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Irma Landin
Professor Corri Ditch
English 113A
2 November 2015

Medias Message to Society

Although, Gender roles in society are very different from the past years, gender norms
still control men and women today and effect the way they live their lives. We live in a society
that is obsessed with beauty; if females are plus-sized society doesnt even acknowledge them.
Society is attacked with images in magazines, movies, and on television that decree what is
attractive in a woman. In the online article Eating disorders: Body image and Advertising by
the American Mental Math Channel, it states Studies have found that by the time a woman is
seventeen, she has received more than 250,000 commercial messages about how teen girls and
woman must be unrealistically thin (healthy place). Today in society, women are often seen as
just a sex symbol. Woman are used in commercials just because of their appearance. Many will
argue that they would rather see sexy, fit women than a man because women attract the eye
more easily and its a great way to sell the product. The media sends a bad message to society
because its basically telling people that all women must look a certain way in order to be seen as
a beautiful person. The media expects women to be fit, blonde, and have blue eyes. In the Carls
Jr. Commercials, beautiful, fit women are shown because men are more interested in fit women
than those who are not fit. I argue that a persons value should be based on their talents, not by
societys expectations.
In the Medias eye, a persons value all has to do with how one looks on the outside. To
the media, it only matters whats on the outside and not whats in the inside. Gender roles also

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have to do a lot with medias message because women are considered to be submissive while
men are the dominant ones. (Lorber 30). To society that means males are considered to be
more important and females are submissive. Females are criticized by their gender performances
and their socially constructed beauty norms. The medias message to society makes women
insecure about their body image because they dont look curvy and fit like the models shown in
commercials. In societys eyes women are expected to be fit, have flawless skin, and be overall
beautiful. In the article Most girls want to be skinny by Ann. M Cheney, it states Being thin is
a mechanism that women utilize to gain a sense of belonging and acceptance in American
society. This means, women who are thin think that by being thin they will be respected more
than other people but that clearly isnt true. One does not gain respect by their appearance,
respect is earned by who you truly are on the inside. Women try to fit into society by being
someone they are not. For example, if a woman is not a size 14 or less then she wont be
acknowledged by social media or society.
In the Carls Jr. ad, they place famous female celebrities to sell their products. By using a
sexy, curvy, fit model like Kate Upton in their commercial, the company is more likely to sell
more of that product due to the sexy model they had in the commercial. In Kate Uptons Carls
Jr. Commercial, she is sexually eating the new jalapeno burger which then leads to her slowly
taking her clothes off. By the company showing a beautiful, thin woman eating a burger
seductively it could sell more, rather than a size 14 woman that doesnt fit societys beauty
norms. Carls Jr. uses sexy women in their commercials such as Kim Kardashian, Kate Upton,
Ronda Rousey, and many more because our culture values sexual appeal over other qualities.
Consumers argue that they would rather see fit females than plus size females because it
captivates them easily. Male consumers would rather see blonde, curvy, fit females in bikinis

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because that catches their attention easier. Many males dont care about what product is being
advertised because all that matters to men are the models in bikinis. Females, on the other hand
get their hopes up when seeing those commercials because they think that by buying that product
it would make them look like the models in the commercial, when in reality this doesnt happen.
In reality, it makes women insecure physically and mentally.
Many plus-size models are not taken seriously because they dont look like the fit
models in the commercials. Cheney states In American society, the fat body is seen as
possessing an incorrect attitude and is situated at the bottom of the hierarchy of valued body
ideals. Not only does this portrayal of femininity make females insecure, but it also ruins their
love life because men are looking for someone to look like Kate Upton (fit model) and not like
Ashley Graham (plus-size model). Plus size model Ashley Graham once said I felt ugly,
disgusting, and fat when I first started working in the fashion industry. (People Magazine)
Because of the medias expectations for women, it makes them feel ugly about their body. One
shouldnt be ashamed of their body size they should just embrace it. In Rethinking Womens
Biology by Ruth Hubbard, it states U.S women are obsessed with their weight to the point
where girls deliberately eat less than they need to (Hubbard, 49). This means that women, are
eating less because they need to be seen as the sexy models on television or else they wont be
taken seriously. I believe by having plus-size models is a great thing because it can teach plussize women to be happy with their body and not care what anyone has to say about it.
Not only does this effect women physically but it also effects them mentally and
emotionally. It effects them mentally because they are constantly reminded by social media that
women bigger than size 14 are not beautiful in any sort of way. Women are emotionally effected
because they are constantly disapproved by others which can then lead them to depression. (Buzz

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feed) The media encourages men that their partner should look like the Kim Kardashian and not
like Ashley Graham. I believe that if men truly liked someone for who they are on the inside,
their looks shouldnt matter at all, but because the media says they have to be a size zero with
flawless skin and blue eyes, thats why mens standards for how a womens image are high. The
media is making it harder for women day by day because they are constantly criticized on their
appearance. For example, if a plus-size female is modeling lingerie, instantly she is going to
receive negative comments about her body and how she shouldnt be doing modeling if she isnt
fit.
Some may argue that they would rather see half-naked women on commercials because
it something that everyone likes to see. I argue that it shouldnt have to be that way,
commercials should show the persons talents instead of them showing them half naked. I believe
companies do such a thing like this is because our society values sex appeals and women. To
society women are just seen as a sex symbol. Because woman are seen as sex symbols they are
not taken serious. They believe women are just needed when it comes to sex and nothing else.
This is why men dont take women seriously now a days. Most men dont value a women as how
they should be. Woman are supposed to feel loved for who they truly are and not what the media
wants them to look like. I believe because of mass media, our society devalues women in so
many ways. The media is sending a bad message to our culture which is affecting womens selfconsciousness. Womens self-consciousness is slowly decreasing in a way that can then damage
their happiness and their social lives. Women are supposed to look a certain way in order to catch
the medias eyes. The media is manipulating womens life by wanting them to look a certain way
in order to be accepted by society. I believe if a women has extra weight it shouldnt matter.

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Everyone is beautiful in their own way. The media expects everyone to be the same thats why
they want every female to be fit with flawless skin just like the models.
In Body Image an online article from Opposing Viewpoints it talks about how an active
blogger Jess Blaker, launched a mock campaign against Abercrombie & Fitch called Attractive
and Fat. This campaigns purpose was to prove that cool kids can be in all shapes and sizes. In
her blog she states The only thing youve done through your comments is reinforce the
unoriginal concept that fat women are social failures, valueless, and undesirable. (CNN). This
means since A&F only market their brand to a specific group of customers it makes over-weight
people feel like they dont belong in the world. A campaign such like this is a great example to
society that everyone is beautiful in their own way. Not only does media effect woman but also
some clothing stores and brands. For example, Victoria Secret only sells up to a specific size
which makes women feel bad about their size because they can never find a size to fit their body.
Although, we live in a society where media expects everyone to look the same in order to fit in,
media doesnt recognize that by addressing this type of things it only make others insecure and
hopeless. I argue that its ok for some females to be bigger than others because everyone has
their own type of beauty.
Gender norms have changed over time and will still continue to change. Because of
social constructed gender norms, both men and woman are expected to act a certain way. In our
society today woman are always being judged upon how they do thing leading up to their
socially constructed beauty norms. The media sets high standard on womens image. They are
expected to look fit, sexy, and overall beautiful. The mass media has so many standards but
doesnt realize that their message is affecting woman in so many ways. Its making woman
insecure about their body appearance. The media never shows their models showing their true

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talents they just show them half-naked which seems to catch the publics eye more quickly.
Because our culture values sex appeal, most companies show woman in bikinis to attract their
consumers eyes.

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Works Cited
"Body Image." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2015. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.
Cheney, Ann, Most girls want to be skinny, Web of Science, 30 Sept. 2011. Web. 25 Oct. 2015
Hubbard, Ruth, Rethinking Womens Biology Eds. Racheal Groner and John F OHara.
Composing Gender: A BedFord Spotlight Reader. Boston:BedFord/St.Martins, 2014. 4652.Print
Lorber, Judith, Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender Eds. Racheal Groner and
John F OHara. Composing Gender: A BedFord Spotlight Reader. Boston:
BedFord/St.Martins, 2014. 19-30. Print