The answer to boredom; a companion; an instrument to break the silence; a baby sitter; a source of information; an entertainer…whichever way you look at it, the television has become an irreplaceable object in every home. Whatever be the reason, does one realize the impact it has come to have on our lives? Babies begin by imitating actions of people on TV, watching the images flitting past or listening to an attractive jingle. Children love the action on cartoons, teens get 'involved' in sitcoms, soaps or reality shows, and adults have the entire gamut of programming targeted at them. One thing that catches everyone's attention is the commercial. Ads on television is a welcome break from a soap or a sitcom to catch up on the other channels or finish some pending work, or sometimes even catch up on some conversation! This constant exposure takes its toll on the viewer in so many ways.
An average person sees about 200-400 commercials a day. Apart from attempting to sell a product, they tend to place an undue pressure on men and women to focus on their appearance. There is always an overemphasis of the importance of physical attractiveness in an attempt to sell products. This has led leading researchers to suggest that advertising media may adversely impact body images, especially in women. It has often resulted in unhealthy behavior among women and girls as they strive for the ultra-thin body idealized by the media. Advertising not only affects the fairer sex, but has been accused of setting unrealistic ideals for males, too. Men and boys are beginning to risk their health to achieve the well-built media standard.
Researchers say by the time she is 17 years old, the average woman has received over 250,000 commercial messages through the media. Though one can say that only about 10% of commercials have a direct statement about beauty, many implicitly emphasize the importance of beauty—particularly those that target women and girls. This constant exposure to female-oriented advertisements tend to push young girls to become self-conscious about their bodies and to pay undue attention to their physical appearance as a measure of their worth.
If one carefully studies commercials on TV, it can be seen that most of them that are aimed at girls speak about physical attractiveness, while very few aimed at boys refer to appearance. They often emphasize thinness as a standard for female beauty, resulting in an unnatural representation of women. In fact, it may be interesting to think about how much less a model in a beauty pageant weighs as compared to the average woman.
Advertisers normalize unrealistically thin bodies on purpose, in order to create an unattainable desire that can drive product consumption. You find young girls comparing their bodies to those they see around them. With the added exposure through media to idealized body images, women's satisfaction with their own attractiveness seems to diminish. Studies and surveys show that "very thin" models make girls feel insecure about themselves. An average teenager's one wish is to be thinner. This fear of getting fat has led them to unhealthy diets and eating disorders.
Although it is the women and girls who are most affected by distorted body images, there is growing awareness regarding the pressure that men and boys face. Exposure to images of well-built, popular sportspersons, film stars, and models has put young boys under constant pressure to appear muscular. Many are becoming insecure about their physical appearance. We have seen an alarming increase in obsessive weight training and the use of anabolic steroids and dietary supplements that promise bigger muscles or more stamina for lifting. This impact on men and boys is a matter of concern.
Another major impact especially on teens is eating disorders that result from overexposure to such body images. Though mostly girls are affected, experts believe that the number of boys affected is increasing. Since most males are reluctant to acknowledge any illness primarily associated with females, they go partly unnoticed. It has even been found that boys, like girls, may turn to smoking to help them lose weight.
Here are a few ways to teach the young people in our lives.
