The media today is one of the most powerful forces in the world. It has the power to influence the beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, actions, and more, of everyone that it reaches. Being a 20-year-old white female myself, the media has most effected my self-image and confidence. Today, the media paints the picture of a woman as tall, tan, thin, and beautiful. And according to the media, if you are not all of these things, you are not beautiful. It is has been hard growing up with thousands of messages a day telling you that you don’t fit the mold of “beautiful”, but luckily lately there has been lots of work to reverse this unrealistic image of what is “beautiful” into what is real.
The body and skin care company Dove has taken the fight of the skewed image of beautiful head on. Their Campaign For Real Beauty is their efforts to help real women see what real beauty is all about. Not only is it in the US, but all over the world as well. They have funds, products, advertisements, messages, and workshops all dedicated to breaking the stereotypes that breed in the minds of women everywhere. Their tool that reached me first was their commercial showing a woman on a billboard before and after hair, makeup, and airbrushing. From that moment, I learned not to trust the media like I had before. In this commercial, the model looks just like ay other woman. Her skin is not glowing and her teeth aren’t sparkling white. If you saw her walking down the street you would not assume she was a model. But after the hair and makeup team came in, the lighting is perfect, and the airbrushing is applied, you would not recognize this woman.
This commercial is an amazing weapon in fighting this unrealistic image of beauty the media paints in the minds of women everywhere. I definitely think that every man, woman, and child should see it. Not only does it give more confidence to women, but it shows everyone that the media can be extremely deceiving and unrealistic.
Do most people want the real images of beauty or do they want those that cannot be attained without 10 handlers and an airbrush mechanism. More importantly, how do we get little girls to accept these images instead of the ones they see in magazines and on television?
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