Fashion advertisements have been found to have a negative effect on body image attitudes and behaviors among American women. 70 percent of the teenage women who regularly read fashion magazines consider the magazines an important source of beauty information. The portrayal of “ideal” female bodes in fashion magazines has an influence on body image distortion, which is a feature of disturbed eating pathologies (Lennon, Lillethun, & Backland, 1999). Almost everyone has, at one time or another, wished they could change something about themselves. For many people, the desire to change involves something about their physical appearance. Body image is something that influences everyone. Body image affects people of all ages, both males and females. However, in the United States females are in particular, more conscious about looking good. For some their happiness and self-worth are largely determined by their body image. Whether or not their body size, body shape, measurements, and so on match society’s ideals determine how satisfied they are with themselves. In many cases, appearance becomes more important to the female than one’s health and well being. The media has been responsible for promoting a standard of beauty that in most cases is unattainable to many woman and unhealthy to most people. However, due to the effect of poor body image influenced by several factors women fall prey to this cultural ideal of thinness. The impact that the media has on women’s body image is generally poor and often detrimental to their perception of their body image. This poor perception can cause several vulnerabilities in woman including the need to create poor eating pathologies to achieve this ideal.
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