Alteration Of Body Image Essay

The Alteration of Body Image
Throughout time, society's perception of beauty has been dramatically shaped,to an unhealthy degree, by advertisements. With the help of Photoshop and digital retouching by the media, we have become accustomed to seeing posters and pictures of models with flawless and unattainable bodies. This has greatly affected the way many young girls look at their own bodies and negatively influenced their view of what they look like. When a media company chooses to promote artificial beauty it may sell products, but it does so at the expense of the self esteem of young girls and women. Therefore, advertising companies should realize the responsibility they have to the growing youth population and stop participating in the business of photo manipulation. Now that anyone has the option to completely alter their body at the touch of a button, the epidemic has spread from just mass media to social media.
Image manipulation in the media causes detrimental effects on younger audiences and needs to be reigned in. Brands and companies using this form of advertising must be held accountable for promoting an unattainable body image, as well as abusing their privilege to enhance photos. Increased sales, gain in popularity and positive media exposure are all rewards that unretouched brands have continued to receive since joining. The anti-photoshop movement has spread and will continue to spread awareness of this issue. Part of the solution may be implementing a form of legislation in order to gain cooperation from larger companies. Brands acknowledging this problem is the start of a more productive society. All in all, instead of flipping through a magazine and being bombarded with false images, the audience should be encouraged to celebrate how they look, rather than strive to be something they are