Eating Disorders and the Media :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Eating Disorders and the Media Todays society is undeniably marked by cultural norms and grands. The question is, however, does the mass medias depiction of this norm cause noisome behavior in its population? Researchers have shown that there is a virgule in the way television targets children in advertising (Ogletree, S., Williams, S., Raffeld, P., Mason, B., Fricke, K., 1990) and that this media influence oer tidy sum has always been observable (Miles, M., 1995). This targeting of audience members serves the purpose of singling out the well-nigh desirable consumer for the product to encourage their economic support. So if advertising is entirely concerned with selling product, why is it blamed for the low self-esteem and tree trunk image and thus the bulimia and anorexia seen in todays women? The images projected by the media in commercials, products, wrote ads etc. give todays consumers an idea of what modal(prenominal) should serve like (Sellers, M., Waligroski, K., 199 3). The people in the ads would all have the ideal body proportions, material possessions and genial status in order to deserve the attention the ad places on them. Viewers see the ads and compare the body images they see to themselves, which is likely to denounce a discrepancy. Five years ago, the average fe manful model weighed 23% less that the average woman of the time (Miles, M., 1995) and the difference is only growing. work force to are affected by the medias portrayal of what ideal looks like. Jirousek explains the evolution of the ideal male figure from a slim and romantic shape to the preternatural image we see in television and the rest of media today (1996). With the offset printing of televised football in the 1930s, the popularized image of males incorporated the larger than life appearance from shoulder pads and other armor to encompass movie heroes, comic sacred scripture characters and clothing models. With the males in the public eye having these muscular f igures and distorted proportions, the normal male then received the impression that this is what women wanted even if the look does not come easily to most men. Fabio is a good mannikin of this image (although Jirousek states that Fabio is more for the female consumer than the influence over male viewers, 1996). This male image could be just the thing a man ask to see in order to feel completely below expectations thus, resulting in low self-esteem.