Women's Attitudes Towards the Advertised Ideal of Slenderness

The book The Beauty Myth: How images of beauty are used against women (Wolf, 1991) examines society's relationship with the fragile female self-image and social role (values). It places great responsibility on the shoulders of advertisers and the fashion industry, which contribute to the political-economic activity of the nation. The verification of opinions amongst the female population, in relation to the advertised media image of slenderness, confirms the described phenomenon through the demonstrated majority belief that media advertising of slenderness products negatively affects their self-image and shapes broader social criteria of beauty, which according to 65% of respondents is unacceptable.

Problem

The book The Beauty Myth: How images of beauty are used against women (Wolf, 1991) examines society's relationship with the fragile female self-image and social role (values). It places great responsibility on the shoulders of advertisers and the fashion industry, which contribute to the political-economic activity of the nation. We cannot ethically evaluate survival systems because they unite, at the level of human capacity, the most primary, natural human need – greed or the lust for life.

Advertising is a profession as old as humanity itself. Every individual attempts to position themselves as favourably as possible within society. To do this, they must advertise themselves.

The profession of advertiser enables an individual to be advertised by someone who is familiar with the psychology of the masses. Their task is to affirm the client's ego, which is expressed, within the framework of mass interpretation, through the maintenance and co-creation of human needs and complexes (if the chair had not been invented, we would still be sitting on the floor without concern). Advertising is one of the few professions that responsibly acknowledges manipulation, which it consciously employs.

In most professions and amongst most individuals, such manipulations remain hidden. The advertiser is an artist in their own profession, who observes their own canvases from multiple angles. Their art is based on the ability to create multi-layered analytical stories, messages and/or images.

If we wish to maintain value systems, it is necessary to create worlds that do not exclude one another (good-bad). The popular tendency is to interpret reality within the framework of mass absolutist, idealised worlds in which human psycho-physical pain and self-reflection are suppressed. A phenomenon of modern society has become the irresponsible shifting of negative social phenomena onto the shoulders of creators and media carriers.

Solution and Method

The verification of opinions amongst the female population, in relation to the advertised media image of slenderness, confirms the described phenomenon through the demonstrated majority belief that media advertising of slenderness products negatively affects their self-image and shapes broader social criteria of beauty, which according to 65% of respondents is unacceptable. The diploma thesis consists of two parts. In the first, theoretical part of the thesis, she consolidated the knowledge and findings of selected authors of professional works that address women's attitudes towards the advertised ideal of slenderness.

In the second, empirical part of the thesis, she investigated the connection between the advertised slender female body, female consumerism and the self-image of the modern woman. With the help of a survey, she investigated women's attitudes in relation to the institution of images that the media advertise. Due to the breadth of the subject matter, she limited herself to the advertised image of female slenderness.