Magazines, television commercials, billboards and beyond fill their advertisements with what many of us believe are some of the world's most beautiful women. "Ordinary" women gawk over the montage of perfect figures, flawless faces, and undeniable sex appeal. With just one look it becomes difficult not to feel inferior or inadequate. "And no wonder. Everywhere we look a barrage of media images encourages us to compare ourselves not only with each other but with the most beautiful women in the world, women who have made a full-time job of taking care of their skin, their bodies, and their teeth" (Shapiro Barash 90). In the society in which we live today the perception of beauty is altered and influenced by a strong media force that highlights young, thin, and sexually appealing women. This touches upon a rather new and ongoing debate: Does the media's modern day depictions of beautiful women influence what our society perceives to be beautiful in a positive or negative way. Consequently, the advertisements that overwhelm us each day ultimately generate more harm than good by drastically changing each individual's perception of beauty, all the while generating billions in revenue for those mass-producers of such unattainable images we can't seem to get out of our heads. Careful analysis of contemporary constructions of beauty reveals that perceptions of women are significantly altered and influenced by a media that emphasizes the "perfect" woman, otherwise triggering negative stereotypes and feelings of inferiority regarding age, body image, and sexual appeal.
Advertisements do their best to associate the thin trend with images of women that can be perceived as active, wearing fashion forward clothing, or even just by using adjectives like healthy, happy, popular, desirable, and so on. For example, a teenage girl flipping through the pages of Glamour magazine would probably never say she wishes she looked like her middle aged, average sized mother after three kids, but more like one of the models on the cover of with the size zero waist and seemingly flawless complexion.
