User:Bluesky123/Major Assignment 5

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Eating Disorders are a major problem in our society. The question is, where does this problem derive from? Many people immediately blame the media. It is no wonder why the majority of our population holds the media responsible; when one turns on the television they are bombarded with media, such as commercials that plainly state being skinny is what will make you happy. A cultural text that exemplifies this is the Yoplait light commercial that is known for its catchy jingle, “She wore an itzy bitzy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini”. In this advertisement the woman that is trying to lose weight becoming progressively happier the more she eats the yogurt and then consequently becomes thinner. With a strong message like this, it is no wonder why our community only blames the media for the existence of weight conscious females. For example Scima (2006) claims that young females are unhappy with their body image and the only influence being detected is the media. While television and the media are responsible for encouraging the idea of a perfect body, they did not construct this idea of the ideal shape. The American culture created the desire to be thin and fit. The media takes advantage our culture’s ancient desire to be slim, by convincing the audience that a product will make them look the way they want to appear.

Our ancestors have been yearning for a trim waist since before television and commercials were even invented. In 1890 a heavy set woman was what society deemed as beautiful. At this time voluptuous female was a sign of good health and wealth (Body Image, 2007). Then, at the beginning of the 20th century, “The Census of 1900 reported nearly six million women in the United States engaged in wage earning outside their homes” (Dorr, 2004). Now as active human beings the female population naturally became thinner. Not only did the new skinny female come to be the latest representation of wealth (Kendall, 1999), but with time doctors came to realize that a lazy and obese individual was in-fact not healthy. Consequently this tiny waist grew to be what was considered attractive because “in the 1900’s women began wearing corsets and the hour-glass look became popular” (Body Image, 2007). By 1920, when the concept of television was no longer a dream, “the era of the flat-chested, slim-hipped flapper had begun” (Body Image, 2007). From that point on the ideal female pant size has only grown smaller.

What the advertisers are guilty of, is taking advantage of the context of our society (the strong aspiration to be thin which was constructed before mass media was so powerful). For example the marketers for my cultural text, the Yoplait light yogurt commercial, take the audience’s desire for slimness and use it against them. The advertisers know that if they tell their viewers that the yogurt will assist them in achieving their ideal weight, then those viewers will become buyers. An advertiser’s job is to make a product seem like it will bring you happiness. For instance, if we were still living in the cultural context of 1890, when a voluptuous woman was considered attractive, advertisers would market their goods with the goal of convincing the viewers that the product will make them heavier. When this type of message is shown to an audience that already thinks that the size of their body is important, it is easy to convince those viewers to accept what the commercial is saying.

Out of the group of people that truly believe that the shape of their body will make them happier, there are a few naive viewers that take weight loss too far. It is these same people that develop eating disorders. However it is not the television and commercials’ fault that females in our society want to be thin. In-fact the function of this paper is to let everyone know that the desire to be skinny has been around since before television was even a notion, so this feminine “need” to be thin could not possibly be due to TV, only enhanced by it. --Bluesky123 12:21, 14 December 2007 (EST)