Why Do Magazine Advertisements Send Unhealthy Signals To Young Women

Due to media advertisements, women have felt the pressure to look good more than ever. In the book Where the Girls are, the author Susan Douglas expresses what women sometimes feel when they are exposed to media advertisements. "Special K ads make most of us hide our thighs in shame. On the one hand, on the other hand, that’s not just me, that’s what it means to be a woman in America" (Douglas 1995). Women struggle every day with these societal pressures that the media has created and sadly it is only getting worst. The media tends to promote thinness, flawless skin, hair and labels it as "ideal."

The objectification of women in shows from I Love Lucy to Toddlers and Tiaras lead many to believe that they must live up to society’s expectations. As the media becomes stronger, social media targets the younger generation of women in our society with various media that are demeaning to women. Nowadays, everyone is connected to various social media platforms. Through social media, messages, which cause many young women to question their bodies and overall self-image, are delivered daily. Media sells the idea that; “girls’ and women’s value lies in their youth, beauty, and sexuality and not in their capacity as leaders” (Miss Representation). Through advertisements,

In this essay, I will explore the themes of various poems from “Kinky”, by Denise Duhamel. The poems “The Limited Edition Platinum Barbie” and “One Afternoon When Barbie Wanted to Join the Military”, reflect upon the oppressive beauty standards and gender expectations in our culture and hyperbolize them to a dystopian point. Duhamel uses Barbie as a metaphor throughout these poems, and addresses our culture’s misogyny, while making Barbie a first person character and giving her a voice.

existent. It is widely believed that we live in a man’s world. Even something as common

Pfeifer fails to address the fact that these advertisements are not only found in magazines but also on television. Women can decide not to purchase magazines. But how do they control the advertisement that comes up when they are watching the television? Additional means of telling the media besides boycotting, that it is not okay to exploit the insecurity of women and young girls’ needs to be developed. This can be through campaigns or other means.

The average American will spend around a year and a half of their lives watching television commercials (Kilbourne 395). Presently advertisements are controlling our everyday lives. In Jean Kilbourne’s article: “Still Killing Us Softly: Advertising and the Obsession with Thinness”, she discusses how advertisements negatively portray women. This negative portrayal leads to self-hatred and a negative self-image for women. A major point of this is the idea of excessive thinness for women, which the advertising industry is dominantly influencing how women need to meet this standard. Kilbourne argues that advertising and the media cause women to believe this is the only standard and we must meet it. A recent advertisement in Glamour magazine for Kashi cereal “GoLEAN Crunch”, is a great example of how women are represented and materialized in today’s society. This advertisement supports and contradicts Kilbourne’s argument that advertisers depict women as powerless, in-shape and perfectly beautified to meet the standard created by the media.

The American taste buds are hooked to sweet, spicy, and salty flavors. The mouth controls the diet and emotions of every American. This food obsession, however, has transformed from an excitement to an addiction. Food controls physical and mental health; one eats when sad, happy, or bored. Food answers all problems. As the obsession with food increases, the obesity crisis in America also grows immensely. The obesity epidemic in America stems from three sources: the food industry, the government, and the American culture. The food industry’s lies and greed prevent Americans from knowing what food possesses as ingredients and why one feels the need to continue eating it. While the government and the FDA fail

I believe advertising shapes as well as mirrors society. A case in point, advertisements can shape society's perception of ‘beauty." For instance, in magazines and movies, quite often young girls strive to look-like and emulate the digitally enhanced images of women in magazines. As such, some critics argue that advertising abuses its influence on children and teenagers in particular, amongst others.

In Killing Us Softly 4, Jean Kilbourne discusses the power of advertising and how it has facilitated and legitimized the objectification of women. As a woman and a former model, Kilbourne argues that advertisements are a powerful educational force because they are everywhere. Because of this, the message is quickly processed so it easier to influence someone’s subconscious. Advertisements are also powerful because they sell values and concepts telling society how women should look like.

Magazine advertising began in June 1826 when a French newspaper was the first ever to put paid advertisement on Its pages. At the beginning of the 19th-century ads in magazines weren’t as much as popular as now because paid advertisements back then had a special tax. But shortly the invention of the rotary press, the number of magazines who increased their pages with advertisements encouraging the buyer of their product are so many. At that time, magazines just became available to the middle-class people, not just the rich ones. Therefore, magazines sales increased so much and a lot of copies are made. That marked the beginning of magazines developments as its becoming one of the leading media in the world all because they started putting ads

Sage, George H. "High School and College Sports in the United States." Journal of Physical

Advertisement plays upon emotions, creating a scenario that heightens the consumer’s emotional state. They build a fantasy in which the consumer’s life is better because of the product. Advertisements sell values, images, love and sexuality. Over the years advertisements have attempted a wide variety of advertising approaches like humor, sex, emotions. Advertisers use one of these appeals to ensure that the targeted audiences receive their message. The media’s framing of women in highly restricted and negative ways is a global phenomenon that cuts across all cultures and has endured a long passage of

This research paper presents a content analysis on the portrayal of women in advertisements. This paper is written to better understand the stereotypes of women in advertising. The paper will also include the harsh realities female receivers have to face due to the portrayal of unrealistically thin and technologically perfected super models. Many women are portrayed as sexual objects and are constantly being degraded. Few examples of using sex appeal will also be discussed in this paper.

Firstly, it is quite normal to see the model in the ads wear little clothes or put focus on the leg and breast to draw attention .According to Printed slimming advertisements in Hong Kong paper (2015),it indicated that these marketing strategies are treating women as sex objects which belittle the status of women since some ads portray women has to be slim to please men, for example describe fat women won’t get a boyfriend, but the slim do ,which has advance the idea that women is just a subordinate to man, and this will also affect the public perception of women. Therefore, slimming ads should be prohibited to protect women’s gender equality

Because the women are showed being submissive and often dressed provocatively, this image is being idealized. The effects can be harmful, resulting into young girls having a negative self-image. Women don’t dare to take the leading role, since this is not the norm in our ‘western’ world. Is this really how we want advertisements to make us feel? When you think of the western world, objectification and insensibility should not be the first thing that comes to your mind but by promoting the sexist advertisements, this concept is not uncommon.