The magazines flaunt it, the billboards announce it, and the television publicizes it, but no one wants to talk about it. Advertising shows the public what the world finds attractive, pushing the many to look like the few.

According to ANRED one percent of all teenage girls are anorexic. That means that one in every hundred teenage girls suffers from anorexia. Four percent of college women are bulimic. That means four out every hundred college women suffer from bulimia. Consider the mass population of the world and the numbers affected begin to hike up there in the millions. This in itself should be evidence enough that advertising has an impact on our body image.

*Women are not alone*
Ten percent of the people that suffer from anorexia and bulimia are males. This proves that men are just as susceptible to body image advertising as women are. Male modeling is even more cut-throat than female modeling because until recently, there was less work for male models than for females.

*Why*
Why does advertising have such a stronghold on us? That is the reason why marketing firms get paid bundles to put pictures of skinny models in our face all day long. No one has given any factual evidence that is beyond a theory as to why we are so driven to look like the people on advertisements and television that we would hurt ourselves.

*The current debate*
Many modeling agencies are tossing around the idea of banning models that are underweight because of the industry's impact on body perception. Why would they even consider it, if they had no impact?

In closing, we as a nation are driven to be what we idolize. It comes as no surprise that some people are willing to go to unhealthy lengths to get what they desire. We spend money on breast implants, nose jobs, liposuction and many other forms of cosmetic surgery just to look the way that models look. It's a shame, but it's the truth.

Learn more about this author, Dodger Riley.
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