Drawbacks of the Media

There are many negatives aspects that accompany broadcasting, In recent headlines there has been critical speculation regarding Singer / Actress Jessica Simpson's weight. This controversy sparked by recent photographs of the celebrity infuriates me. It is sad that this is even news worthy, our culture's fascination with size is alarming, plus sized women used to be glorified and embraced as beautiful, whereas today if you aren't a size 6 or under your treated like an outcast, victimized by the public.

Jessica is a petite girl, it is unfair that she is persecuted and criticized for gaining a few pounds. This is relevant because the media sends a negative message to both young and old. They regard rail thin as beautiful and curvy as fat, which then triggers numerous problems for our youth. Young women and men alike strive to be perfect and in quest battle eating disorders and even become abusers in effort to become ideal.

Here is a video that discusses advertising and the obsession with thinness, and offers an in depth analysis of how female bodies are depicted in advertising images and the effects that these image have on women, we have to challenge these images and change the way the media glamorizes unnatural thinness and this promotion of beauty and encourage a new vision of beauty.

Another drawback is a preoccupation with beauty. This leads to an obsession with plastic surgery. Today's society is so focused on appearance, it's causing people to get caught up in obsessing and changing what they look like. People of all ages are influenced by the representation of beauty in the media, the entertainment world feeds on our souls. Nowadays networks have shows entitled Doctor 90210, extreme makeover, the swan just to name a few. These shows follow the lives of people who are in pursuit of beauty and allow us to see their transformations. They present the glamorous side but fail to show the risks that accompany going under the knife.

This kind of programming can trigger body dysmorphic disorder, which is defined as a preoccupation with a slight or imagined defect in appearance. Often, the preoccupation creates serious disruptions in the person's daily activity. It has been noted, that many people with this illness have trouble sustaining social relationships and have trouble maintaining a job.

Oprah Winfrey had an episode called broken reflections, this segment dealt with BDD. It is a very troublesome disorder and many individuals are victims of it.

To some degree, advertising has the potential to be manipulative. The media has influenced me to a degree, some of my thoughts and feelings have strongly been swayed based on images portrayed in many advertisements.

This video below is a favorite of mine. It depicts how what we see in magazines isn't real, the images are manipulated by airbrushing and other methods of altering.