More than one in thirty Americans suffer from anorexia or bulimia, and women compose 90% of this population. To suggest that this high statistic is not directly correlated to the overly sexualized, graphically altered and airbrushed portrayals of women in our media is simply ignorant. What effort has the US government directed toward changing the negative messages which destroy body image in our culture and have indirectly taken thousands of lives over the past three decades? Not much. But in 2012, change is possible.
As of Monday, March 19, Israel not only became the first nation to pass legislation restricting models with a Body Mass Index (BMI) less than 18.5 from walking in both public and private runway shows, but also to require that advertisers include a disclaimer on each individually digitally-enhanced advertisement.
Similar to that of Israel, The Arizona House of Representatives proposed a bill which would require that ads involving “photo manipulation techniques” feature a disclaimer stating, “Post-production techniques were made to alter the appearance in this advertisement. When using this product, similar results may not be achieved.” Katie Hobbs, a supporter of this bill, doubts its ability to pass in the Senate, but believes that this is the first step toward necessary changes in American advertising (Read about the Arizona bill here).
But is the US too media-driven to change? It seems as if Americans will accept nearly all forms of media, whether print, digital or audio, as fact. And when you apply this believability to the fashion, beauty and advertising industries, it’s no wonder so many young American women have low self-esteem.
As a loyal reader of “Vogue” and “Lucky” magazines, I know that fashion magazines have the ability to empower women. “Vogue” features articles about women’s health issues, such as HIV/AIDs, highlights up and coming female designers, like the sisters behind Rodarte, and covers stories about female leaders in business, journalism, entertainment and political positions, like Arianna Huffington and Adele. “Lucky” magazine even featured an interview with their December 2011 cover girl, Jessica Simpson, where she explained how gaining weight and becoming a new mother has added to her confidence as she expands her label. And while many of the ads layered throughout the pages of these magazines exemplify the high fashion and commercial fashions for which “Vogue” and “Lucky” represent, many ad campaigns involve extreme levels of digital enhancements.
When editing an ad for publication, advertisers typically lighten women’s skin tones, erase wrinkles, whiten teeth, enhance eye color, enlarge eyes, lengthen the neck, make the nose narrower and edit hair to make it appear glossier and smoother than hair stylists are capable of achieving. All of these small details, when altered on the same photo, become overwhelmingly unfair to both women and men. Women feel pressured to appear “picture-perfect,” unaware of the unrealistic photos, while men are unfortunately led to believe that real women should appear as models in advertisements do.
While digital alterations in advertising will not disappear overnight, the severity of their effects can change with law. If the Senate were to pass Arizona’s bill, or one similar to that of Israel, a small yet important part of American culture would change. If Americans, and more specifically, preteen and teenage girls, begin to notice the abundance of disclaimers on nearly all ads featuring women, whether selling apparel, beauty products, cars or weight loss diets and pills, our national body image would change. A disclaimer forces the advertising industry to take responsibility for unrealistic portrayals of women, and girls will finally understand that these ads fail to represent the original women captured in the photos. This honest disclaimer will increase national self-esteem and help to protect the thousands of girls struggling from eating disorders in America. The US government must be active in this issue of unfair and false advertising, as the Israeli government has become, in the interest of the protecting the American people.