Persuasive Health Campaign
The Health Has No Look Campaign
A Persuasive Health Campaign
Introduction
Adult viewers generally recognize the distorted standards often perpetuated in media as unrealistic advertisement-driven ideology but younger viewers may not. Younger audiences often see such advertisements as goals as opposed to unattainable but coveted traits. These images and messages strike younger viewers as an expectation they must live up to as opposed to the exception that can’t be achieved by most. Youths with a purchasing power of over $200 billion USD annually respond to advertisements that inspire feelings of inadequacy and high risk behavior (Lamb). These young people spend approximately 72 hours a week tuned in to electronic devices such as television and the internet (Lamb). We propose that the problem is not misleading advertising, but the lack of readily available resources to counter what is promoted by them. We often hear organizations attacking the media and attempting to control what’s reproduced in advertisements; no one, however, is promoting the creation of an image independent of these sources. Advertising will always reflect the desires of its audience. If these desires are unattainable and unhealthy, audiences will continue to be negatively affected. Viewers need another basis of objective comparison for what constitutes healthy, beautiful, and desirable.
The Risks
Negative self-image is a psychological health issue that has resounding consequences on the mental growth and stability of adolescents. Bad self-image generates a variety of risks ranging from minor to extreme, including: distorted body views/body dissatisfaction, depressed mood, anxiety, anger, eating disorders, identity confusion, physical appearance comparison tendency, and internalization of “thin ideal”. Ultimately, negative media portrayal becomes the source of many personal and psychological disorders that can tear apart people’s lives. These issues are symptoms of high-risk behavior
A Persuasive Health Campaign
Introduction
Adult viewers generally recognize the distorted standards often perpetuated in media as unrealistic advertisement-driven ideology but younger viewers may not. Younger audiences often see such advertisements as goals as opposed to unattainable but coveted traits. These images and messages strike younger viewers as an expectation they must live up to as opposed to the exception that can’t be achieved by most. Youths with a purchasing power of over $200 billion USD annually respond to advertisements that inspire feelings of inadequacy and high risk behavior (Lamb). These young people spend approximately 72 hours a week tuned in to electronic devices such as television and the internet (Lamb). We propose that the problem is not misleading advertising, but the lack of readily available resources to counter what is promoted by them. We often hear organizations attacking the media and attempting to control what’s reproduced in advertisements; no one, however, is promoting the creation of an image independent of these sources. Advertising will always reflect the desires of its audience. If these desires are unattainable and unhealthy, audiences will continue to be negatively affected. Viewers need another basis of objective comparison for what constitutes healthy, beautiful, and desirable.
The Risks
Negative self-image is a psychological health issue that has resounding consequences on the mental growth and stability of adolescents. Bad self-image generates a variety of risks ranging from minor to extreme, including: distorted body views/body dissatisfaction, depressed mood, anxiety, anger, eating disorders, identity confusion, physical appearance comparison tendency, and internalization of “thin ideal”. Ultimately, negative media portrayal becomes the source of many personal and psychological disorders that can tear apart people’s lives. These issues are symptoms of high-risk behavior
Bibliography: "Calculate Your Body Mass Index." Calculate Your BMI. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Web. 29 Apr. 2012. <http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/>. "Tips for Parents – Ideas to Help Children Maintain a Healthy Weight." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31 Oct. 2011. Web. 29 April 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/children/index.html>.