Body Image Research

US Statistics

• 80% of children who are 10 years old are afraid of becoming fat
• Nearly a quarter of girls aged 15-17 would consider cosmetic surgery
• 13% of girls acknowledge having an eating disorder
• 7 in 10 girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way regarding looks
• 80% of woman are made to feel insecure by images of other women 

UK Statistics

• Out of 2000 girls, 8% said they were happy with their body image
• 19% of teen girls (out of the 2000 girls asked) questioned were actually overweight 
• 67% of the 2000 girls questioned said that they needed to lose
• 64% under the age of 13 years old had already been on a diet
• Almost a fifth (19%) admitted to already suffering from an eating disorder
• Cosmetic rates have increased nearly 20% since 2008
• 1 in 4 7 year old girls have tried to lose weight at least once 

                                                     

From the statistics above, it is clear that a lot of women have struggled with their body image due to the effect the media has one their mental state. The statistics above are shocking to myself and the other members in our group. This is because with the upcoming generation, girls and even boys are young once they start having negative thoughts about their body. Young people are being influenced to change themselves, resulting in their teenage years becoming a lot more difficult when going through puberty. This can lead to mental illnesses such as depression which  with social pressure which may lead to severe suicidal thoughts.

Advertising in magazines has taken a large influential effect on today’s society. Mainstream magazines present women as being thin and with the typical ‘hourglass’ figure and men are portrayed as being extremely muscular. Media platforms such as magazines and social media are used to advertise products and services. This is typically done through using the ideal female representation through a model. The models used help create a powerful impact on the consumers as it reminds them of the social expectations that have become the norm of society. The typical female retains the hourglass figure with the ideal symmetrical face with the latest make up trends being presented flawlessly. Men on the other hand are expected to have unrealistic muscle definition naturally. This is not an accurate representation of the majority of females and male.

Across the years, the type of models that have and are used in advertisements have transformed. Around 20 years ago, the weight for the ideal model was 8% less than the average woman. This has been altered dramatically in a negative way. In today’s society the ideal weight for a model is approximately 23% less than the average female (according to the DailyMail, the average weight for a British female is 11 stone, this means that today’s models weigh about 2.53 stone). This easily demonstrates the pressure that the industry puts on young adults and teenagers. It also shows the pressure put on models whom are already in the industry, both of these situations increases the percentage of underweight individuals. The average model wears size 6 and 8 (UK sizes) compared to the typical woman being sizes 12 and 14, this presents the large difference between a healthy weight and what is considered the ‘perfect’ size. Advertising companies believe that ‘thin sells’ which increases the number of models we seen on screen and on media platforms on a daily basis.

Photoshop has become a large part of society and people’s presence on social media. This continues when producing articles and print products, a model or celebrity will not be considered perfect until they have been ‘altered’ using software such as Photoshop to create an unrealistic expectation for society. This process will still go ahead even if the model or celebrity is the ideal weight for their height, this has been demonstrated and ‘exposed’ by a number of celebrities. For example, an American actress, singer and dancer called Zendaya saw her finished photos for a magazine article which had been photoshopped. She quickly took to Instagram to explain the situation and express her unhappiness with the finished product and the negative implications that come with them. When referring to social media with social media such as Snapchat creating bite sized advertisement and news referring to celebrities and models’ bodies, as teenagers and young adults we regularly check social media, so on an evening we came across the images shown below on Snapchat, it pointed out to us actually how much this happens and how idol the generation can be when consuming the things we see on social media, we realised that a lot of our expectations of ‘beauty’ was shaped by the media and the things we consume while growing up on social media.

Advertising is believed to be based on insecurities, it is believed that by making the audience feel insecure about themselves and their lifestyle while watching an advert it is more likely to encourage consumers to purchase a product that creates the illusion to make the insecurity disappear similar to the model in the advert. On the other hand, we can expect some types of active consumers to be discouraged to buy the product because of the negative emotions that the advert presented onto the consumer.

Change has been made in recent years, steps are being made to change the ways advertisers use models to promote products and services. A Canadian magazine called Châtelaine had promised not to touch up photos from now on. Therefore this means that photos would not be photoshopped or edited in anyway which means the models presented in the magazine will natural. Alongside this promise they ensured they would not use models under the age of 25. This means it increases the age of the target audience which means that the young people are less likely to be influenced by magazines. This means that the magazine will stand out and therefore will mean that the magazine should have a popular reputation which means the actions that they have chosen to take will effect more people, therefore impacting society positively. Other magazines are following in the Canadian magazine’s footsteps and are speaking out about the models and the requirements for them to be used in advertisements. In 2009, the editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, reportedly accused specific fashion designers of forcing magazines to hire underweight models. Alexandra claimed this happened by magazines only providing miniscule outfits at photoshoots so they have no choice but to hire underweight models.

Research was conducted to see the effects that magazines had on both men and women. The results collected from over 200 boys and 200 girls of different body masses. They were asked about the effects of magazines in relation to three genres: Fitness/health, Sports and Fashion. The study has remarkable  results as listed below:

Reading magazines leads to an increase in drive to be thin, anorexia and bulimia and other eating disorders and decreased body satisfaction.

Reading the magazines will lead to social comparisons which will lead to the effects mentioned above once again.

Social comparisons may also strengthen the relationship between magazine consumption and the above affects.

Reading magazines will increase critical body image processing which would lead to the impacts mentioned above.

Teens that read central content felt better about themselves because of the information that they consume when reading the actual article instead of focusing on the pictures.

Reading sports magazines shows an increase in muscularity in females, not males.

Health and Fitness magazine shows an increase in anorexia, bulimia and drive to be thin.