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| Airbrushed Keira Knightly for King Arthur movie poster |
There is general consensus that
the beauty industry for the most part is harmful to society because it promotes
a superficial culture based primarily on appearance. The industry encourages an
unrealistic, unattainable look for men and women in regards to bodily
self-image. Many have gone to great extremes to mold their bodies into what our
culture has decided is ideal, often at the expense of their health and
well-being. Children are also vulnerable, always seeking to emulate what they
see in the media.
Surveys of women’s magazines have
found they contain ten times more weight loss ads and articles than men’s
magazines do. In her book, Airbrushed
Nation: The Lure & Loathing of Women’s Magazines, industry insider Jennifer Nelson
writes: “The message being sent is that you, dear reader, are in need of resizing,
fat-blasting, and age-defying. And it doesn’t stop there. Every month, from
every cover, the magazines scream some new directions that assume you’re not
good enough as you are: “Get Thinner” “Get Prettier” “Exercise More” “Quit
Looking Your Age” “Younger is Better” “Thinner is Best””
Unrealistic, airbrushed models in advertising and magazine covers have negative effects on young people’s self-image and self-esteem. In 2011 the American Medical Association urged the beauty and advertising industries to stop retouching models, warning “we must stop exposing impressionable children and teenagers to advertisements portraying models with body types only attainable with the help of photo editing software."
Unrealistic, airbrushed models in advertising and magazine covers have negative effects on young people’s self-image and self-esteem. In 2011 the American Medical Association urged the beauty and advertising industries to stop retouching models, warning “we must stop exposing impressionable children and teenagers to advertisements portraying models with body types only attainable with the help of photo editing software."
17 Beauty Industry Harmful
Influences
1) In 2011 Glamour magazine did an extensive survey of
their readers on their daily self-talk. Surprisingly, a whopping 97% of women
“say thirteen negative body thoughts to themselves daily like ‘I hate my
stomach’ or ‘I’m ugly’”. Ann Kearney-Cooke, Ph.D., a Cincinnati psychologist
who specializes in body image, observes: “Neuroscience has shown that whatever
you focus on shapes your brain. If you’re constantly thinking negative thoughts
about your body, that neural pathway becomes stronger—and those thoughts become
habitual,”
2)
The fashion and beauty magazine Allure has a circulation of just over one
million. A comprehensive survey of their readers disclosed that: “Forty-two
percent of women would consider anti-aging injections or plastic surgery. Only
18 percent of men would.”
In recent years the Dove Campaign
for Real Beauty has been attempting redefine feminine beauty worldwide. Its
mission: “To make women feel more beautiful every day by challenging today’s
stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of
themselves.”
Dove commissioned a global study to explore what beauty means to women today. They interviewed 3,200 women aged 18 to 64 in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Italy, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina and Japan. Some of the findings were:
3) Only 2% of these women describe themselves as “beautiful”
Dove commissioned a global study to explore what beauty means to women today. They interviewed 3,200 women aged 18 to 64 in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Italy, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina and Japan. Some of the findings were:
3) Only 2% of these women describe themselves as “beautiful”
4) About 3/4 of them rate
their beauty as "average"
5) Almost 1/2 of them think
their weight is "too high"
6) Just 13% of all women say
they are very satisfied with their beauty, 12% with their physical
attractiveness, 17% with their facial attractiveness and 13% with their body
weight and shape.
7) Almost two-thirds strongly
agreed that: “Women today are expected to be more physically attractive than
their mother’s generation was” (63%); and, “Society expects women to enhance
their physical attractiveness” (60%).
A later study by the same
researchers found that:
8) 90% of women want to
change at least one aspect of their physical appearance (with body weight
ranking the highest).
9) 91% feel the media and
advertising need to do a better job of representing realistic images of women
over 50.
10) 97% believe society is
less accepting of appearance considerations for women over 50 compared to their
younger counterparts, especially when focused on the body.
11) Nearly 60% of women
believe that if magazines were reflective of a population, a person would
likely believe women over 50 do not exist. 87% of women believe they are too
young to be old.
The market research firms NPD
Group and Experian have done exhaustive studies on youth beauty trends. Some of
the results in the US were:
12) Girls, on average, begin
using beauty products at age 13.
13) 43 percent of 6- to
9-year-olds are already using lipstick or lip gloss.
14) 38 percent of 6- to
9-year-olds use hairstyling products.
15) By the time a 10-year-old
is 50, she'll have spent nearly $300,000 on just her hair and face.
16) 8 to 12-year-olds spend
more than $40 million a month on beauty products.
17) Teens spend $100 million a
month on beauty products.
Popular Dove Evolution
commercial - in reverse:
Life of Working Models
In 2012 The Model Alliance surveyed 85 working fashion models. Their
average age was 26. Some of the findings were:
--- 76.5% have been exposed to drugs or alcohol in their work
environment.
--- 68.3% suffer from anxiety and / or depression
--- 64.1% have been asked to shed a few pounds by their agencies.
--- 31.2% have had eating disorders
--- 29.7% have been inappropriately touched on the job.
Former model Diane Faulkner writes of her experiences: “There were
several things we were encouraged to do to be camera-ready. The favorite was to
nibble on chocolate Ex-Lax and drink close to a gallon of room-temperature
water a day. No salt of any kind. No pop. No caffeine. This is all done three
days before a shoot. The idea was that this regimen would keep our stomachs
flat and keep us from bloating.”
Jennifer Nelson, Airbrushed Nation: The Lure & Loathing of
Women’s Magazines, Seal Press, 2012
Her continuing insights can be found at: http://www.airbrushednation.wordpress.com/
Photo: telegraph.co.uk CC
Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
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