Striving for Perfection: The Effects of Advertising on Female Beauty Standards (2011)

 We all have seen it, sitting in your living room and watching your favorite show on television, an ad comes on asking if you have noticed the fine lines and wrinkles around your eyes and mouth.  Of course you have noticed; you look in the mirror every day and wonder where did that new wrinkle come from and what can you do to make it go away.  The advertiser on the television claims they have the best anti-aging product available and it will erase those lines and wrinkles within two weeks.  To prove it they have a 20 year old model using the product, even though she has never had a line or wrinkle on her face, and you can almost tell yourself that if you rush out and buy that product, you too can have flawless skin like that 20 year old model.

Have you ever wondered how many ads you see on television during the course of the day?  Sometimes it seems as if there is more time devoted to advertising than is devoted to the program you are watching.  In fact, our visual senses seem to be over-stimulated by advertising in every aspect of our life; television, internet, magazine racks, and even billboards along the roads and highways – everywhere we turn there is some sort of advertising.  Do you ever stop to think what affect this might be having on our society, our culture, and our women?  There are almost an unnerving number of ads directed at young girls and women that stem from every beauty product available from make-up, skin care products, creams and lotions, hair care products and coloring - to weight loss, dieting programs, sexual dysfunction, and plastic surgery.What are these ads trying to tell us?  Perhaps, it seems, they are telling us that we are broken and their products will fix us.  And if we are bombarded every day with advertising that tells us there is something wrong with us, what is that doing to our body images and self-esteem?

The standards of beauty for women are negatively affected by the way women are portrayed in advertising because the images are manipulated by technology which creates a standard that real women can never achieve.  Manipulated images give the illusion of perfection and women are spending billions of dollars on beauty products and plastic surgeries in the attempt to emulate that image.

According to Frances M. Berg, author of “Women Afraid to Eat: Breaking Free in Today’s Weight-Obsessed World,” the models we see in advertising represent approximately 5% of the female population, the other 95% are regular women that come in all shapes, sizes, and ages.  However, more and more women desire to become more like the rare 5% instead of embracing their own individuality and attractiveness.  But how are we supposed to accept ourselves when only the young, thin, and beautiful are portrayed as being normal, attractive, and successful?  It is pounded into our heads that if we don’t look like that image of perfection there must be something wrong with us which leads to all the damaging ways women try to “fix” themselves.

There are two major issues we need to recognize and address.  First, the images of women we see in the magazines are digitally enhanced and modified; they are not simple photographs of natural women.  Therefore our ability to achieve this standard of beauty is impossible in our daily lives; we will never look like a digitally enhanced photograph in real life.  Second, the standard of what we consider beautiful has been set and staged by the media.   Average, everyday, normal looking women are not the ones who are portrayed in advertising yet they are the bulk of beauty product consumers.

Today, the average model is very youthful, 5’ 11” in height, 110 pounds in weight, and 95% of women do not fit into that category and never will (Milne).  Media should broaden their subject audience by portraying women of all shapes and sizes into their advertising.  This, however, is very unlikely to happen as advertising is a $130 billion a year industry (Berg).  As stated by Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D., creator of the video series Killing Us Softly, in the advertising business it is “profitable for women to feel terrible about themselves.”  In other words, if women feel no need to improve or fix themselves, if they are satisfied and happy with their appearance, they will not be out there spending money on products the beauty industry is so forcefully pushing upon us.  So if advertising is not going to alter the way they do business, then we must change the way we compare ourselves to unrealistic images of perfection.

Many celebrities these days have dedicated photo re-touchers on commission, not allowing one photograph of themselves to be published without being retouched.  Magazine editors digitally alter photos of models that are thought of as beautiful and perfect in real life.  Every little thing that can be thought of as a flaw is removed, a crease in the armpit or knee, a hair out of place, a dress bunched at the waist; they make legs longer, waists thinner, breasts larger, butts smaller, stomachs flatter, arms leaner, skin clearer, teeth whiter, muscles tighter, lips fuller, eyes set perfectly apart, and all wrinkles, lines, freckles, and blemishes disappear.  If the people that are thought of as perfect still have their photographs altered to make them more perfect, where does that leave the 95% of women that are trying to fit into that perfect category?

We need to ask ourselves why we feel so compelled to compare ourselves to the ultra-thin, tall, youthful, and seemingly flawless models in advertising.  Perhaps it is because of the overwhelming bombardment of ads we are exposed to.  U.S. residents are exposed to anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 advertisements in a single day, up from 200 per day back in the 1970s.  The Internet is largely responsible for much of that growth and 70 percent of 15 to 30 year olds use social networking sites – all of which are bombarded with advertising (Heldman).

But let’s step back and take a look at what ideal we are trying to emulate.  For example, back in the 1950’s Marilyn Monroe was the epitome of sexiness and yet her figure was more voluptuous and curvaceous than what we hold as today’s standard of beauty.  Back then everyone wanted bigger busts and curvier hips, but today everyone wants to be taller and thinner, with almost no curve to their hips.  As the models shown in advertising change, so does the standard to which we compare ourselves.  It seems that only the idealized standards, the ones that draw the most attention, are the ones we want to emulate, and we are thereby ignoring or finding flaws with our true individual beauty.

The fashion industry is not innocent in the deceit of our self-perception.  Let us study the changes of clothing sizing over the last 50 years.  A vintage dress, misses size 12, was the appropriate size for a bust measurement of 30” and yet today for a bust measurement of 30” the dress size is 6.  What is now considered a size 4, was a size 8 in the 1950’s.  A 1960 Butterick pattern listed a dress size as small (8-10), medium (12-14), and large (16) but looking at any sizing chart of today one will notice a new size, x-small (0-2), and the usual sizes are now small (4-6), medium (8-10), large (12-14), and X-large (14-16).

A Simplicity dress pattern  number 1510 from 1956 shows a misses size 11 fits body proportions of bust 29, waist 23 ½, hips 32.  Now look at the difference from a Simplicity dress sizing chart from 2011 that puts the proportions of bust 29 1/2 , waist 22, hips 31 ½ at a size 4.  So the same body measurements that were a size 11 in 1956 are now a size 4 in 2011.

What this is telling us is that it is no longer okay to be a size 11.  Our bodies have not changed yet the clothing and fashion industry have changed its sizing practices in order to deceive women into thinking we are thinner than we are.  But why would it be important for women to think they are thinner?  This ties right back in to the manipulation of advertising promoting the successful woman as beautiful, perfect, and thin.  As the fashion models become thinner and that is the image promoted as acceptable and successful, then more women desire to become like that image.  However, the fashion industry is not ignorant of the fact that 95% of their customers are not shaped like their models and therefore they have adjusted their sizing charts to make women feel as if they have achieved that perfect and acceptable size.

Fifty years ago the average American woman was between 5’3-4” with a waist of about 24”-25”, weighs around 120 lbs, and wore a size 8.  Today the average American woman is about 5’4”, has a waist of about 34”-35”, weighs between 140-150 lbs, and wears a size 12-14.  Women today, on the average, are larger than they were 50 years ago.  The U.S. Department of Commerce use to have a uniform sizing system  in place for women’s clothing, but in 1983 they did away with it, noting the traditional sizes were no longer reflecting the average female consumer.  Now that the average woman is larger, in order to cater to their vanity, designers are manipulating sizes so that true large sizes are being marked as smaller, creating ‘vanity sizing’ in order to make women feel as if they are thinner (Peeke).

With models and actresses all spouting off about who is thinnest, who lost weight the fastest, and who wears the smallest size, it is no wonder that so many women would feel ashamed to admit they are a size 11.  Because what was a size 11 is now the new size 4, we can spout off to our friends that we wear a size 4 and not feel ashamed, even though our physical bodies have remained the same.  Another spin on the same vanity sizing game is how different designers choose to size their clothing.  Have you ever wondered why when you buy one brand of jeans it is one size, and when you buy another brand of jeans it is a different size?  The trick is not in the physical size of the jeans, but in the ‘label’ size of the jeans.  This explains why most women have several different sizes of clothing in their closet, yet they all fit the same.

The effects of these unrealistic digitally enhanced female images, idolization of the very thin body physique, and the vanity sizing tactics of the fashion industry have taken a very negative toll on the average American woman of today.  The statistics are staggering; 1 in  5 women struggle with an eating disorder; eating disorders affect up to 24 million Americans; an estimated 11% of high school students have been diagnosed with an eating disorder; 51% of 9 and 10 year-old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet; 42% of 1st – 3rd grade girls want to be thinner; 46% of 9-11 year olds are ‘sometimes’ or ‘very often’ on a diet; 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat; and at least 50,000 individuals will die as a direct result of an eating disorder (Pereira).  The reality of the situation is that people are dying to be thin and advertising is doing nothing to discourage it.

Dieting and eating disorders are not the only measures women are taking in their quest for perfection.  Plastic surgery has gained in popularity over the years.  According to the American Society for Aesthetic Surgery, the number of girls age 18 and younger that are getting breast implants went from 3,872 in 2002 to 11,326 in 2003, nearly tripling in just one year.  The American Society of Plastic Surgeons states that in 2003 about 247,000 women in all age groups had breast implants, compared with only 32,000 in 1992 (Boodman).  The growth in numbers of surgeries seems to indicate a rising dissatisfaction with our natural bodies.  No longer are women willing to accept the tolls of motherhood and aging on their bodies.  No longer are they accepting of their individualism and uniqueness.  No longer do they need to simply wish they could look like that famous model or actress.  Now they can take drastic measures to actually try to achieve it.

With so much advertising being directed at young people today, it is no wonder the age of women seeking plastic surgery gets younger and younger.  It is well known that we all feel insecure and unsure of ourselves during the years of puberty.  A young girls’ body is not yet fully developed, yet they are already seeking out ways to permanently alter their bodies.  A nose job, or rhinoplasty, is the most common procedure for teenagers, but doctors are now performing more breast implants, liposuction, and tummy tucks on young women, and even girls as young as 14 (Boodman).

The idolization of a physique that is eternally youthful, stick-thin, and large breasted is taking its toll on women and young girls.  They are spending billions of dollars on products that promise to make them beautiful and keep them young; they are undergoing surgical procedures to obtain a physique that could not be obtained naturally; they are dieting excessively in order to fit into those size 0 jeans; and they are starving themselves to death.

It is highly doubtful that the advertising and beauty product industries are going to change their approach to marketing therefore it is up to us to break free of the stigmas we are subjected to.  We should embrace ourselves as the unique and beautiful individuals we are.  Don’t worry about the fine lines around your eyes or the wrinkle on your forehead; think of them as a map of the life you have lead and the journey you have taken.  Embrace your own individual body and learn to feel comfortable in your own skin.  Find beauty inside of yourself, in the uniqueness of who you are, in your attitude, in your intelligence, and in your own body shape.  Do not conform to the pressures of advertising that say we must fit inside a mold; a mold of perfection that cannot be achieved, and should not be achieved at the risk of our own lives.

Works Cited

Boodman, Sandra G. "For More Teenage Girls, Adult Plastic Surgery." Washington Post (Washington, DC). 26 Oct 2004: A.1. SIRS Researcher. Web. 20 Apr 2011.

Heldman, Caroline. “Out-Of-Body Image.” Ms. Vol. 18, No. 2. Spring 2008: 52-55. SIRS Researcher.Web. 04 Mar 2011.

Milne, Celia. “Women’s Health: Pressures to Conform.” Maclean’s. Jan. 12 1998: 60-61.  SIRS Researcher.Web. 04 Mar 2011.

Peeke, Pamela. “Just What IS an Average Woman’s Size Anymore?” WebMD. WebMD, LLC, 25 Jan. 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.

Pereira, Jennifer, comp. “Eating Disorder Statistics.” Healthy.Lifestyle.Balance. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2011.

 “Preface to ‘The Impact of Culture on Women’s Health’.” Women’s Health.Ed. Christina Fisanik. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Contemporary Issues Companion.Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context.Web. 10 Mar 2011.