But there are factors that combat against a normal relationship with food from the moment a child starts to communicate. The idea, that looking a certain way and being a certain shape is installed at a very young age. Young girls play with Barbie dolls that have unrealistic proportions and kids see an overload of images on television and in magazines, which imprint an image in their minds of what a body should look like. .
These fat hating attitudes that are formed at such a young age may very well lead to the development of an eating disorder a few years down the road. Media sets a certain value on being thin and what thinness means, they brainwash people into believing that thinness is success, beauty, and happiness; while images of overweight people are associated with being unattractive, lazy, and unsuccessful. Companies almost never use heavy-set people in ads, and even when they are used they are portrayed negatively in ads for companies such as Weight Watchers. In most television ads, thin and flawless models grace the screen to sell products. These ads portray woman and men who have a weight that is way below average, and unhealthy. It is impossible to attain this look, and the women and men watching these ads at home don't realise that. Ads like these are shown during shows that teenage girls watch, and this is the age when women are most vulnerable to develop an eating disorder. The more that a person is exposed to these ads, the greater their desire to be thin is. .
Women resort to eating disorders because it is the only way to achieve their goal of looking like the women in the television advertisements. Women's magazines routinely show two sides of the same story; a gooey, fattening cake recipe placed next to an advertisement for Slim Fast or diet tips from the television stars across the page from an article on bulimia. This type of advertising in magazines sends very mixed signals to women.
