Body image in ordinary people is without doubt heavily influenced by media advertising, coupled with the persona of celebrities as presented on television, movies and glossy magazines.
When was the last time you saw an overweight woman on the cover of a glossy magazine or a less than hunky handsome man advertising the latest cologne. In the advertising world, image is everything.

Generally speaking, this link between advertising and body image is usually connected to young girls endeavoring to imitate their role models, sometimes to the detriment of their health.
How often do we hear of the anorexia in teenage girls blamed on pursuing the body shape of catwalk models who look almost anorexic themselves.

It is already an established fact that people in the public eye influence people in a variety of ways, from clothing styles, hair grooming and even their lifestyles. You can often tell what brand of music a person follows just by the way they dress.

The media will naturally lean toward "beautiful people" when seeking models to advertise their products. The implication is that if the average person uses the product, they too can look like the gorgeous model or the Adonis shown on the screen or in the glossy magazine. This sets a standard impossible to reach for many who desire to look the same.

The influence advertising exerts on people isn't necessarily a bad thing. If a person who is overweight to the extent it affects their health, seeking to be more like the model in the media can have a positive effect.
The problem arises when some take it too far, when trying to be one of the "beautiful people" results in serious health problems like anorexia.

Others will resort to risky surgery to find the ideal body image, opening themselves up to long terms side effects.
Successfully altering their body image however, is not what ultimately makes a person beautiful.

Real beauty is an inner quality independent of a person's physical appearance. The image portrayed in the media as the goal to reach is actually out of reach for many, but developing inner beauty is within everyone's reach.

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