Media Effects on Body Image

The criterion for beauty is and has always been shaped by the media around us. Magazines and especially television portray and represent beauty with those extra skinny models and actresses whom have no link or connection with the average looking women. If we were to examine the data, which shows that each individual is exposed to approximately 3000 ads from various media sources on a daily basis, one would realize how massive the number of those people getting affected by the wrong messages that the media is sending to us. The number one target with the most severe damages, regarding this issue, is teenage girls who are blinded with the false fact which is represented by the mass media to them emphasizing on a simple equation “ ideal beauty= skinny”. Media have affected most of the teenage girls self-esteem and created a negative perception of their body image, which generated anger and dissatisfaction. 53% of teenage girls are suffering from anorexia and bulimia.

Television discovered how young adults and teenagers are attracted toward what is supposed to be “ideal beauty” and exploited the concept without any regard towards its consequences. Plastic surgery became a regular issue represented to us through various television shows and it did not stop at different series such as nip tuck but it was represented to us through various reality shows which for it seems to me have more of an impact on people than any other show. Plastic surgeries have become a game that is being sold and represented to people as a very simple procedure regardless of its complications and dangerous impacts that were hidden from the audience.