In our world one could walk into a gas station or a grocery store and notice all different kinds of magazines. The one thing that these magazines have in common is the figure on the front. The glossy cover showcases someone who is airbrushed to perfection; a computer generated image that provides standards of what a beautiful person should look like. The media promotes an unrealistic image that people (especially women) constantly compare themselves against. The appearance of the fake photoshopped models in magazines cause people to set unrealistic expectations about themselves, feel bad because they do not look like the cover of a magazine and in some extreme cases develop an eating disorder.
Comparing oneself to another individual is sometimes but often unconsciously done. It is without effort that when a person glimpses the front of a magazine they marvel at how flawless the model looks. Photoshopped models cause people to set unrealistic expectations about themselves. “Our ideas of what “normal” and “healthy” look like are distorted and it is harmful,” says Carrie Arnold, a freelance science writer. The amount of times that a “plus size” model is in a magazine is few and far between, and when they are, the people who are portrayed are not even plus size. They look average: their size is similar to the people who reading the magazine. One could argue that the media promotes anorexia. The editors of fashion magazines expose impressionable teenagers to the idea that being sickly thin is one of the few ways that you will be viewed as beautiful within society.
Then there is Michelle Obama -- one of the top celebrity endorsements for leading a healthy lifestyle -- who is campaigning to get healthier lunches in school, exercising an hour a day, etc. Surely, the one of the most famous people in the United States would have some sort of influence on the people who generate these airbrushed portrayal of these models. The message that is being sent is unclear and contradictory: an American leader promotes healthy living while more than hundreds of fashion magazines are publishing people who look undernourished and unhealthy. If you're confused I'm right there with you.
After comparing oneself to the over edited cover photo, the reader may be left feeling inadequate, inferior and imperfect. Photoshop reinforces the idea that already thin celebrities and models are still not good enough. What kind of message does that send to the viewers; most of whom who do not spend thousands of dollars on plastic and cosmetic surgery or devote their lives to looking “good”? Not a positive message. “Surely fashion should beautify the natural human form, not redesign it,” says Coco Rocha, a Canadian fashion model. A survey in the UK took place on behalf of the New Look clothing line. The survey polled over 2,000 women between the ages of 18 and 65 on the various aspects of female body image. The results were depressing. Fifteen percent of 18 to 24-year-old women who were surveyed believed that the models in magazines, billboards and advertisements precisely show what these women look like in real life. Over 650 of the participants stated that they struggled with confidence issues.
In extreme cases, the unrealistic images that the media promotes can lead to eating disorders. Many correlational and experimental studies have linked exposure to the thin ideal in the in the mass media to body dissatisfaction, incorporation of the thin ideal into the reader’s head and disordered eating among women. The influence from mass media to be muscular also emerges as being related to body dissatisfaction among men. Although this effect is smaller than the effect of mass media among women, it is still important.
On the other hand, there are also studies that show that the media does not have an influence over body issues. There is research that shows that peer competition has more of an impact on body image than social media does. Other research suggests that genetics may have an influence over body satisfaction in young women. A study took place in Michigan where a large sample of twins were surveyed about how much they wanted to look like the people in the media. Both fraternal and identical twins were surveyed due to the fact that siblings are raised in a very similar environment, but fraternal twins only share half their genes whereas identical twins share them all. The results showed that the more similar the genes, the more similar the results.
The media has a great impact on fashion, the way one looks, and the way a person views himself or herself. The unrealistic images that the media promotes through magazines have a great affect on readers and viewers. The appearance of the computer generated models cause spectators to set unrealistic expectations about themselves, feel bad because they themselves do not look like that and in some extreme cases develop self harming disorders.
