Billboards border every street and highway on Earth, advertising any product able to be advertised, and often presented by sultry women with bedroom eyes and scanty clothing. Far too often, these models, who have already taken extreme and ridiculous measures to become models, have had their images altered until deemed attractive enough to preside over the beltway. The problem lies in the frequency that this happens: since it has become an American standard, women consistently face an unattainable body image.
An argument can be made for who actually pays attention to billboards or commercials, that they can be easily ignored; but when constantly presented with a certain type of image, it becomes the norm. So when advertisers stubbornly propagandize women with bones prominently showing through their skin, women seeing the advertisement believe they should strive for that look. One rarely sees the healthy, realistic image of love-handled women, reinforcing the idea that we must be thin and svelte to be desirable. But even before the image is altered, the models have attained a beauty most women don’t have: well-tailored clothing, manipulated lighting, and professionally maintained hair and makeup are hardly available to most of us.
Some of the measures models take are not only dangerous, but also downright ridiculous. My sister, an aspiring actress, had been told by a coach, prior to a photo shoot, to wrap herself in Saran Wrap to leech out any excess liquid to make herself thinner. And that’s before airbrushing, or cutting away unsavory aspects of a model (such as cellulite or stretch marks), manipulating the photograph further. Because models must strive to make themselves look better, they develop eating disorders. All because we tell them they aren’t beautiful enough.
This blackmail must stop. It damages both the models and consumers who see the advertisements. Either present images of healthy, realistic women or stop using women as a sales gimmick.