Digital Retouching

This is another video done by Dove and its campaign on beauty awareness. The very short video conveys a big message. “Beauty has been greatly been distorted by the media”. The media has constructed their own definition of what a woman should be. Since the media is so powerful over many especially young women it creates a goal that is unattainable. Many young girls watch the media for advice. Advice on fashion, make up, boys, sex, and the list can go on. Instead of trusting their parents on these topics they rather take what they see as “reality”. Yet they are unaware that what they see is unreal which is what this Dove video is trying to say.

“I want to be Hannah Montana” is something that my seven year old sister repeatedly tells me. Even though I think Hannah Montana has no negative implications yet on my little sister’s body perception, she has been marketed to be seen as a real character that one day my sister can be like her. This is the way many images in the media are portrayed as. They attempt to make the images be attainable. Many magazines have on their cover “How to look like a celebrity”, “How to look as beautiful like them”, “Celebrities Beauty Secrets” and the list can go on. These are tips on how be or look like these celebrities. Clothing works in the same way just as much as other products. The media wants to close the gap between the images they advertise and the general population by advertising that one day they could be them. However as seen in this video that gap is never going to be closed because the images use digital retouching. The actual celebrity secret is not a product but technology that is making them look beautiful.

Model Behavior

The modeling industry is an important aspect affecting the female’s body image. One popular issue is the promotion of the perfect and skinny body. Modeling industries strive to only have the most attractive and skinny model. Therefore many female models attempt to fit their needs in order to be employed. This includes eating irregularly, unhealthy eating and snacking, and even starvation. In November 14, 2008 a Brazilian model, Ana Carolina Reston (picture below) passed away due to complications dealing with anorexia. Ana’s weight was only 88 pounds when she died. Her story and Luisel Ramo’s story, another model that passed away due to anorexia, have captivated much attention towards the modeling industry and eating disorders. Due to this the Madrid Fashion show required all the models who were lower than an 18 in body mass to be banned because they were classified as underweight by the World Health Organization. Another change was that any model that wants to be on a catwalk needs to have a medical certificate. Not only does this affect the models but all of the females who strive to be and look like them.



Another aspect of the modeling industry is the lack of “normal” size girls. According to the video Slim Hopes 95% of women do not have this model body. This means that young girls watching America’s Next Top Model, Janice Dickenson Modeling Agency, Make Me a Supermodel, and many other television shows and magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Glamour, InStyle, and many other magazines will strive to look like them but never will. However there are several modeling agencies that have embraced plus size models as a division. Designers and product companies have also embraced plus size models in their advertisement and promotion. The media is slowly but surely embracing plus size models. However the day when plus size models become as popular and respected by society and in the modeling industry just like the skinny models is yet to come. Which is also have affecting the day until women and girls become more comfortable with themselves.





Conniff Taber, Kimberly. "With Model's Death, Eating Disorders are Again Spotlight." International Herald Tribune 20 Nov. 2006.

Slim Hopes: Advertising and the Obsession With Thinness. Dir. Jean Kilbourne. VHS. 1995.