Let’s leave food out of this for a second…
November 24, 2009 at 1:54 AM 4 comments
As important as I think it is to talk about the implications of child-centered advertising on eating behaviour, I also want to discuss the implications it can have on self esteem and body image. Children’s Mental Health Ontario suggests that 1 in every 100 to 200 adolescent girls in Ontario suffers from anorexia nervosa. Similarly, 1 to 3 in every 100 suffers from bulimia [1]. These prevalences have sadly been on the rise over the past few decades. What’s worse? In today’s society, more children under the age of 12 years have been diagnosed with showing signs of these life-altering eating disorders. My belief is that the media plays a large role in this.
Take into consideration the Pepsi commercials with Britney Spears. Now here’s what I call a double whammy. Not only do these commercials promote an unhealthy drink, but they also do so in a rather provocative manner. In these commercials Britney is wearing little clothing, dancing (often inappropriately for young viewers), and looking thin and dolled-up. And there are a lot more commercials like this. For decades the media has been influencing our youth to think that they need to be thin, pretty, and wearing designer clothes to fit in with today’s society. As a consequence, “children at a very young age are already striving to attain society’s unattainable ‘ideal’ body image [2].”
I’ve always wondered why we rarely see average-sized women as models, in commercial ads, etc. If I can’t come to terms with this, how is a child to? Moreover, have you ever seen a doll or a kids toy that wasn’t thin? Think about all of the Barbie dolls – they are all thin, extremely thin. What kind of message is this sending? What is so wrong with having a Barbie doll who is a little overweight? I understand that overweight and obesity rates are too high, but I don’t think having an average-sized doll would make this problem any worse. If anything, I think it might be a nice change of pace, and hopefully even give some sense of belonging to a child who is struggling with their weight.
As I mentioned in a reply to one of my readers, Dove has done an excellent job of promoting that beauty is more than appearance. Their Campaign for Real Beauty [3] has received a lot of attention and good reviews. I also think it has brought light to the image the media can hold over children of what ‘perfection’ is.
I think if more companies and corporations would follow Dove’s lead, less children would feel so negatively about themselves. Any opinions about this?
Works Cited
[1] Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Children’s Mental Health Ontario. Accessed online at http://www.kidsmentalhealth.ca/get_help/eating.php
[2] Thompson, Colleen. (2009). Anorexia and Bulimia help. Eating Disorders Mirror Mirror. Accessed online at http://www.mirror-mirror.org/child.htm
[3] Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. Accessed online at http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/
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The Effects of Marketing on Children 
1.
Brianna | November 24, 2009 at 6:35 AM
You bring up a great point. The statistics you listed regarding the number of adolescent girls are startling, as are the young ages these disorders can begin at. I completely agree that the media is largely responsible for the vast number affected by eating disorders/low self esteem. I think that to deal with the issue it is much more complicated than teaching children about how people are manipulated into setting unrealistic body standards. The American Psychological Association suggests that about 8% of women suffer from either bulimia or anorexia nervosa. That is a huge number, especially since it doesn’t include women with disordered eating behaviours but who dont fall into a specific disease category. I think the problem has to be treated at a national level because how effective can we be at telling children how to combat the messages in the media if they are affecting so many of us as well? I looked on the National Eating Disorder Information Centre website and it has some astounding statistics. Here is the link, the section labelled “Dieting and the Fear of fat- children and adolescents” shows how great an effect the media can have on children.
http://www.nedic.ca/knowthefacts/statistics.shtml
It’s disgusting that the media convinces children that they need to obtain a ‘perfect’ body, but then spends billions of dollars to market products to them that do the opposite of helping them achieve this.
2.
marissave | November 24, 2009 at 4:55 PM
Thanks again for blogging, Brianna. You are right, the website you provided shows some unbelievable statistics! It’s really a shame how much the media can influence food consumption. Even though I know how the media works to change our opinions and make us desire foods, I find I sometimes still crave the foods I see on television. If I still cater to these commercials, then it will definitely be hard for children to curve their desires too. This is why education and public awareness about how the media targets us is so important!
3.
Kelly Longworth | November 25, 2009 at 4:21 AM
Hey Marissa,
Interesting post, I was just thinking about what you said about how you never see overweight, or even normal sized dolls for children. They are almost always extremely thin and this is sending a bad message to children. It reminded me of an interesting fact I heard years ago. It was that if barbie was a real person with the same body proportions, she wouldn’t even be able to stand up straight! Obviously not an ideal body size or shape!
-Kelly
4.
marissave | November 25, 2009 at 6:50 PM
I do remember hearing the same fact some time ago! Thanks for sharing that with us, Kelly.