I know that advertising pays the bills for most media companies. This paper lives by selling ads, and I get it. But it's not the print media, billboards or radio ads that are a problem for me. It's TV advertising.
I started wondering why I often felt inadequate, unattractive and disgruntled after viewing a few of my favorite true-crime dramas and police procedural shows. I eventually realized it wasn't the blood or dead bodies. What was bothering me were the commercials.
I'm not talking about Progressive's Flo, Allstate's Mayhem or the Geico gecko, though. The commercials I'm referring to revolve around beauty, weight loss products and fashion.
TV advertising shows us that pretty, thin women might not go to Las Vegas or get married if their teeth are not white enough. And why is it always women in the teeth-whitening commercials? Are men not obsessed with white teeth, too?
If we use the right dietary supplement, exercise machine or prepackaged meal plan, advertising tells us, we will feel transformed, happy and fulfilled. All of our problems will just melt away with the flab.
TV ads leave me doubting that my hair will ever be glossy enough, my skin clear enough or my legs toned enough. And will I ever wear the right celebrity-endorsed perfume or overpriced lingerie?
I ran across an article on MissouriFamilies.org titled "The Real Media Message." It was written by Linda Rellergert, a nutrition and health education specialist at the University of Missouri Cooperative Extension Service.
Rellergert writes that the currently held ideal body images for men and women fit almost no one. Even the "perfect" models we see in ads are Photoshopped to the point of not really looking like their own selves.
Earlier this year an informative photo of a bikini model made the rounds in social media. Readers could click on it to see a video of the manipulation that had been done to the photo, starting with the end result and working back to the original image.
Imagine my surprise when the original photo was of a slice of pizza. With technology like that, it's no wonder many of us struggle with body issues. We hardly know what's real anymore.
If you want to see it for yourself, do an Internet search for "Photoshop pizza." And for more evidence, do a search for "Photoshop disasters." You'll see everything from missing body parts and extra hands to overly elongated body parts in print advertising.
I sincerely hope this is not becoming a "thing."
But back to Rellergert's article.
She writes that we can break free from these media messages by becoming critical viewers. And we can confront advertising stereotypes along the way. We need to think about the attitudes being promoted and see how they fit into our value and belief systems.
1. Products can make you look instantly attractive and perfect.
Who defines what is perfect or attractive? What other things in the world are attractive or beautiful? Do we all see it the same way?
2. Happiness and wealth are a result of how you look.
What makes a person successful? Are all successful people happy? Do all rich people look the same?
3. Using the right product makes you popular.
What do we look for in a friend? What qualities make us a good friend to others?
4. Everyone should look like society's ideal.
What would the world be like if we all looked the same? What is unique about us? If we all looked perfect, would that look become boring?
5. You can judge people by the way they look.
How can you tell if a person is honest? Does changing your outside appearance change who you are on the inside?
WHAT IS BODY IMAGE?
I happened across an article from the Student Health Education Department at Brown University (Brown.edu) that offered some good information, too. It starts by saying that body image includes how we visually perceive our bodies, how we feel about our appearance and our sense of how other people view our bodies.
There's a lot of encouragement these days to focus on appearance. It's a widespread preoccupation, and it's not just for the ladies anymore. The more we focus on our bodies, the worse we may feel about how we look. Obsession breeds discontent.
Poor body image often increases the risk for extreme weight or body control behaviors. Research suggests that extreme preoccupation with appearance and body dissatisfaction put us at greater risk for engaging in dangerous practices to control our weight and size. It can lead to extreme dieting, exercise compulsion, laxative abuse, smoking and the use of steroids.
DEFEND YOURSELF
So what can we do to obtain a more realistic and healthful body image?
• Talk back to the media. We can choose to filter -- examine -- the information that comes at us through ads by remembering our own beliefs and standards and then deciding whether or not we believe the ads.
You can always talk back directly to the TV. I do. Or talk back to advertisers indirectly by not buying their products.
• Stop comparing yourself to others. We are unique so we can't use another person's body as a reference point.
• Question the degree to which your self-esteem depends on your appearance. Don't let unhappiness with your appearance stop you from doing things that enhance your life.
• Broaden your perspective about health and beauty. Check out historical works of art to see that a variety of body types has been celebrated through the ages in different cultures.
• Practice "thought stopping" when it comes to negative statements about ourselves: Stop those thoughts. We can reprogram our self-talk and use positive statements to replace the old, tired messages.
You can always do as I do and mute or fast-forward through commercials On Demand.
• Nurture our inner selves. We need to engage in pastimes that leave us feeling good about ourselves. If we don't have ways to manage stress or anxiety, we are more susceptible to being critical of our bodies.
Sadly, no matter what a person's size or shape, there can be body-image issues. Lucky old Eve had it great in the Garden of Eden. She was nude and there weren't a bunch of folks hanging around to tell her she needed to shed a few pounds and firm up. We aren't in Paradise anymore, friends.
Email me at:
rboggs@arkansasonline.com
ActiveStyle on 09/22/2014