Eating disorders : To become supermodels?

From early-on children are taught by society that their looks matter.With an increased population of children who spend a lot of time in front of television, there are more of them coming up with a superficial sense of who they are. Images on television spend countless hours telling us to lose weight, be thin and beautiful, so that people will like us. Media rarely depicts men and women with "average" body-types , ingraining unconsciously in our minds that we must have the figure portrayed on television. Overweight characters are typically portrayed as lazy, the one with no friends, while thin women and pumped-up men are the successful, popular, and sexy. How can we tell our children that it's what's inside that counts, when the media continuously contradicts this message?

Increasingly, the media are seen as somehow responsible for the apparent growth of eating disorder. (Maggie, W. , Barrie, G. ,2005) Certainly the mass media are relatively modern phenomenon and their rise does seem parallel to the escalation of a kind of thin fascism. (Maggie, W. , Barrie, G. ,2005)
Today, you cannot read a magazine or newspaper, turn on the television, or shop at the mall without being assaulted with the message that fat is bad. By being constantly exposed, the mental development of you or your child gets distorted. Modelling agencies have been reported to actively pursue Anorexic models. Adolescents often feel fatally flawed if their weight, hips, and breasts do not match up to those of models and actors.Thus, there is an increasing number of people being on a diet, not eating proper meals and even taking pills to control hunger which in the long term leads to severe aneroxic cases and others too.

Furthermore,it is often portrayed that it is normal to be aneroxic because celebrities are doing it. http://www.skinnyland.com/blog/category/anorexic/ . For example : Jessica Alba In 2005, Jessica admitted that she used to have an eating disorder. She talked about how it was because she grew up in a family that was overweight, so she had always wanted to be skinnier. Is anorexic a MUST have phase in everyone's life?

In conclusion, Preventing eating disorder is clearly an issue that everyone will need to do more for. The media needs to play a more responsible role on the images shown to our impressionable younger generations.

References

Maggie, W. , Barrie, G. ,(2005).The media and body image;if looks could kill. Sage publications.

http://www.casapalmera.com/blog/top-10-celebrities-with-eating-disorders/

Health VS Media ( Is Media portraying health or early death?)

The marketing of junk food and fast food has become big business—some have called the food industry the next Tobacco.
Companies have been spending millions in advertisement to raise great awareness among the public of their products and frequently these advertisements become the main purpose and source of revenue of many of the media channels. Advertisements for junk food and fast food can also be seen in , movies ,magazines, Shopping malls , the Internet, and even in our transportations services. What impact is this having on youth and adults? Is this what we are going to see in the future?

(Google Pictures)

In the 21st century , most people have access to various form of media such as television or the internet.Teens and younger children are particularly exposed a lot to TV advertisement, and at their age they are more likely to be carried away by the hidden emotional appeal of the advertisement.The media has been advertising on how fast food seems to be so colourful and healthy but in actual fact it is not. One example, is the use of a meat quality enhancer, or a product known scientifically as ammonium hydroxide which turns fatty beef residue into a mixture that has been non-affectionately called "pink slime". These advertisement plays a part in enticing people of all ages, without realizing that their choices are being manipulated by the advertisement.Through the growing numbers of advertisement the fast food industry is making, it further emphasise the greatness of their products. One good example is public posters and public televisions, people tend to be conditioned by these advertisements! One example we can relate to is movies and popcorns. Some people might argue that both must go together! Research has shown colourful advertisement are eye catching and stays in the memory of a person longer (The advertised mind: ground-breaking insights into how our brains respond to advertising, Kogan Page Publishers, 28 May, 2005 )and therefore many people will subconciously walk into a fast food restaurant,which is detrimental to one's health in the long run. According to National Healthy Lifestyle (NHS) statistics, the prevalence of obesity among adults in Singapore between 18 and 69 years increased steadily from 6.0% in 1998, and to 6.9% in 2004 and to 10.4% in 2010. Therefore, the media has been moving in a direction that is only focused on profit making instead of the publics health.

In conclusion, the collaboration of the advertising industry and the media has influenced the people's diet to a certain extent that is detrimental in the long run. Clearly, the conclusion is drawn is that media and advertisement can influence children's purchases as those of their families.

References

Erik, D.P. (2005) The advertised mind: ground-breaking insights into how our brains respond to advertising, Kogan Page Publishers.

http://www.hpb.gov.sg/news/article.aspx?id=6264