Sophie Sams
Mrs. Anderson
English 9
13 April 2016
Are Thin Models Really Worth All the Talk? Steve Maraboli once said, “There is nothing rarer, nor more beautiful, than a woman being unapologetically herself: comfortable in her perfect imperfection. To me, that is the true essence of beauty.” Sadly, this is rarely the case today. Very few women are completely comfortable in their bodies. Woman are led to believe that a thin, skinny body is the ideal body to have which is simply not true. Advertising companies portray an unrealistic image of how woman’s bodies should look. The companies should change this by having a variety of shapes and sizes represent their company. Many women are beginning to believe that being extremely skinny is the only attractive body type. Dirk Smeesters, Thomal Mussweiler, and Naomi Mendel said, “abundant exposure to thin media images has led to the commonly held belief that the thin ideal is normative and central to attractiveness” (930). This is not normal, but people are led to believe that it is. If most models were overweight, people would most likely think being overweight is normal. Advertising companies are leading people into believing that all woman should look like the models they use for their ad campaigns. Although people think that a skinny, model body is normal, most models are unhealthy. …show more content…
In fact, most models are underweight. Quoted from Emma Halliwell and Helga Dittmar, “woman’s ideal body weight as depicted in magazines has decreased over the last 40 years, so the the average model is now more than 20% underweight” (105). Woman are idolizing models who are not even healthy. Advertising companies are fronting an unhealthy image to woman and making it seem like it is normal. It is not normal. The companies need to have all different kinds of models represent their company to show that any type of body that is healthy is perfectly okay. As an effect of only seeing advertisements of extremely thin models, women are getting physically and mentally ill trying to look like the thin models. Smeesters, Mussweiler, and Mandel observe that “approximately 50% of girls and young women report being dissatisfied with their bodies. These dissatisfactory feelings can play a major role in the development of low self-esteem, depression, and eating disorders such as bulimia” (930). Girls are seeing these misleading advertisements and are interpreting them as the ideal body type. They are getting ill just because they want to look a certain way. Advertisements need to show that all body types are great to prevent illness. Most advertisements are appealing to woman, but surprisingly, men are strongly effected by them as well. Men are even causing harm and stress for themselves because of the models. Phillipa Diedrichs and Christina Lee stated that men often feel self-conscious and exercise excessively in order to appeal to thin models they see in advertisements (1274). These advertisements are making men see themselves as unwanted by woman. If a skinny model is on the front cover of a popular magazine and everyone is idolizing her, men will most likely want to be with woman like the model. Companies need to front all body types to show men that there are other women that will accept them. All of the effects of these terrible advertisements can be prevented by making everyone feel as though they are beautiful the way they are. Smeesters, Mussweiler, and Mandel observed that “fashion show organizers in Milan and Madrid have recently banned extremely thin models from the catwalk, presumably to protect both consumers and models from eating disorders” (930). To prevent terrible outcomes of thin models, companies simply need to care about their models and the customers purchasing their products and act on it. People only want what they see and if they only see thin models, then that is what they will want to look like. If they have all kinds of models, then women will not care what their body looks like. Having all kinds of models instead of just skinny, underweight models will make all woman and men believe that they are beautiful. It is said to believe that advertisements holding thin models will sell more of the products
Mrs. Anderson
English 9
13 April 2016
Are Thin Models Really Worth All the Talk? Steve Maraboli once said, “There is nothing rarer, nor more beautiful, than a woman being unapologetically herself: comfortable in her perfect imperfection. To me, that is the true essence of beauty.” Sadly, this is rarely the case today. Very few women are completely comfortable in their bodies. Woman are led to believe that a thin, skinny body is the ideal body to have which is simply not true. Advertising companies portray an unrealistic image of how woman’s bodies should look. The companies should change this by having a variety of shapes and sizes represent their company. Many women are beginning to believe that being extremely skinny is the only attractive body type. Dirk Smeesters, Thomal Mussweiler, and Naomi Mendel said, “abundant exposure to thin media images has led to the commonly held belief that the thin ideal is normative and central to attractiveness” (930). This is not normal, but people are led to believe that it is. If most models were overweight, people would most likely think being overweight is normal. Advertising companies are leading people into believing that all woman should look like the models they use for their ad campaigns. Although people think that a skinny, model body is normal, most models are unhealthy. …show more content…
In fact, most models are underweight. Quoted from Emma Halliwell and Helga Dittmar, “woman’s ideal body weight as depicted in magazines has decreased over the last 40 years, so the the average model is now more than 20% underweight” (105). Woman are idolizing models who are not even healthy. Advertising companies are fronting an unhealthy image to woman and making it seem like it is normal. It is not normal. The companies need to have all different kinds of models represent their company to show that any type of body that is healthy is perfectly okay. As an effect of only seeing advertisements of extremely thin models, women are getting physically and mentally ill trying to look like the thin models. Smeesters, Mussweiler, and Mandel observe that “approximately 50% of girls and young women report being dissatisfied with their bodies. These dissatisfactory feelings can play a major role in the development of low self-esteem, depression, and eating disorders such as bulimia” (930). Girls are seeing these misleading advertisements and are interpreting them as the ideal body type. They are getting ill just because they want to look a certain way. Advertisements need to show that all body types are great to prevent illness. Most advertisements are appealing to woman, but surprisingly, men are strongly effected by them as well. Men are even causing harm and stress for themselves because of the models. Phillipa Diedrichs and Christina Lee stated that men often feel self-conscious and exercise excessively in order to appeal to thin models they see in advertisements (1274). These advertisements are making men see themselves as unwanted by woman. If a skinny model is on the front cover of a popular magazine and everyone is idolizing her, men will most likely want to be with woman like the model. Companies need to front all body types to show men that there are other women that will accept them. All of the effects of these terrible advertisements can be prevented by making everyone feel as though they are beautiful the way they are. Smeesters, Mussweiler, and Mandel observed that “fashion show organizers in Milan and Madrid have recently banned extremely thin models from the catwalk, presumably to protect both consumers and models from eating disorders” (930). To prevent terrible outcomes of thin models, companies simply need to care about their models and the customers purchasing their products and act on it. People only want what they see and if they only see thin models, then that is what they will want to look like. If they have all kinds of models, then women will not care what their body looks like. Having all kinds of models instead of just skinny, underweight models will make all woman and men believe that they are beautiful. It is said to believe that advertisements holding thin models will sell more of the products