and despite being thin they still focus on getting thinner. On the contrary, advertising also has a positive impact towards body image. People come to know about new trends and fashion from the advertisements. Positive body image of men and women is the main focus of the advertisement. New clothing style can be learned through ads and we come to know about different hairstyles by viewing the ads. If we focus on the message of the advertisements, we come to know about a lot of positive things in life. The key to positive body image is the positivity inside a person as to how they look towards themselves. Generally male models in the ads are muscular, people also desire having a body like him, viewers start taking healthy diet and exercising which is clearly a positive impact towards the body image through advertisements (Alfano and OBrien). There is an increase in the gender difference related to body image between men and women. The messages in ads differ for men and women. Women are more dissatisfied with their bodies than men in all stages of life. Men usually look up to healthy looking models and in order to attain similar body image they eat healthily and do exercise and on the other hand women look towards the skinny models and tend to lose more weight in spite of being underweight. Women are more cautious about body image than men as they want to be more presentable in the society. Women consider maintaining beauty as the most valuable thing about their existence and they are of view that without beauty their lives seem worthless. Based on these views women tend to negatively evaluate the image of beauty that is portrayed by different forms of media (Alfano and OBrien). Media represents the body image through advertisements. Many people raise an objection as to advertisements are responsible for severe disorders in people’s life. Seldom do people realize that the images portrayed in the ads are not natural beauty. The models shown in the ads are different from the average people of that country. If the average women height of women in the country is 5feet 4 inches, the models are 5feet 11 inches tall and same is the case with the weight difference. The viewers should broaden their views and think positively about themselves. Most importantly it is the persons own view as to how he or she looks towards the ads and take it positively or negatively. However, the media should not be criticized for spreading falsehood. Media is not responsible for how viewers acts towards an advertisement and should not be held responsible if the viewers take it in a negative way. Susie Orbach suggests, “in order to be successful at this campaign, Dove was going to have to “produce bold, startling, appealing images of women in all their sumptuous variety that would swagger in and dent the visual field” (Alfano and OBrien). Media claims to portray positive messages through their ads to the viewer and even help viewers realize that beauty cannot be stated. Advertisements do not only show beauty and set standards for beauty but also caters the audience from the information that beauty comes in all colors, shapes and sizes. The standard of beauty that media portrays are unattainable and unrealistic for most the women to achieve in the society. Generally, it is a common understanding that models displayed in different forms of media considered to have a healthy body weight, and influence a powerful message to women to sacrifice their health to look attractive according to societal standards. It is clear that media influences the way people view themselves. Mainly the view of the people is more important towards the ads and none should blame media for any wrong doings of the viewers. A person should realize how images are manipulated and should not try to copy considering them as perfect body image. A person should have high self-esteem so that they are not much affected by others. Works Cited Alfano, Christine and Alyssa OBrien. Envision In Depth: Reading, Writing, and Researching Arguments. Harlow: Longman, 2010. Print. Maraboli, Steve. "Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience." Donovan, Patrick. Forty Years Of Sacred Space: Life Lessons from a Doctors Notebook. NY: Balboa Press, 2013. 112. Print. Read More