SWOK 2035 Professor Lackstrom Section A - Fall Term...

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Advertisement Analysis and Socio-cultural Issues Surrounding Eating Disorders

Ashley Gallagher (210331007) SWOK 2035

Professor Lackstrom Section A - Fall Term

Assignment #1 October 5th, 2012

Ashley Gallagher (210331007) 2

Part One: Advertisement #1:

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Advertisement #1 Reflection:

Abercrombie & Fitch is a popular clothing company within North America; the message

that they present to their customers is one of which expresses the ideology that beautiful people

shop and wear clothing from their stores. Although Abercrombie & Fitch is a clothing company

their billboard advertisement displays a muscular man with out a shirt not advertising their

clothing line; but rather advertising the idea that these are the type of beautiful people who go to

Abercrombie & Fitch stores. This brand revolves around maintaining their image and even

employees of this company must fit the Abercrombie & Fitch standard of beauty. Through out

the season the clothing line doesn’t change very drastically, the colors for each season remain the

same for the most part, and the style of clothing doesn’t change drastically from year to year

either. The look that Abercrombie & Fitch embeds in its customers minds is not realistic to

society, and the brand doesn’t accept other “looks”. The billboard advertisement is using sex to

sell and although this method is successful retail companies; the advertisement does not display

what they sell, you can barely see the jeans that the man on the billboard is wearing. This

billboard presents the idea that the Abercrombie & Fitch brand is designed for people who fit this

body type or rather standard of beauty.


Advertisement #2:

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Skyy is a brand of vodka. Skyy uses sex and thin women with a beautiful appearance to

advertise and promote their brand. The advertisement above is found in popular magazines

circulating around North America. This advertisement is using a thin woman with sex appeal to

provide their customers with the idea that Skyy blue is what people with this body image or type

drink. The use of images such as these makes the product look appealing to the viewers eye and

makes them want to try it. Customers or viewers would find this advertisement appealing

because in the western culture we are trained through media to accept this body type as the

standard of beauty in out society. The frequent acceptance of body image standards like the one

portrayed in the Skyy advertisement creates an impractical standard for the majority of women in

western societies like North America. Common exposure to advertisements in media which

portray an unrealistic view of body image can cause men and women to become self-conscious

about their body type and use this concept of physical appearance as a measure of their worth in

society. The overall message that Skyy blue is presenting to its audience is that using their

product will allow you to be apart of this standard of beauty and will make the customer more

attractive. Women constantly compare themselves to other women around them in western

culture to advertisements like the one Skyy blue uses tend to lower a woman’s personal

evaluation of her own attractiveness.


Advertisement #3:

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Victoria Secret is a brand that sells lingerie and clothing that is very popular in western

society, with stores expanding all over western society. The advertisement above is from the

Victoria Secret shopping website, these very popular Victoria Secret models are photo edited and

below normal weight but they promote the western cultures view and standard of beauty and

what a woman should look like. The phrase “I Love My Body” that is displayed on the

advertisement is promoting a lingerie line for Victoria Secret. It is a good message women

should love their bodies; although when comparing yourself to these models it is easy for a

woman to feel as though she does not love her body and does not look beautiful compared to the

Victoria Secret models. Dissatisfaction of personal body portrayal can lead to a woman’s strive

to meet the thin ideal that is promoted all over the media. The depiction of thin models such as

Victoria Secret models can be a contributing factor that can lead to the development of an eating

disorder in women residing in western society. Victoria Secret advertises through the promotion

of sex appeal and thinness to sell to their target market. Image is of great importance to the

Victoria Secret brand with their annual televised fashion show and advertisements in media and

only thin models are used in the promotion of their brand which portrays an unrealistic view of

beauty setting the standards at a unhealthy and nearly unreachable level since on average these

models weigh about 23 percent less then the appropriate body weight.


Part Two:

Eating disorders have been viewed as culture based disorders, predominantly found

within western civilizations. Culture is an etiological factor, which is capable to affect the

development of an eating disorder. Eating disorders were not classified as a medical disorder

until the late 19th century, although they have existed since before the 19th century. A study done

within American society in 1970 by Rowland found more lower- and middle-class patients with

eating disorders within a sample that consisted primarily of Italians whom of which were mostly

Catholic and Jewish. Rowland’s conclusions of the study suggested that Jewish, Catholic and

Italian cultural origins might lead to a higher risk of developing an eating disorder due to cultural

attitudes about the importance of food (Miller 2008). The socio-cultural factors which contribute

to the development of eating disorders and support the argument that eating disorders and

western culture have a positive correlation with each other are as follows; media portrayal, socio-

economic status, sex, and personal body image portrayal.

The western civilization has set certain so called “standards of beauty” through media

portrayal and many women who are actively involved in following the media through watching

television shows, reading magazines, etc. are influenced and retain a mental image this standard

eventually causing them to want to achieve that look (Bordo 1993, page 163). In western society

media is everywhere; through advertisement on billboards easy access to the Internet and

television, therefore viewers easily take the portrayal of body image and what a woman or man

should look like into consideration. In western culture magazine ads, and television shows

provide viewers with the image of a thin woman typically playing the role of a woman who is

beautiful and majority of the time successful, or a main character. Or a man who is muscular and

often plays the role of a strong dominant character. This common image of what a successful

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woman or man should look like unconsciously enables both sexes who reside in western

societies and have easy access to media technologies a desire to be like these people they see all

over the media. The medias contemporary beauty ideals entail images, which suggest casual

playfulness, flirtatiousness, and an unconscious relationship to the body (Bordo 1993, page 163).

The frequency of commercials and advertisements supporting new dieting pills, weight loss

programs, and new weight loss medical procedures are increasing, and ultimately positively

reinforcing the ideology that thinness is the standard of beauty. This standard of beauty is not

realistic and therefore contributes to the development of eating disorders in both women and men

in western culture.

Socio-economic status is a contributing factor to the development of eating disorders in

western civilization because in western society wealthy women are expected to have thin body

type, which represents beauty in the minds of many people within western societies. Where men

who are higher up on the socio-economic ladder are not so much seen as having a certain body

type, but are rather judged by the way in which they present them selves though various

mannerisms and how they dress, or what they drive. Although many would assume that due to

these portrayals the wealthier class would have the higher prevalence of disordered eating

behaviors studies have shown that the prevalence of disordered eating is actually higher in

people who are lower on the socio-economic class scale. Theories of why this occurs are

centered on the assumption that people who are lower in socio-economic status have a lack of

education towards living a healthy lifestyle and dieting, and a lack of health care coverage to

have semi-annual check ups with physicians and become educated (Gibbons 2001).

The gender roles of society affect the prevalence of eating disorders within western

civilizations and are found within both men and women; in western culture women have an


desire to achieve a certain degree of thinness, while men a lot of the time desire to be big and

muscular (Bordo 1993, page 162). In the western culture the idea that women have the body and

men have the mind is known as the mind/body split; this traditional concept is still considered in

current society, although this mentality is declining (Nagy 2007, page 22). This way of thinking

with the help of the media and how women are already portrayed as thin in western society

contributes to the development of an eating disorder in the sense that if a woman maintains a thin

figure then she will be positively reinforced by society for example attention from men, or a

sense of freedom and independence from being the “right body type” (Nagy 2007, page 22). The

western culture has set certain standards of beauty and there is only a thin line between what is

portrayed to be normal eating and disordered eating. There are cases where families put pressure

or restrictions on their relatives, specifically adolescents preventing them from partaking in an

activity or choosing a career path that is stereotyped to be for the opposite gender. This can cause

harm in the sense that these children feel a lack of control over their lives and develop disordered

eating behaviors because eating is an aspect of their life in which they can control (Bordo 1993,

page 157). This sense of lack of control can reflect back to an individualistic perspective of ones

own body image.

An individual’s personal portrayal of his or her own body image involves many

economic and social factors which can act as a reward and punishment system to the

maintenance or ability to achieve a thin body (Nagy 2007, page 22). Personal portrayal of body

image and its connection to disordered eating has to deal with psychological issues within that

individual. This person may see themselves as being thin in comparison to other people, although

on their own they feel big or have an immense fear of becoming big which can contribute to the

development of an eating disorder (Garner 1997, page 146-47). When this mentality is fully

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accepted by the individual it is difficult to change or fix. Due to a vast majority of possible

underlying issues of the individual who has this mindset about their personal body image it is

essential that psycho-educational treatment sought out to alter this behavior and hopefully the

overall way of thinking about their personal body image (Garner 1997, page 146-47).

To improve the increase in prevalence of eating disorders in western society

psychologists must gain a full understanding of all the socio-cultural perspective that contribute

to disordered eating behaviors. Education on eating disorders and living a healthy lifestyle

should be more easily accessible to individuals lower in socio-economic status individuals so

that the right choices can be made. The involvement of media and portrayal of beauty would

benefit society in a more positive way if a healthy man or woman was displayed more often, and

emitted a positive message. Over time the pressure to diet in the western society has increased

(Garner 1997, page 147) and is promoted within western civilizations through methods such as;

the media depiction of beauty, lack of education of people of lower socio-economic status,

gender roles that western society find acceptable, and the overall personal portrayal of ones own

body image.


Bibliography

Bordo, Susan. (1993). Anorexia Nervosa: Psychopathology as the crystallization of culture,

Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body. Berekly: University of California

Press. 139-164

Garner, D. (1997). Psychoeducational principles in treatment, In Handbook of Treatment for

Eating Disorders. Second Edition, D. Garner and P. Garfinkel, (Eds.). New York: The Guilford

Press. 145 – 174. ISBN 1-57230-186-4.

Gibbons, Pat. (2001). The Relationship Between Eating Disorders and Socioeconomic Status: It's

Not What You Think. Nutrition Noteworthy, 4(1). Retrieved from:

http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1k70k3fd

Miller, N. Merry. (2008). Eating Disorders: Culture and Eating Disorders. Healthy Place, N/A.

Retrieved from: http://www.healthyplace.com/eating-disorders/articles/eating-disorders-culture-

and-eating-disorders/

Nagy Hesse-Biber, Sharlene. (2007). The Cult of Thinness. 2nd Edition, New York: Oxford

University Press. 11-31.

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