Throughout generations amplified beauty ads in

magazines have forced men and women to feel

the need to renew their bodies and faces.

Through research and content analysis I will

discover the true and in depth reasons towards

how we as a nation have allowed such negativity

towards our defined self esteem and self worth.

The evolution of the definition of beautiful is ever so

changing because of the goals and intents of

media and communicational exploits in magazines

A study of voluntary cosmetic surgeries in 1996 showed that about 696, 904 Americans underwent some type of implantation or removal of body tissue (5). These popular surgeries are no longer just being seen in Hollywood because they are now being done by the ordinary “housewife.”

We judge one another as if we are looking for faults. Media and publications on television and the internet have taught us that we should want to look like models or celebrities. Nancy Etcoff explains this dilemma she notes that their bodies are met to be exciting and pleasing to the public eye.

The twentieth century has taken a new turn on commercial and production advertisements. During the nineteenth century a women’s natural body was accepted, but today the cosmetic advancements have proved that the technological enhanced body image is becoming more popular (Schuller, 1).

According to a 1998 Kellogg’s survey of 500 women over the age of 18 represented that about 62% feel that they don’t live up to society’s view of the “ideal women” (Special K, 1).

Historically men and women, (women specifically) are forced to be beautiful and presentable. But society’s definition of presentable may be very different that that person’s outlook of how they should look. These people all have expectations to live up to. Those expectations are negative, and display why beauty shouldn’t be mixed with perspectives. Special K Opinion Corporation states, “A leading factor for women in determining ideal body size and shape is how supermodels are portrayed in television advertising (69 percent) or fashion magazines” (Special K, 1).

Research also shows that men who work out excessively and follow strict eating patterns do not participate in that specified lifestyle by choice. They are instead influenced highly by “macho” ads in magazines displaying the ideal male body. This in turn increases body dissatisfaction by men (Meehan, 5).

Research has showed that the young airbrushed perfect body of females in magazines seem to be directly correlated with depression, eating disorders, and extremely low self esteem (Media Issues, 1).

This “unattainable body” not only decreases attainability for readers but also ensures profits for diet ad industries because they know pressures of purchased weight loss items will increase immediately after reading the magazine (Media Issues, 2).

One out of every four college female students use unhealthy means of weight loss by abusing laxatives, self induced vomiting, or anorexia (Media Issues, 1).

Body image advertisements enable social pressures to be seen in the attitudes of men and women when deciding to conform to social standards of the ultimate body (Meehan, 2).

Although my research discovers ads towards the

negative impact of the social standards of external

beauty, they fail to cover the exact tactics towards

why such magazine sectors choose to high light these

topics. As a society we eat the media right up and

almost all chose to believe the ads and exploits of

what’s on the magazine stand. If we stopped

believing in what is being shown to us in magazines or

on the television screen would the goals of defined

internal or external beauty shift differently?

I assume to find that the influence of

beauty ads highly affect youth and adults

alike in today’s beautified goals of fitness,

facial advancements, and the ultimate

body. Also that even though we enable

such productivity in the media world of

beauty and aesthetics, we have the ability

to redefine it.

I hope to find out how the evolution of beauty actually affects readers world wide. I specifically focused on Cosmopolitan, Shape, and Men’s Health Magazines.

My hypothesis is that the content and advertisements in these magazines (as well as others) increase bodily augmentations and extreme weight loss or fitness goals.

I believe this research is worth it because it

will explain the internal emotional battles

many of us fight each day as well as the

external pressures of why exactly we feel

the need to look or act a certain way.

These pressures go hand and hand with

personality adjustments based on

expectations from society and even

confused identities of current generations.

Beauty is personal.

Beauty is feeling good enough.

Beauty is looking in the mirror and loving your body for what is it not what you hope it could be.

Beauty is loving yourself, all of it.

Beauty is hopeful.

Beauty is you.

And beauty is ME.

I determined my samples of analysis by

basing them off of what’s popular in

today’s media light and the magazines

people enjoy reading. I have a subscription

to Cosmo, my brother reads Men’s Health

monthly, and my sister subscribes to Shape.

UNIT OF ANALYSIS= Looking through

magazines for a period of three weeks.

Throughout this period of time I chose 10

ads that spoke the most to my studies.

Raw Data Coding Label Category

J’adore perfume

advertisement with

actress Charlize Theron

Actress showing desirable mood of how that scent makes

her feel which in turn increases profits of readers wanting

the same feeling

Sex appeal / perfect body

Shape Magazine with

famous curvy Kim

Kardashian sporting

the cover

Bikini perfect body shown by Kardashian forces this issue to

be a great sell with slogans such as “flat abs” and “slimmer

by next week”. This label of coding allows beauty to be

received just by taking a glimpse at the cover page.

Stardom and fashion mogul Kim K used to increase sales/

celebrity influence

46 celebrity bodies

that consist of the best

and worst beach

bodies

These exploits of famous stars that show off their bodies at

the beach and judged and criticized causing the public

eye to compare their bodies to the spectrum of hotness

Famous influence/ beatified world of the ultimate beach

body

Men’s Calvin Klein ad

displays ideas of the

dreamt attractive

body for males

This underwear model displays his perfect body in the

magazine which in turn increases possibilities of sales of the

underwear as well as other body perked items of weight

loss and increased body muscle in the same issue

6 pack abs dream body/ sex appeal

Shirtless model

wearing voluptuous

jeans

The magazine hopes to convince the reader to want to

buy the jeans in hopes of rocking them just like she does.

But if there are self-doubts of looking like she does, readers

will resort to weight loss tactics in order to get there.

Fashion/ beauty

Picture of the scale

with nervous feet of

what the weight is

being read to be

This common ad in my readings displayed pressures of

caring what the number of the scale reads. Although

beauty shouldn’t be defined by weight, hair, or face, it

seems to be the defined and determined factor in judging

one’s self worth.

Weight loss/ being satisfied with number = having self

confidence

Man’s picture of

before and after

plastic surgery

Although women seem to be the only one’s focused on

making themselves prettier by going under the knife, my

studies beg to differ. This picture is showing the man’s

positive results, which enhances the reader’s desire for such

procedures.

Self-worth/ plastic surgery

Ad about “zapping the

fat’ and losing weight

without expensive

surgery

Here in this ad the matters of being beautiful can be done

without surgery. In this article they showed the reader ways

to be skinny without cosmetic needs. These ads showcase

the length magazines will go to high light the importance of

being beautiful externally.

Body Images/ weight loss/ confidence booster

Ad about stuffing one’s

face with treats and

feeling guilty for it

This self-explanatory ad shows the frustration of “bad foods”

that get in the way of a diet. But instead of enforcing the

OK of treats once and awhile, they display such acts as

negative.

Health tips/ ANTI junk food/tips to receiving the body you

want

Plastic Surgery junkie

ad

This shows the pressures of how exactly some models reach

the goal of looking the way they look. These procedures

are normally the answer to a flat stomach, uplifted face, or

perfect legs.

Negative impact of the actuality of being perfect/ sex

appeal

Throughout my three week study I came to the realization

that male and female based pressures in the media through

internal and external beauty are even.

The tone of my coding was ultimately sex appeal, weight loss,

celebrity influences, and plastic surgery.

25% retail/ fashion, 20% plastic surgery, 40% weight loss/

fitness/ and 15% perfumes or cosmetics

The most highly seen ad in my opinion and based off of my

findings was weight loss. These ads were seen almost on

every page of all three magazines. These were usually in the

form of fitness goals, dream bodies, diet habits, and celebrity models showcasing the body female or males wish for.

We define our beauty by ads in magazines or on the television because we allow them to effect us in that way. But because of this constant singular definition of beauty we chose no other way but to let it control who we are because it’s what we absorb through the popular media. Advertisement affect both genders by controlling personal perceptions of body image which simultaneously affect internal emotions through self-esteem. These ads influence the general population of men and woman alike which allow goals of beauty and perfection to overshadow confidence and objectives of finding oneself in this self pertained fixated society.

Etcoff, Nancy (1999). Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty. New York: First

Anchor Books. Ed. A Division of Random House Inc.

Meehan, Michelle. A Campaign for Male Beauty. The Influence of Advertisement on the Male Body. 2009. Illinois

Wesleyan University. 3 April 2012. <http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1129&context

=psych_honproj>.

Media Awareness Network. Beauty and Body Image in the Media. Media Issues. 20 Mar 2012. Media Awareness

Network. <http://www.mediaawareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_

girls/women_beauty.cfm>.

Press Clippings and Media Coverage. (2010, November 1). New Kellogg's(R)

Special K(R) Cereal Campaign Speaks Honestly About Body Image; Tells Women That Confidence, Not Dress. Kellogg US. 6 (10). Retrieved from http://www.about-face.org/r/press/kellog020298.shtml

Schuller, Kyla. (2001). Facial Uplift: Plastic Surgery, Cosmetics and the Retailing of

Whiteness Work of Maria Christina Mena. Journal of Modern Literature, 32(4)

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