"Whether you're thin, fat, small, dark, blond, redhead, you want to be something else," said the world's first boldface supermodel, Twiggy. "I wanted a fairy godmother to make me look like Marilyn Monroe. I had no boobs, no hips, and I wanted it desperately’’.[1]
How does fashion/beauty advertising, such as for perfumes, perpetuate the feminine ideal of size zero, does it influence young teenage girls/model and why?
’Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’’[2] On the 19th November 2009 Kate Moss’s motto struck the size zero controversy as the 35 year old model shocked campaigners fighting to abolish the cult of stick-thin models. From the mid 1960’s British model Twiggy changed the fashion trend of being curvy forever. As her skinny size 8 figure ushered in the trend, she implied that “a fashion model or any desirable woman must be a size 0 or 2, in order to be fashionable’’[3] or as it has been portrayed in films and magazines, desirable, that thin is in. The media have a powerful impact on audiences as they reinforce negative body image. The National Eating Disorders Association in the UK suggests that “The media is the main source of information about women’s health issues for adolescent girls. NEDA finds that,“1 out of every 3.8 television commercials sends some sort of ‘attractiveness message,’ and the average adolescent sees an estimated 5,260 attractiveness messages per year.’’[4]In addition the National Eating Disorders Association believes that the media is the main source of influencing eating disorders in the UK .Advertisements emphasize thinness as a standard for female beauty, and the image idealized in the media is frequently a skinny body image. The Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty”[5] kicked off in 2003, aimed to encourage women to help teenage girls feel better about themselves. The first campaign took six real women in white underwear from different sizes and shapes, feeling confident and happy to reinforce a positive body image. However today’s size zero is said to be the ideal figure for women as they feel the pressure to maintain the skinny figure. This essay investigates how and why the size zero controversy perpetuate this as a feminine ideal particularly in advertising for perfumes and how it has such a big impact on influencing young teenage girls.
Advertising often emphasizes sexuality and the importance of physical attractiveness in an attempt to sell products. But beneath selling a product is the pressure of perfecting their appearance rather than buying the product. “We are surrounded by hundred, thousands of messages every day that link our deepest emotions to products that objectify people".[6] This shows that advertising itself has the power to tell us that the most important factor today is to look like the ideal women. An estimated £8 billion is spent on beauty advertising yearly. The average woman sees 400–600 advertisements daily and by the time she is 17 years old, she’s received 250,000 commercial messages through the media. “Actual body size is in conflict with a mediated ideal body image and an unstable self-perceived body image, results of the study suggest that watching even 30 minutes worth of television programming and advertising can alter a women’s perception of the shape of her body’’[7] Exposure to idealized body images lowers self esteem and women's satisfaction with their own attractiveness leading to eating disorders. However advertising has many ways to impact audiences lives as it sells more “Values, images, concepts of love, sexuality, romance, success and, perhaps most important, normalcy’’[8]As it has been suggested that these kinds of adverts are having a negative impact on young audiences.
Representation is the construction of ideas of reality; these ideas are stereotyped as cultural identities, race, gender and class. Marshall McLuhan stated “All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values’’[9] Directly linking the size zero controversy the media targets who represents particular ideologies’’[10] Every beauty, fashion advertisement there indirect, artificial messages to young, vulnerable females which questions their self esteem. As Richard dyer states “A star is a constructed image shown to audiences as it has the values and ideologies of being happy and confident as it reinforces the dominant idea amongst teenagers who believe that if they were thinner, they too would be happier. The media has many effects as to how audiences perceive the ideologies and values it sends out. Kate Moss is a clear example of this, since she entered the modelling industry she has been criticized for influencing young teenage girls to be as thin as she is. Her ultimate waif figure has created the hegemonic value for a women’s appearance. However the media have powerful impact on influencing the most confident women. “The tall, nearly emaciated mannequins that push the latest miracle cosmetic make even the most confident woman question her appearance.’’.[11]This shows the results of the hypodermic model taking place as it reinforces the values of a passive audience. The world of fashion is glamorous as every women strives to look like the ideal women. Many females believe that fashion is a way to showcase your style, personality and individuality, although the indirect messages of fashion’s dark side intensifies teens interests in fashion, styles and brands worn by celebrities and television characters that control much of the teens demand for fashion as this becomes obsessive.
In today’s society there is a great deal of pressure to be slim as celebrities are continuously accused of influencing young teenage girls for example Keira Knightley's extremely slim figure was claimed that she was misleading the public about whether or not she had anorexia and setting a bad example for teenage girls. Airbrushing expert Chris Bickmore said Miss Knightley’s skin had been smoothed and her chest enlarged'' as the print advertisement for the coco channel commercial airbrushes her body to appear slimmer and curvier than usual. In a 2007 campaign in which she featured semi-naked with just a bowler hat covering her chest she also looked decidedly more curvy than usual.However in the commercial she appears extremely thin as continuous close ups are used to emphasise sexual appeal of her body .As the commercial begins she appears in just a white shirt, as she removes her shirt a close up of her slim legs are shown, as she dresses in a high class hotel room, in a European country. This shows the values and ideologies of being slim, as skinny represents high class and happiness, as these ideologies and values reinforces the hypodermic model theory as this will inject into the passive audience’s minds of young vulnerable women, increasing the risks of anorexia mostly in teenage girls. This shows that in today's society celebrities are represented as “The tedious stereotypes of what it is to be a wonderful 21st-century woman”[12] .This also lowers young, vulnerable girls self esteem as they feel they must have the perfect slim figure for acceptation in today’s society.
The media represents women as objects to please men .Women are constantly sexually objectified. In most areas advertising is the biggest result of this for example “Women’s bodies are routinely used as objects to sell various products’’[13] this is mainly in perfume advertising as the women selling the products are shown to be desirable as not only for men but also for females, As they are shown to be happy and beautiful, women desire the ideologies and values it sends out. Advertising allegedly challenges the behaviour of dieting as it makes women feel they must be slim to look attractive and appealing. However sometimes the male audience challenges female’s behaviour of dieting as they feel they must be slim in order to satisfy the male audience. “Women are seen as sex objects existing solely to please men, their status will be determined by men’’[14].the hypodermic theory suggests that this influences females to have to maintain a sexualized appearance, looking more like the models they see in advertisements. Women are being empowered as they are controlled by the media to satisfy the male audience. Laura Mulvey states “In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female’[15] as this invites a patriarchal image of women as they are being used to gratify the male audience. However in today’s society advertising has gone to the extent of overly sexualizing women to sell products ,to the point where Beyonces heat fragrance commercial was banned from daytime TV due to its sexual imagery. The commercial which begins with the voluptuous singer lying naked in a steam room has been deemed “too sexually provocative’’.
As part of the dove campaign, the dove evolution commercial was released in 2003, it showed the realistic ways as to how images are constructed to promote a healthy and beautiful body image. The dove campaign released the clip of “Evolution of Beauty' indicating how easy it is to produce the ideal women, the image of an unrealistic, perfect woman. As dove campaigners implied In the space of a minute, the amount of artificial transformations needed to "create" the model of beauty you have sold yourself so easily to’’[16] This clearly shows that zeitgeist is still being used, as women as being objectified to become unrealistic women. The dove campaign is one of the first campaigns to have reached out to women in a positive direction "We don't want women to give up, we want to tell them; beauty, it's at your reach”[17] within this women have become confident feeling happy and attractive in their bodies from different ethnicities and at all different shapes and sizes. Leading them to a point in their lives where they feel ok with any shape and size. Society has accepted the body image of being curvy and voluptuous. It is important that women should have “The choice to do whatever we want with our faces and bodies without being punished by an ideology that is using attitudes, economic pressure, and even legal judgments regarding women's appearance to undermine us psychologically and politically” [18]
But is it truly the fault of advertising? The size zero controversy has reinforced moral panics within the fashion industry as models argue that “I don’t think it’s fair to say that I’m responsible because I’m a thin person, that because I’m influencing their style I influence what they eat’’[19].however the moral panics of the controversy led the industry to ban models for their weight as they argued that 'It was one of the points we made. You can't say to models, "you can't work because you are black or because you are blind", so why should you be able to say "you are too thin to work"[20].Although Advertising holds great power over women and young girls lives today, as the media uses many commercials with unrealistic, perfect body images to impact on women’s behaviour’s of dieting influencing them and feeling the pressure of maintaining the slim figure of today’s society. Advertisings proven to have a big impact as even extremely thin models find it difficult to keep control of their weight" No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted. Every girl deserves to feel beautiful just the way she is.’’[21]Fashion and beauty advertising has many effective and controlling ways as to how the media perpetuates the feminine ideal of size zero. Its psychological ways promotes hegemonic values as to reinforcing the hypodermic to the perception of a distorted, unrealistic and impossible body image. Furthermore Contemporary advertising has not changed to promote the inner beauty of one but instead advertisers have taken over by degrading women as sex objects. "Each face is a canvas, but not a blank one, each face has features that make it unique" [22]Real women are not seen as perfect women, real beauty has imperfections.
Is our obsession with size zero damaging health?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8510160.stm
Naomi defends fashion industry over size zero
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/article-23385371-naomi-defends-fashion-industry-over-size-zero.do
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8510160.stm
Naomi defends fashion industry over size zero
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/article-23385371-naomi-defends-fashion-industry-over-size-zero.do
[1] 60's icon twiggy sells latest fashion line on HSN http://www.semissourian.com/story/1623014.html
[2]Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/2735440/Kate-Moss-reveals-her-life-motto-Nothing-tastes-as-good-as-skinny-feels.html
[3] Marylyn Monroe and the return of the curvy girl http://www.suite101.com/content/marilyn-monroe-and-the-return-maybe-of-the-curvy-girl-a299012
[4] When size zero isn't thin enough http://www.suite101.com/content/when-a-size-zero-isnt-thin-enough-a12470
[5]Why women must win the size zero debate
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/beauty/article6890572.ece
[6] how advertising changes the way we think http://www.librarything.com/work/15771
[7] Modelling and the media - http://www.wsu.edu/~salusso/BODY/modeling.html
[8] Sex,gender and society -http://www.sexandgender.net/2010/07/01/skyy-infusions-cherry-vodka-ad-analysis/
[9] Marshall McLuhan http://thinkexist.com/quotation/all_media_exist_to_invest_our_lives_with/152850.html
[10] Hall, K. Holmes, P. (2008) Page 112
[11] The beauty Myth http://www.librarything.com/work/16568
[12] Size hero,Betth ditto, pin up for anti size zero campaign http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/size-hero-beth-ditto-pinup-for-antisize0-campaign-462173.html
[13]Killing us softly: advertising images of women Womenhttp://topdocumentaryfilms.com/killing-us-softly-3
[14] Killing us softly: advertising images of women
[15] Hollows, Joanne. Manchester University Press (2000)page 43
[16] media advertising and the manufactured beauty myth http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/10/18/media_advertising_reality_and_the.htm
[17] the beauty backlash http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5074642.stm
[18] media advertising and the manufactured beauty myth http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/10/18/media_advertising_reality_and_the.htm
[19] skeletons on the runway the size zero debate http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2006/11/skeletons-on-the-runway-the-size-zero-debate/
[20] Models threat to sue the blocked size zero ban http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/feb/11/deniscampbell.vanessathorpe
[21] media advertising and the manufactured beauty myth
[22] Mason Linda (2003): ‘Make Up The Art Of Beauty
Word count -2,045
Bibliography
Works cited
Books
-Feminism, femininity, and popular culture By: Hollows, Joanne. Manchester University Press (2000)
-Hall, Ken Holmes, Philip (2008): Media Studies AS and A2. Essex England, Pearson Education Ltd.
-Kate Haycock -1994-Dealing with eating disorders-East sussex-wayland
-Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema By Carolina Hein
-Mason Linda (2003): ‘Make Up The Art Of Beauty’
-Solomon, M. Bamossy, G. Askegaard, S. Hogg, M. (2006)
-Hall, Ken Holmes, Philip (2008): Media Studies AS and A2. Essex England, Pearson Education Ltd.
-Kate Haycock -1994-Dealing with eating disorders-East sussex-wayland
-Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema By Carolina Hein
-Mason Linda (2003): ‘Make Up The Art Of Beauty’
-Solomon, M. Bamossy, G. Askegaard, S. Hogg, M. (2006)
Websites
-'60s icon Twiggy sells latest fashion line on HSN-http://www.semissourian.com/story/1623014.html
-'Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels'- http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/2735440/Kate-Moss-reveals-her-life-motto-Nothing-tastes-as-good-as-skinny-feels.html
- Marilyn Monroe and the Return of the Curvy Girl-http://www.suite101.com/content/marilyn-monroe-and-the-return-maybe-of-the-curvy-girl-a299012
-When a Size Zero Isn't Thin Enough-http://www.suite101.com/content/when-a-size-zero-isnt-thin-enough-a124709
-Why women must win the size zero debate-http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/beauty/article6890572.ece
-How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel-http://www.librarything.com/work/15771
-Modelling and the media- http://www.wsu.edu/~salusso/BODY/modeling.html
-Sex,gender and the society -http://www.sexandgender.net/2010/07/01/skyy-infusions-cherry-vodka-ad-analysis/
-Representation of gender in the media-http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevel.php?pageID=gender
-Marshall McLuhan
http://thinkexist.com/quotation/all_media_exist_to_invest_our_lives_with/152850.html
-'Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels'
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/2735440/Kate-Moss-reveals-her-life-motto-Nothing-tastes-as-good-as-skinny-feels.html
-Stuart hall
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/sociology/theorists/stuart_hall.htm
-Society and eating
http://www.mirror-mirror.org/society.htm
-The death of size zero
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/beauty/article4992425.ece
-Objectification of women
http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/hyphen/Objectification.htm
-Killing Us Softly : Advertising’s Image of Womenhttp://topdocumentaryfilms.com/killing-us-softly-3/
-Sexual objectification http://www.enotes.com/topic/Sexual_objectification
-Beyoncé turns up the Heat a little too much as racy perfume ad is banned from daytime TV http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1330408/Beyonce-perfume-advert-sexy-banned-daytime-TV.html
- The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women
http://ebooklink.net/g/detail/0060512180/The%20Beauty%20Myth:%20How%20Images%20of%20Beauty%20Are%20Used%20Against%20Women/
-Skinny model is airbrushed to make her look FATTER on front cover of health magazine
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1278795/Skinny-health-magazine-cover-model-Kamilla-Wladyka-airbrushed-make-look-fatter.html
-Media Advertising Reality And The Manufactured Beauty Myth
http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/10/18/media_advertising_reality_and_the.htm
-The beauty backlash
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5074642.stm
-Skeletons on the runway: The size zero debate
http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2006/11/skeletons-on-the-runway-the-size-zero-debate/
-Models' threat to sue blocked size zero ban
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/feb/11/deniscampbell.vanessathorpe
Moving Image texts
Coco Channel commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvAKSwgjt6I&playnext=1&list=PLAE5D224A5570C986
Heat commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76lPciEip3A
Evolution of beauty (dove commercial)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbb8D-u8ues
Works consulted
Books
-Solomon, M. Bamossy, G. Askegaard, S. Hogg, M. (2006)
-Marie Costantino- 1998- Fashion marketing and PR- china- BT Batsford LTD
Books
-Solomon, M. Bamossy, G. Askegaard, S. Hogg, M. (2006)
-Marie Costantino- 1998- Fashion marketing and PR- china- BT Batsford LTD
-Caroline Warbrick-2002-Eating disorders-Britain
Websites
Size zero is bad news for bones
http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2010/6775.html
Paris fashion week declares slender, young models out of style
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/03/paris-fashion-week-unconventional-models
Paris fashion week heralds the post-size zero age
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/30/paris-fashion-week-plus-size-models
London fashion week women storm catwalk to end tyranny of size zero
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/19/london-fashion-week-size-zero
Teen girls starve to look like 'size zero' role model
http://health.ninemsn.com.au/healthnews/1011005/teen-girls-starving-to-look-like-size-0-role-models
Size zero = twig… nice
http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/articles/2007/04/04/zeal_size_zero_feature.shtml
Young teen models may face catwalk ban
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2007/07/11/uk-britain-models-idUKL1175770420070711
.'Plus-size' models still rare on NY and London catwalks
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/plussize-models-still-rare-on-ny-and-london-catwalks-2080929.html
Size zero is bad news for bones
http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2010/6775.html
Paris fashion week declares slender, young models out of style
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/03/paris-fashion-week-unconventional-models
Paris fashion week heralds the post-size zero age
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/30/paris-fashion-week-plus-size-models
London fashion week women storm catwalk to end tyranny of size zero
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/19/london-fashion-week-size-zero
Teen girls starve to look like 'size zero' role model
http://health.ninemsn.com.au/healthnews/1011005/teen-girls-starving-to-look-like-size-0-role-models
Size zero = twig… nice
http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/articles/2007/04/04/zeal_size_zero_feature.shtml
Young teen models may face catwalk ban
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2007/07/11/uk-britain-models-idUKL1175770420070711
.'Plus-size' models still rare on NY and London catwalks
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/plussize-models-still-rare-on-ny-and-london-catwalks-2080929.html
Size zero or plus-size: all models bad for self-esteem
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/size-zero-or-plussize-all-models-bad-for-selfesteem-1803952.html
Size-zero debate: fashion industry is told to 'grow up'
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/sizezero-debate-fashion-industry-is-told-to-grow-up-449862.html
Size zero girls 'less attractive'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8327750.stm
Size Zero Models Fuel the Rise In Eating Disorders, UK
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/104263.php
."Negative" Sizing: The Size Zero Debate
http://www.piercemattie.com/blogs/2006/10/what_happens_after_zero.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/size-zero-or-plussize-all-models-bad-for-selfesteem-1803952.html
Size-zero debate: fashion industry is told to 'grow up'
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/sizezero-debate-fashion-industry-is-told-to-grow-up-449862.html
Size zero girls 'less attractive'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8327750.stm
Size Zero Models Fuel the Rise In Eating Disorders, UK
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/104263.php
."Negative" Sizing: The Size Zero Debate
http://www.piercemattie.com/blogs/2006/10/what_happens_after_zero.html
