Throughout any day, an individual is bombarded with visuals, specifically advertisements. It does not take long before it seems everywhere a person looks something new is being shoved in their face telling them to buy a new wardrobe, watch, or even outdoor supplies. By the time people finish their cup of coffee and head out the door to get to school or work, companies have already placed ideas into their head of what they should be doing or buying to be in trend with society. And by the end of the day, as a person lies in bed checking social media and watching the news, companies are still trying to influence buyers with ads on the internet and commercials on television. It never seems to stop or slow down. Some may be okay with this and choose to just ignore it, but for most it is affecting their lives in a harmful way. When seeing advertisements, a majority of people do not even realize what is being sold and instead focus immediately on who is doing the selling. Many advertisements consist of young, blond, tall models who seem "perfect" in the picture unlike that of who is seeing the advertisement on the street or in the magazine. The companies are choosing people who seem "perfect" to sell their products because they think it will boost sales without thinking of how the campaigns are affecting their buying market. By looking at the media and the way companies advertise their products, a person can realize the media promotes an unattainable body image. This is important because the media has a negative effect on young adults and their own thoughts about their body.

One key strategy for companies trying to get their product out into the world is advertising. Advertising can come in many different forms: a magazine spread, commercial, YouTube clip, or billboard; all very effective in getting the public to notice the product. According to Susie Orbach, "Media is said to be "the medium that stimulates public conversation and trends"" (Orbach, 387). The media is a platform that is visible all around the world by so many different people and is what connects those who live so far away but are interested in similar things. Through time this art form has become more elaborate and has taken industries to new heights. Instead of just placing an eye shadow palette on a magazine page and adding the name of the product next to it, a company now pays celebrities to endorse the product and be on the page in the magazine wearing one of the eye shadow colors. Not only are known celebrities being used to help sell products but also models who seem to look the part. In the advertising world, looks mean everything. For those in the business, their job is to make the product the most appealing item in the market. They are hired to make people want to spend money. Most of the products people do not need but through the advertising are made to think they not only want the product but need it as well. How do they get people to feel like they desperately need something? This is done through the models who people want to become. In an advertiser's mind, using models that the average buyer wants to be like gets the buyer to be more likely to but the product. This is because it offers hope that if they do buy the product it could be them in the next advertisement. While the motives behind advertisements seem effective for companies it also has a side effect that is affecting the consumers in a negative way. 

The advertisers may say that what they are doing offers hope to those who want to change, but most people only think they have to change because of the media. It is the unattainable body that is promoted that makes people feel so negatively about themselves. What an advertiser thinks are being helpful is actually destructive. The hope they think they are offering actually does the opposite. One reason for this is because the media is an outlet for companies to get their product to people all around the world, but is not used to represent everyone.  The world we live in is considered a melting pot, blending different races and cultures, to combine into what our world is today, but the media seems to only relate to those who are mainly white, blond, and skinny. It is this criterion that always seems to be checked off when looking through a magazine, and only occasionally does a page stop and show a person who's looks are outside the norm. Even companies that do not sell beauty products have begun to use aesthetically pleasing models to sell their products such as home decor and foot wear. It is the idea that buying the product will make the customer some how be just as good looking. There are so many products on the market to help change how a person looks: hair, face, skin, nails, and their body.  "This emphasis on looks has led women to hate their bodies and spend countless dollars on unnecessary beauty products and weight-loss solutions" (Anderberg). It is nearly impossible to never compare yourself to another person and with so many images being bombarded at us everyday it becomes easier and easier to start thinking about all the aspects of our bodies that does not match the images. Women see how those in the magazines look and in return feel that they are inadequate. 

What the media puts into the industry as the finished product can seem unattainable to so many and make them think negatively about themselves. Part of the reason people, women especially, set the bar so high on looks is because men see these advertisements and begin to have higher expectations of what the ordinary women should look like. What the media does not show the world is how much effort and time it takes to get to the final image that eventually is printed. "Not only are moles, acne and subtle facial hair erased from already pretty faces, but retouchers are routinely asked by editors and advertisers to enlarge eyes, trim normal-size ears, fill in hairlines, straighten teeth and lengthen the already-narrow necks, waists and legs of 18-year-old beauties" (Bennett). Through the use of makeup, applied to a models face before a photo shoot, they can become an entirely new person that is sometimes unrecognizable.  It is because of technology and different makeup techniques that allow for such a drastic change in appearance. And after being in hair and makeup for countless hours, the company then hires a retoucher to take the photo and erase any tiny imperfection only a computer screen would be able to notice. The Dove Evolution campaign focuses exactly on these steps taken by companies. Through several videos, Dove is shedding light on how the process of photo-shoots work. In one of their commercials they show a model from start to finish during her day at work. They also show the finished ad campaign on a billboard. The drastic change from beginning to end shows just how much work a company puts into their imaging for a product (Dove). A model that is shown on a billboard could walk past a person on the street and be totally unnoticed. It is this editing and altering done to a model or celebrity to make them appear more beautiful that is so destructive to women. 

There is only so much a person can take of feeling inadequate until they begin to do something about it. People see the advertisements over and over and start to wish for what they do not have. "The pressure to look young and beautiful is at an all-time high, and more and more people are picking up the phone to schedule surgical enhancements" (Lerner). Cosmetic procedures are becoming more popular and seem to be the quick fix for those who feel the need to change their body. At first the quick fix is amazing and makes a person feel like they fit into the world where the expectations of beauty are so high. But then after some time, the person begins to notice something else about their body that is not up to the standard. And that is where the underlying issue is. Unless a person looks like "Barbie", nothing will ever be good enough. There will always be something else they want to change about their body. 

Another issue in todays society is the new technology advancement. It is easier for a young child to be exposed to the media for longer periods of time. Instead of kids spending all afternoon outside playing tag with friends they are choosing to stay indoors and watch television or play video games. As well as more kids own smart phones which brings the internet straight to their fingers. Kids now have Instagram and Twitter accounts which allows them to follow young celebrities such as Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner. This exposure at such a young age can be detrimental and lead to issues later in life. Before a young child has had the opportunity to grow into their own they want to change and look older then they are. "Beauty is no longer seen as intrinsic to the individual. Instead the individual is judged on how well she can shape herself to today's aesthetic, which is tall, white, blonde, long-haired and big breasted" (Orbach). A child does not want to wait and allow their body to grow and flourish on its own. Allowing the body to experience changes can be a long process and lead to many awkward stages that kids are just not willing to go through. Instead, getting a procedure done seems like the quick fix that allows them to become someone that is thought to fit into the mold created by society. 

For those who are affected by the media it seems as if the solution would be simple: to stop creating an unattainable standard of beauty by only using a small selection of types of people. "Some have suggested that reducing the number of ultra-thin models and increasing the number of average-sized models may make a positive change in women's perceptions of themselves" (Haas, 405). But in reality it is not that simple because of how long our society has been exposed to the type of media we have today. People have become accustomed to what they now see in the magazines and on television. It is engrained in people's minds that the thin, young, blond women is what they should expect to look like or strive for. It would take time to fully erase this expectation from our minds and replace it with a representation of what our world actually is. What would need to happen for our media to become a more positive outlet and less of a negative towards how people view their own body is to steadily add variety into the media to represent all forms of beautiful. "A number of studies of women and adolescent girls have reported positive relationships between television viewing and magazine exposure with weight concerns and eating disorder symptomatology" (Dohnt,142). This does not have to be the case, and instead studies can report that television promotes body acceptance and weight satisfaction. By adding variety into the media, women and adolescent girls will begin to feel comfortable in their skin because they will relate to more women. Everyone wants to feel as though they are not alone in looking a certain way and that becomes hard when there are very few representations of you in the media. The media can change, slowly, but none the less can change. The media has been around for many decades and with the new technology it seems as if it is everywhere you look. For companies, this is very beneficial in getting their product out to the world. The issue in regards to the negativity media promotes surrounding our bodies has also been around since the beginning of media. Many companies are set in their way of advertising and believe it is the most effective way to sell the most product possible but as of 2016 their have been some movement in the advertising world. Some select companies have heard the public and have responded to what they have been saying. One company in particular that has made changes to their way of advertising is Sports Illustrated. Every year they release a swimsuit edition of their magazine that is filled with models wearing next to nothing. During the beginning of these issues the typical model was displayed on every page, but now as time has evolved so has their swimsuit edition. Ashley Graham, a plus size model, was named a Rookie of the Year and a cover model. She is one of the first plus-sizes models to ever grace the issue. She was featured twice in two different shots (AOL). This magazine has started to feature new body types and new faces, including all different types of race. "For women with average and high levels of internalization of cultural beauty ideals, exposure to average-size female models was associated with a significantly more positive body image state in comparison to exposure to thin models and no models" (Diedrichs, 1273). The magazine is trying to create a change in what a typical swimsuit model is expected to look like. This company is realizing what the world is now looking for and what the world needs and is starting to change. This is a great step in the right direction for media and can only become more diverse from here.

The media is one of the most powerful influencers in the world. It can affect extreme numbers of people everyday in more ways than one and sometimes it can be affecting people without them even realizing it. The standards set by the media are usually so unattainable that people begin to change who they are to fit a mold created by society. For people to begin to change their attitudes in a more positive way towards their body image the media has to begin to change their way of advertising to the world. It will not happen over night but can happen if we start sooner rather than later. Some companies have begun to realize the effects they have on their customers and have begun to change, but we can not stop there. The media needs to take the platform they have and create positive advertisements to make the consumer feel better about themselves not worse. There is more than one definition of beauty. People are beautifully different and that is what should be broadcasted to the world. 

