Media and Self Esteem

1.  Why do you think people are portrayed this way in the media?


I think people are portrayed this way in the media so that people will buy products. They want to make consumers think that if they buy and use this product, they will look like the models who use them too. Magazines tells us that if you look a certain way, that you can have it all, and that you can attain this certain look if you use what they are trying to sell you. 


2.  How are you affected by the images you see? 



I am saddened by how young people today are so engrossed and invested in wanting to look "beautiful" to fit in. What is the definition of beautiful? If media were not around to tell us what we think we should look like, would our perception of beauty be different? Media uses our insecurity in ourselves so they can make money and it angers me how easily people fall for it. We should love ourselves instead of constantly thriving to get that unattainable beauty that they portray in the media.

3.  What can be done to reduce the amount of young men and women that are 

     negatively affected by these images?

Companies should advertise their product on more realistic models instead of super skinny, long legged, tan models. They should encourage us to love who we are and appreciate what we have instead of what we aren't and what we do not have. All of us need to stop comparing ourselves and start accepting who we are. This is what god gave us and we should appreciate it.

4.  What would your reaction be to a magazine cover where the subject isn’t   

     all glammed up?  Is this a possible route that society should take?  Why or

     why not?

I would be thrilled if there was a magazine cover where the subject was all natural, without the make up and the photoshop. It would make a statement that beauty is not everything. Although I think that society should take this route, I find it unlikely that this will happen soon.  We live in a generation where the need to fit in is so essential to people and that we would buy anything to be part of the crowd, and companies know this, so they use it to their advantage.

                                            Taken from YouTube.