Beauty Advertisements Psychology Essay

Beauty Advertisements Psychology Essay Beauty Advertisements Psychology Essay Example Beauty Advertisements Psychology Essay Example In the contemporary world, the mass media, specifically advertisements in magazines and newspapers, greatly influence the everyday lives of people. The most dangerous effect of the mass media is that it imposes societal beauty ideals. In most cases, beauty advertisements negatively affect young girls and women. In fact, such type of advertisement may undermine mental and physical health of a person, thereby lowering their self-esteem and developing depression. Moreover, the mass media can distort womens understanding of beauty. While many celebrities are perceived as role models by the consumers, the latter may take radical measures such as plastic surgery in order to be like their ideals. In this respect, victims of beauty advertisements, specifically teenagers, can hardly differentiate reality from fantasy. Media Imagined Beauty For Us Thus, commercials greatly manipulate people’s consciousness, forcing them to waste their money and purchase unnecessary products. Although there are some examples of beauty advertisements that do not humiliate or control women’s minds, there still exists a possibility of harm they may cause. Therefore, while advertising creates unreachable beauty standards that appeal to womens consciousness and affect their choices, this issue has to be addressed due to the harmful impact commercials make on womens lives. Today, media marketing impacts the consumers in many different ways. For example, beauty commercials cause harm to mental and physical health. Thus, advertisements may undermine persons self-esteem and, in turn, cause depression and feeling of insecurity. While advertisements usually create unrealistic images of beauty, many women tend to become anxious about their bodies and appearance. Apparently, the popular media created the trend of a thin body as an excellent example for women to follow (â€Å"Technology and media,† n.d.). Consequently, looking at advertisements in the modern media where most models are thin, young girls and women who do not fit this ideal may torture themselves by diets and even suffer from hunger in order to be like their idols. Furthermore, such commercials support formation of low self-confidence as well as low self-esteem in many women (Britton, 2012). The reason is that while contemplating magazine models or celebrities with perfect bodies, teenage girls try to emulate them. According to Grabe, Hyde, and Ward (2008), â€Å"Approximately 50% of girls and undergraduate women report being dissatisfied with their bodies† (p. 460). In this respect, women are more focused on the fact how they look than on their occupations and character. In fact, beauty commercials are strongly connected with the creation of insecurity. For example, when young girls or women are shown images of models advertising products such as clothes, shoes, cosmetics, and perfume, there is likelihood that they will be dissatisfied with their bodies as well as find themselves less attractive (Trampe, Stapel, Siero, 2011). Therefore, beauty advertisements negatively influence womens vision of themselves. At the same time, commercials may cause development of depression as well as anorexia nervosa. When women see thin bodies on the screen, they take these fictitious images as role models. In fact, a major target of such advertisements is young girls because they are inexperienced consumers. The reason is that the adolescents only start learning their values and roles, as well as developing their self-esteem. While all adolescents are likely to be influenced by the messages that advertisements send, the products provide them with what they want. Thus, a cigarette or a can of beer is a symbol of independence, while a pair of jeans or fashionable shoes represent status (Kilbourne, 1999, p. 129). When young girls see images of women, usually in unreal scopes, they perceive it as a standard, which they should reach when they will mature. According to the report provided by the American Psychological Association, girls are greatly exposed to images shown in advertisements, and thus they are more susceptible to depression, low self-evaluation, and eating disorders (Aneja, 2014, p. 25). From the early years, girls risk becoming victims of many illnesses, and one of them is anorexia (Frisby, 2004, p. 330). According to Harrison and Cantor (1997), anorexia nervosa is a dangerous disorder that threatens human life (p. 45). It is described by the refusal to consume food in order to maintain appropriate body weight. Talking about people who suffer from anorexia, they tend to be afraid of gaining weight that, in turn, may cause depression. Swinson (2011) stated that â€Å"one in four people is depressed about their body, and almost half of girls in a recent survey think the pressure to look good is the worst part of being female†. Thus, a beauty advertisement triggers the development of illnesses in young girls and women. Moreover, beauty commercials mislead women and provide them with false images of beauty, forcing them to be perfect. Britton (2012) stated that in 2007, 11.7 million of cosmetic surgical products depicted in beauty advertisements greatly raised the number of cosmetic surgeries. The obsession with perfect models bodies, skin, and hair evokes the desire of consumers to search for a quick fix of their imperfections. As a result, paying great attention to appearance, many women do cosmetic surgeries in order to look younger and more sexually attractive (Kilbourne, 1999, p. 72). More importantly, these advertisements influence the way women perceive themselves. Commercials make consumers feel that they are not attractive enough compared to the advertised ideal images. Thus, advertisements create role models for women that usually remain unreachable. Consequently, women are not confident and happy with their appearance and body because every day in beauty commercials they are told that the y do not fit the established idea of beauty. The idealized shape and size make women feel miserable and abandoned. Furthermore, older women are under pressure from beauty commercials when young and thin 20-years-old models are presented. Unfortunately, women can hardly comprehend that models in advertisements are photoshopped in order to possess stereotypical norms of beauty. Thus, women make futile efforts to follow the role model portrayed in the advertisement, ignoring the natural beauty of their years (Aneja, 2014, p. 22). While advertisements increase the interest of consumers in beauty products, they lower their self-evaluations, forcing to perform ill-considered and risky acts. In fact, beauty advertisements manipulate human consciousness, making people buy unnecessary products. Apparently, commercials affect peoples preferences, choices, as well as perceived needs. Frequency of beauty advertisements on TV and in magazines has formed peoples conception of the particular product. Moreover, advertisements force consumers to better remember and recognize brands. As a result, even if a woman does need one more lipstick or sweater, she will probably purchase it because of the images created by the advertisement in her head. In most cases, commercials do not simply show rational arguments in favor of a product, but rather attempt to affect womens emotions. Being guided by emotions, women are more likely to make unnecessary purchases. According to Beauty at Any Cost (2008), â€Å"The YWMCA reported that $7 billion is spent each year on cosmetics† (as cited in Britton, 2012). In most beauty advertisements, female bodies, sexuality, and seductive images are u sed in order to draw mens attention to the products. In addition, sexually depicted celebrities and models in advertisement are viewed as unattainable ideals for young girls. Hereby, such commercials promote the need for women to look sexy. To look more attractive, women waste their money on goods they actually do not need. Thus, impacting womens thoughts and attitudes, the advertisement achieves its main target that is to earn more money by selling a particular product. Although the above-mentioned arguments show that advertisements have a harmful impact on womens mental and physical health, there can be found counterarguments to prove their beneficial effect. For example, there is a thought that advertising helps to improve the economy. Nowadays, people meet advertisements everywhere, namely on the streets, in movies and magazines, and on the Internet. Thus, the more successful advertising industry is, the more money to the economy of the country it may bring. Moreover, advertisements make some products cheaper as well as provide specific ideas and information about them (Plumer, 2012). On the contrary, too much beauty advertisements in newspapers and magazines can be very dangerous. While advertisements promote images, values, vision of wealth and beauty as well as concepts of love and sexuality, they might be very harmful. Thus, beauty commercials show people how they should look like and what they have to wear in order to be accepted by the mode rn world. In some cases, advertisements may trigger addictions that, in turn, bring many problems to the consumers. Moreover, people pay a lot of money for advertisements as well as risk their health. At the same time, the income of advertising companies has grown during the last years (Kilbourne, n.d.). Commercials provide billions of dollars for different companies across the world (Kilbourne, n.d.). Although advertisements inform people about a particular product, the majority of them can be harmful. Watching too many advertisements, people tend to want excessive amounts of things that they do not need or even can hardly afford (Samson, 2013). Ide (2011) noted that too much beauty commercials might make people feel inadequate when they do not have something they want. While the advertisement brings economical success to the industry, it has a harmful impact on its audience. At the same time, there are advertisements which depict average size women. For example, â€Å"Dove Real Beauty† Campaign that has been conducted almost ten years ago portrays women of all races and sizes to demonstrate female beauty. The particular advertisement does not have any hint on pressure or manipulation that the other commercials usually have. In fact, there are no digitally manipulated images of extremely thin models, making women feel unattractive or fat. Thus, the aim of the campaign is to let consumers feel confident. The advertisement depicts women with the average size, natural faces, and of different age, who are satisfied with their appearance. The rebuttal of this counterargument is the fact that this campaign might be more harmful to women and girls than any regular advertisement. While advertising has taught women to compare themselves to the ideal images they recently saw, this potentially might lead them to make comparisons with the images of real women (Celebre Denton, 2014). In this regard, â€Å"Dove Real Beauty† Campaign as well as its audience remains in a risk zone. Therefore, in one way or another, the advertisement influences self-esteem of women, forcing them to compare themselves with the presented women’s body or appearance. Therefore, an advertisement creates an unreal and dreamlike world where all people are thin, beautiful, and perfect. Beauty commercials depict the way in which humans should look, causing many problems to them. The ideals imposed by beauty advertisements surround young girls and women every day. Advertisements create the entire world view, pressing women to take actions that they would never do under other circumstances. To gain a profit for their products, companies refer to advertisements that constantly affect womens self-esteem in a harmful way. Commercials make women feel that they are not attractive enough, pushing them to make plastic surgeries, torture themselves by diets, and spend a lot of money on unnecessary products. Moreover, young girl and women risk suffering from depression and stress due to their appearance. Although there are some advertisements aimed at exposing the falseness of stereotypical views on beauty, they do not forbid their consumers to follow the images they represent. Therefore, beauty advertisements have a negative impact on womens perception of themselves, body, health, and self-esteem.

The Battle of the Alamo 1836 - Texas Revolution

The Battle of the Alamo 1836 - Texas Revolution Battle of the Alamo -  Conflict Dates: The siege of the Alamo took place from February 23 to March 6, 1836, during the Texas Revolution (1835-1836). Armies Commanders: Texans Colonel William Travis Jim BowieDavy Crockett180-250 men21 guns Mexicans General Antonio Là ³pez de Santa Anna 6,000 men20 guns Background: In the wake of the Battle of Gonzales which opened the Texas Revolution, a Texan force under Stephen F. Austin encircled the Mexican garrison in the town of San Antonio de Bà ©xar. On December 11, 1835, after an eight-week siege, Austins men were able to compel General Martà ­n Perfecto de Cos to surrender. Occupying the town, the defenders were paroled with the requirement that they forfeit the majority of their supplies and weapons as well as not fight against the Constitution of 1824. The fall of Cos command eliminated the last major Mexican force in Texas. Returning to friendly territory, Cos provided his superior, General Antonio Là ³pez de Santa Anna, with information about the uprising in Texas. Santa Anna Prepares: Seeking to take a hard line with the rebelling Texans and angered by perceived American interference in Texas, Santa Anna ordered a resolution passed stating that any foreigners found fighting in the province would be treated as pirates.   As such, they would be immediately executed. While these intentions were communicated to US President Andrew Jackson, it is unlikely that many of the American volunteers in Texas were aware of the Mexican intention to forego taking prisoners. Establishing his headquarters at San Luis Potosà ­, Santa Anna began assembling an army of 6,000 with the goal of marching north and putting down the revolt in Texas. In early 1836, after adding 20 guns to his command, he began marching north through Saltillo and Coahuila. Fortifying the Alamo: To the north in San Antonio, Texan forces were occupying the Misià ³n San Antonio de Valero, also known as the Alamo. Possessing a large enclosed courtyard, the Alamo had first been occupied by Cos men during siege of the town the previous fall. Under the command of Colonel James Neill, the future of the Alamo soon proved a matter of debate for the Texan leadership. Far from the majority of the provinces settlements, San Antonio was short on both supplies and men.   As such, General Sam Houston advised that the Alamo be demolished and directed Colonel Jim Bowie to take a force of volunteers to accomplish this task. Arriving on January 19, Bowie found that work to improve the missions defenses had been successful and he was persuaded by Neill that the post could be held as well as that it was an important barrier between Mexico and the Texas settlements. During this time Major Green B. Jameson had constructed platforms along the missions walls to allow the emplacement of captured Mexican artillery and to provide firing positions for infantry. Though useful, these platforms left the upper bodies of the defenders exposed. Initially manned by about 100 volunteers, the missions garrison grew as January passed. The Alamo was again reinforced on February 3, with the arrival of 29 men under Lieutenant Colonel William Travis. A few days later, Neill, departed to deal with an illness in his family and left Travis in charge. Travis ascent to command did not sit well with Jim Bowie. A renowned frontiersman, Bowie argued with Travis over who should lead until it was agreed that the former would command the volunteers and the latter the regulars. Another notable frontiersman arrived on February 8, when Davy Crockett rode into the Alamo with 12 men. The Mexicans Arrive: As preparations moved forward, the defenders, relying on faulty intelligence, came to believe that the Mexicans would not arrive until mid-March. To the surprise of the garrison, Santa Annas army arrived outside of San Antonio on February 23. Having marched through driving snow and foul weather, Santa Anna reached the town a month sooner than the Texans anticipated. Surrounding the mission, Santa Anna sent a courier requesting the Alamos surrender. To this Travis responded by firing one of the missions cannon. Seeing that the Texans planned to resist, Santa Anna laid siege to the mission. The next day, Bowie fell ill and full command passed to Travis. Badly outnumbered, Travis sent out riders asking for reinforcements. Under Siege: Traviss calls went largely unanswered as the Texans lacked the strength to fight Santa Annas larger army. As the days passed the Mexicans slowly worked their lines closer to the Alamo, with their artillery reducing the missions walls. At 1:00 AM, on March 1, 32 men from Gonzales were able to ride through the Mexican lines to join the defenders. With the situation grim, legend states that Travis drew a line in the sand and asked all those willing to stay and fight to step over it. All except one did. The Final Assault: At dawn on March 6, Santa Annas men launched their final attack on the Alamo. Flying a red flag and playing the El Degà ¼ello bugle call, Santa Anna signaled that no quarter would be given to the defenders. Sending 1,400-1,600 men forward in four columns they overwhelmed the Alamos tiny garrison. One column, led by General Cos, broke through the missions north wall and poured into the Alamo. It is believed that Travis was killed resisting this breach. As the Mexicans entered the Alamo, brutal hand-to-hand fighting ensued until almost the entire garrison had been killed. Records indicate that seven may have survived the fighting, but were summarily executed by Santa Anna. Battle of the Alamo -  Aftermath: The Battle of the Alamo cost the Texans the entire 180-250-man garrison. Mexican casualties are disputed but were approximately 600 killed and wounded. While Travis and Bowie were killed in the fighting, Crocketts death is a subject of controversy. While some sources state that he was killed during the battle, others indicate that he was one of the seven survivors executed on Santa Annas orders. Following his victory at the Alamo, Santa Anna moved quickly to destroy Houstons small Texas Army. Outnumbered, Houston began retreating towards the US border. Moving with a flying column of 1,400 men, Santa Anna encountered the Texans at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. Charging the Mexican camp, and yelling Remember the Alamo, Houstons men routed Santa Annas troops. The next day, Santa Anna was captured effectively securing Texan independence. Selected Sources The AlamoBattle of the AlamoTexas State Library: Battle of the Alamo