September 5, 2011

 In Susan Orbach’s article, Fat is an Advertising Issue, she addresses the now well-known negative effects of beauty advertisements, especially towards women. In today’s media-drenched society, women are bombarded by an estimated 5,000 advertisements a day. As a woman who has grown up in this generation of constant propaganda, I can appreciate both the pros and cons of advertisements on females.

Advertising can both have negative and positive effects on their audience. Though most advertisers either do not realize, or do not care, about the negative effects their advertisements can have on a person, ads with women like Twiggy as their model send a clear message to the viewers: you must look like this to be beautiful. The correlation between eating disorders in adolescents and the amount of images like those of Twiggy they see is clear. This is obviously a negative aspect of some advertisements.

Obviously, not all advertisers use waif models to sell their product. They do not believe that presenting their product in such a way is an effective tool of advertisement. It is because of these advertisers we have adds like those for UnderArmour, which presents women who are still thin, but look healthy and active. I personally see nothing wrong with advertising that may make some women feel inadequate, but is meant to promote healthy living. If feeling inadequate is what it takes to make overweight Americans live a healthy lifestyle, then the negative feelings the advertisements can cause can have a positive effect of on society.

In general, I do think that Susie Orbach makes several valid points in her article, Fat is an Advertising Issue. However, I believe she over generalizes the advertising world and lumps all advertisements together in a way that is simply not true. Though Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign is an admirable improvement, the idea of advertising all body types should do just that; advertise all body types. Not just the beautiful, overweight women, but the healthy thin women and the naturally waifish women as well.