Teacup

Last week, Spain announced that advertisements for beauty products will be banned from airing on TV before 10pm in order to tackle increasing numbers of eating disorders among young Spanish women. Although eating disorders and body image issues have for a long time been associated with the beauty industry, it begs to question whether advertising is really the root cause of this problem and if banning the promotion of it will have a drastic effect on the pressures faced by women of today.

Advertising tells us who we should be

“Advertising tells us who we are, and who we should be in society,” says Jean Kilbourne, author, filmmaker and critique on issues surrounding women in advertising.

“Advertising is a statement of what it means to be a woman in today’s culture. This ideal image influences women’s self-esteem and also influences how men feel about the real women that they are with.”

Only 5% of women the ideal body depicted by the media

According to a research study by BBC’s Money programme, one in three women believe that media images portraying unrealistic, beautiful women make them feel overweight and unattractive.

According to Jean,  statistically only 5% of women have the body type most portrayed in the media - the only one seen as desirable and acceptable.

“This is genetic,” she says. “You cannot diet yourself into this body any more than you can make yourself taller. It is no wonder there is such terrible stress on young girls.”

Beauty products aren’t the only culprits

But beauty products aren’t the only culprits in having negative impacts on body image. From movies to music videos, women are being flooded with depictions of what is meant to the ideal shape.

Dr. Helga Dittmar, a psychologist at the University of Sussex, says music videos in particular have a very big influence on poor body image in young girls.

“Female models in music videos help to promote thinness as desirable – and are often depicted in ways that emphasise this physical ideal. Given that 12-19-year olds are by far the biggest consumers of such videos, now omnipresent in shops, clubs and in the home, through channels such as MTV, it is against this ideal that young girls come to measure themselves, often unfavourably, which can lead to body dissatisfaction and, in turn, unhealthy eating behaviours.”

Should other forms of media have restrictions?

If this is the case, then shouldn’t other types of media, such as music videos, too have some sort restrictions placed upon them? In Australia, a motion to individually rate music video with a PG or M rating is already in progress to highlight those videos with women being portrayed as sex objects during children’s viewing hours.

“It’s more than just sex (being suggested in music videos),” said South Australian MP Amanda Rishworth, also a trained psychologist. “It’s about the role women play in them.”

It’s more complicated than simply blaming the media

Although it is tempting to blame today’s media for perpetuating and glorifying unrealistic standards of physical beauty, the truth is far more complicated says researchers Dr Jennifer Derenne and Dr Eugene Beresin.

“Throughout history, the dominant cultural ideals have always shaped the public’s perception of the ideal female body type. However, today’s culture is unique in that the media (including television, Internet, movies, and print) have a far more powerful presence than ever before.”

In reality, “the standard of female beauty often has been unrealistic and difficult to attain throughout history.”

Banning of Tobacco Advertising

In a similar case, the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act was brought about in 1992 banning all tobacco advertising and sponsorships to stop youth smoking and reduce the health burden of tobacco use in Australia. The Cancer Council of Victoria argued that by prohibiting public promotion of tobacco, it will “reduce tobacco use in both the prevalence and initiation of smoking, and ‘denormalise’ tobacco products”. The tobacco industry argued back saying that they had the ‘freedom of speech’ protection to inform their clients about their products, their product was legal and therefore it should be legal to promote it and that the role of advertising in the tobacco industry was merely to sway customers to switch brands.

Education and parental behaviours a key role

Whether this will be the same story in the beauty industry is yet to be seen. However, Drs Jennifer and Eugene has this bit of insight:

“The media is a formidable force, and one that is not going to change easily. However, it is not the only culprit; parental behaviours and family values play an important role in shaping children’s development. The onus is on adults to find a way to harness media power for good instead of evil.”

Further Information
Jean Kilbourne’s talk on  Advertising’s Image Of Women entitled Killing Us Softly:
Killing Us Softly – Part 1
Killing Us Softly – Part 2
Killing Us Softly – Part 3
Killing Us Softly – Part 4
Killing Us Softly – Part 5

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What are your thoughts?

Do you think banning beauty advertising will have an effect on women’s body image? Is it even possible to make a beauty ad that promotes healthy body image?

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 10:20 PM and is filed under Beauty, Body Image. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.