The 21st century culture is one that practices extremism. We exceed the limits of everything: adrenaline, food consumption, consumption in general, work, schedules, manufacturing, land usage, but most importantly we’ve drastically crossed the line when it comes to our own psychological well-being pertaining to body image and weight standards. Every day we are exposed to the fake ideal of what we should look like or what we have to be like and this publicity brings about unnecessary pressure.

As teenagers, we face an incredible amount of strain: to fit in, to get into college, to please our parents, to please our friends, to please our teachers, to please society, to meet expectations, etc. leaving little time to do things for ourselves. As a big part of the “pleasing society” and “fitting in” categories that induce our stress, body image is a breaking point for many people. We all tend to place someone on a pedestal and we aim to be like them; at my age, they are mostly celebrities who we see constantly: on tv, magazines, runway shows, red carpets, etc. But we don’t realize how controversial they are and how much this admiration adversely affects us. Sadly, their careers are some of the most psychologically harming, partially because they are surrounded by people who are continually reminding them that they have to look perfect for camera and also because celebrities are constantly put under the spotlight so everything they do is distorted and published to feed the media and tabloids. As I researched for this article, a quote that a model was told during a casting, stuck with me: if you can grab it, you can lose it[1], as she stated in her Huffington Post article. This insistence on what the industry considers perfection, ends up driving most of them off the edge but we aren’t aware that these things happen behind cameras, we only see the finished product pasted on our bedroom walls looking back at us with judging eyes since we don’t look the same.

It’s funny how most celebrities advocate health and say on interviews that they don’t even go to the gym-obviously a requirement for the job is the perfect genetic code- but then we hear on the news how our idol got admitted to a rehab facility for an eating disorder or how Victoria’s Secret Angels go on a hardcore diet a month before their fashion show-famous for lots of skin and little clothing- and starve themselves the week of.

Physically speaking, we are “manipulated” to look up to the perfect 36-24-36 woman. Advertisements on billboards and magazines just scream out to the reader: “this is who you should strive to look like!” and you can accomplish this “flawless” look only and only if you buy their product-it’s easy, breezy, beautiful, right? I have been a victim of this type of advertising distortion; in fact, I think that from a marketing perspective, it’s genius because ultimately that’s their goal: to promote the product as much as possible with an image that sticks. As consumers, we are drawn to these representations because they endorse the idea of “perfection” and they sell the concept that their product will help you achieve this desired form. These propagandas are everywhere and although their strategy sounds unlikely to work, it does. The truth is, as we look through magazines or go past ads posted on the windows of stores, we don’t necessarily want the actual product, but rather we want to look like the woman or man wearing it and we believe that we will if we buy it, so we do, and that’s that.

Location is also critical for the audience’s reception of the ad, and other ads can sometimes be used in your favor. At the Sunset Place in Miami, the Johnny Rockets’ window is set to look out straight towards a Victoria’s Secret billboard and everytime I go I feel conflicted because I’m not sure whether I should just leave without eating anything and go straight to the gym or eat more because I feel bad about my own body. I think this window was placed on purpose, and if it wasn’t, the location was a lucky advantage for the fast food restaurant because I always end up getting twice as many milkshakes as I would’ve normally. It’s a playful industry that’s all about creativity and psychology and people are easily influenced by it. The amount of control advertisements have on society is ridiculous and the message they are sending currently is that of the need to fit their idea of perfection.

The influence of these excesses we feed is clearly shown through the evolution of the bodies of those celebrities who are considered the most attractive. Marilyn Monroe was the depiction of beauty in the 1950s showing that a curvy body was the definition of the desired “perfection” of the time. But now a days, the interpretation shifted to 6 feet tall models who weigh 120 pounds and have thigh gaps, collar bones and clearly marked hip bones. All that promotes them and their figure blurs the line between health and beauty. Each day, more and more people are diagnosed with eating disorders; even 12 year olds are now worried about dieting and their physical appearance. As reported by the Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 47% of girls in 5th-12th grade said they wanted to lose weight as a result of magazine pictures’ influence on their ideal of the perfect body shape[2]. 42% of 1st - 3rd grade girls want to be thinner[2]. 81% of 10 year old girls are afraid of being fat[2]. And more and more numbers that unveil the damage these ideals and their promotion are creating.

The statistics are dramatic and scary; at those ages, I was worried about whether my tamagotchi was going to die, not about my flat stomach and bikini season.  The most impacting figure that should bolster a change in the idea of perfection is that the body type portrayed in propaganda as the optimal one is only possessed by 5% of women in the US. Part of the reason designers choose the skinniest, curve-lacking women -or girls- is because they want their clothes to stand out, they don’t the models to overshine their designs. Why are we obsessed with looking like them when in reality they are hired to blend in behind the clothes? Why is conformity with this advertised idea of perfection overshadowing the importance of health? But most of all, why do we feel the need to fit into these standards promoted by society instead of standing out for being ourselves?