The main question is, does the media cause people to be self conscious of themselves? But yes, the media does, they get accused of presenting images that result in negative behaviors. These behaviors shouldn't be happening just from what the people view in advertising and media. The media does have some influences on some people and they tend to construct idea's on their own. The biggest issue with this is the actions and conditions that are considered. As the Ad is being viewed, it tends to lean people to the side that if they take this product it will turn their negative image around, and they will be a whole new person. When people actually try to lose weight like the Ad's tells them and doesn't come through, the person only feels worse then before. This is where Dwrokin/Wachs and Levine/Murnen step in.
Dworkin and Wachs both analyzed that Advertisement tells both men and women that they will have a healthy body if they both buy the product that is advertised and pamper themselves fully. Because of this belief, being fat is something to be feared. Fashion is sold as an imperative. In the days that we live now, health and fitness is the mainstream to our dominant cultural construction of what we call "health." Like I said before, both men and women are starting to be combined as one, as almost the same beings. They both are fearing the topic of being fat, they are being presented in more as a similar manner as objects, and lastly what is being marketed is converging. Even though women and men are being almost similar, 38% of the dieters are men. So the results show that women obviously are more worried about their body image then men, since they are seeing ad's with slim ladies. This forces peer pressure, to be skinny. I believe that all this is just a lead to false Advertisement and to make people feel guilty.
On the other hand both Levine and Murnen investigate magazine advertisements. Their results show that the assumption that media does, is it causes eating disorders to be limited. They believe that the Ad's aren't the things thats causing the lack of body image, but what happens in the past leads up to this. They state that a wide range of social, behavioral, and cultural issues are what lead up to the negative body image's. This then lead's to negative behaviors by women since they tend to get pressured about their weight being right or wrong. Basically media causes the body to dissatisfaction. As young adults grow up and go to school, they are surrounded by Ad's telling them they will be better and more popular if they are skinny, and healthy. All the Ad's try to tell the viewers that if this works on someone then it will work on you. But sometimes that doesn't always work, then makes the person depressed or saddened. This then leads to bad choices later in their lives. Then this is what leads to eating disorders and bad reactions in the future.
I believe either way if they listen to the Ad's or not, everyone wants to be just like everyone else. It's the way of feeling fit in. If everyone is skinny, and there is one fat kid, he'll obviously stick out and then feel the pressure. Then they'll see the Ad, and fall into that same hole that everyone else does. It's like a cycle over and over again. The psychology of a person's body image is the subject that is worth to think about and talk upon. The media wont change, and the only people who can change these problems are yourselves. Ad's get us to drawn up in them, and we are the ones who have to deal with the outcomes.
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