“Fat, chubby, too skinny, she needs a cheeseburger”. These are all things that get said
about women and make them not feel pretty. Body image has such an impact on how women feel
about themselves. Social media represents women as really thin and when all commercials, and
ads show the same type of women it makes society believe that’s how they’re supposed to be. It
brings women down constantly thinking they aren’t good enough. When in reality the women in
those ads and commercials are photo shopped and edited to look flawless. These representations
of women are hurting women’s body image.
In one of the studies I found it shows how media affects how women view themselves. In
the study they used 160 women, 80 per group. Both groups went through a Body Esteem scale
three times, once just to get s starting point then second after social media exposure and lastly
after a class exposing and educating women on real female body images and showing the women
how media photo shops everything. The results of this experiment showed that women had
significant changes in how they felt about themselves. Both the women, average and overweight
felt more positive about their body image. This study shows that when women see these images,
commercial and ads of models being really thin it knocks down women’s self-esteem. Women
start believing that how they have to be and sometimes take unhealthy measures to be that way.
That’s why it’s so important to show women that these models are not the ideal look, every
woman is beautiful no matter their size.
Media is starting to realize the impact it has on women so some companies have started
campaigns showing beauty is all shapes and sizes. Dove launched their Real Beauty campaign
in 2004. They decided to do this campaign after seeing a study that 2 percent of women see
themselves as beautiful. After realizing that, Dove bought multiple communication vehicles
that go around challenging the stereotypes and allow women to come and speak about beauty.
They now have ads showing multiple women with different body structures showing everyone
is beautiful. To this day the campaign is still trying to empower women and give them the
confidence to look in the mirror every day and say they’re beautiful.
Today some companies are trying to help women see their beauty. Society openly talks
about how women in the ads aren’t really what they look like and that they are photo shopped to
look a certain way. People are now starting to realize that those women aren’t the face for what
women should look like. Thanks to campaigns like the Dove, today women have more outlets to
talk about what real beauty is and express themselves. Women don’t have to look at the models
and feel bad that they don’t look like that. Women are all shapes and sizes and that’s what makes
them beautiful.
Works Cited:
HAAS, C. J., PAWLOW, L. A., PETTIBONE, J., & SEGRIST, D. J. (2012). AN INTERVENTION FOR THE NEGATIVE INFLUENCE OF MEDIA ON BODY ESTEEM. College Student Journal,46(2), 405-418.
The Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2014.
about women and make them not feel pretty. Body image has such an impact on how women feel
about themselves. Social media represents women as really thin and when all commercials, and
ads show the same type of women it makes society believe that’s how they’re supposed to be. It
brings women down constantly thinking they aren’t good enough. When in reality the women in
those ads and commercials are photo shopped and edited to look flawless. These representations
of women are hurting women’s body image.
In one of the studies I found it shows how media affects how women view themselves. In
the study they used 160 women, 80 per group. Both groups went through a Body Esteem scale
three times, once just to get s starting point then second after social media exposure and lastly
after a class exposing and educating women on real female body images and showing the women
how media photo shops everything. The results of this experiment showed that women had
significant changes in how they felt about themselves. Both the women, average and overweight
felt more positive about their body image. This study shows that when women see these images,
commercial and ads of models being really thin it knocks down women’s self-esteem. Women
start believing that how they have to be and sometimes take unhealthy measures to be that way.
That’s why it’s so important to show women that these models are not the ideal look, every
woman is beautiful no matter their size.
Media is starting to realize the impact it has on women so some companies have started
campaigns showing beauty is all shapes and sizes. Dove launched their Real Beauty campaign
in 2004. They decided to do this campaign after seeing a study that 2 percent of women see
themselves as beautiful. After realizing that, Dove bought multiple communication vehicles
that go around challenging the stereotypes and allow women to come and speak about beauty.
They now have ads showing multiple women with different body structures showing everyone
is beautiful. To this day the campaign is still trying to empower women and give them the
confidence to look in the mirror every day and say they’re beautiful.
Today some companies are trying to help women see their beauty. Society openly talks
about how women in the ads aren’t really what they look like and that they are photo shopped to
look a certain way. People are now starting to realize that those women aren’t the face for what
women should look like. Thanks to campaigns like the Dove, today women have more outlets to
talk about what real beauty is and express themselves. Women don’t have to look at the models
and feel bad that they don’t look like that. Women are all shapes and sizes and that’s what makes
them beautiful.
Works Cited:
HAAS, C. J., PAWLOW, L. A., PETTIBONE, J., & SEGRIST, D. J. (2012). AN INTERVENTION FOR THE NEGATIVE INFLUENCE OF MEDIA ON BODY ESTEEM. College Student Journal,46(2), 405-418.
The Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2014.