for companies such as Weight Watchers. In most television ads, thin and flawless models grace the screen to sell products. These ads portray woman who have a weight that is way below average, and unhealthy. It is impossible to attain this look, and the women watching these ads at home don’t realize that. Ads like these are shown during shows that teenage girls watch, and this is the age when women are most vulnerable to develop an eating disorder. The more that a person is exposed to these ads, the greater their desire to be thin is. According to Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention Incorporated a study of 4,294 networked television commercials revealed that one out of every 3.8 commercials send some sort of “attractive message,” telling viewers what is or is not attractive. These researchers estimate the average person sees over 5,260 “attractiveness messages” per year, and that is only from television advertisements. (“The Media”, par.3) Women resort to eating disorders because it is the only way to achieve their goal of looking like the women in the television advertisements. Women’s magazines routinely show two sides of the same story; a gooey, fattening cake recipe placed next to an advertisement for Slim Fast or diet tips from the television stars across the page from an article on bulimia. This type of advertising in magazines sends very mixed signals to women. According to Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention Incorporated, a study of one teen magazine over the course of twenty years found that all of the articles contained in these magazines included statements highlighting that weight loss would improve appearance and in articles about fitness or exercise plans seventy-four percent cited “to become more attractive” as a reason to start exercising and fifty-one percent noted the need to lose weight or burn calories. (”The Media”, par.3) It isn...
