To test the role media plays in how we feel about our bodies, I first examined how it played a role in my life.  I thought I would make a list of all of the magazines that I have purchased (designated as p) and to which I have subscribed (designated as s) over the last 6 months. The list is as follows: Reader’s Digest (s), Prevention (s), First-for Women (p), Fitness (p), My Weight Loss (p), Shape (p), People (p), Us (p), Cooking Light (p).  All of the Prevention magazines had in the largest font and in the boldest letters these key words associated with weight:  LOSE, THIN, DROP POUNDS, BELLY MELT, FLATTER BELLY, and SHRINK FAT. On the cover of four of the six Prevention magazines were thin female celebrity actors; the other two had celebrity (reality TV) doctors on their covers.  All of my other magazines had very similar eye-catching key words as well as the perfect celebrity female or model on the front cover. Interestingly enough, there was only one issue of Reader’s Digest that mentioned any of those key words on the cover, and that one was the only issue I read in the last six months.   

          According to Huff Post Media-the Internet Newspaper, six of the top 25 biggest magazines at the end of 2011, updated 02/07/2012 are Glamour (#5), Maxim (#8), Prevention (#10), Cosmopolitan (#11), People (#16), and Reader’s Digest (#21). Furthermore, according to the power point entitled “Jody’s Conference Address on Media (updated 2006)”, 95% of women have an ideal weight that they cannot achieve and most of those women said that the determining factor was fashion magazines and TV ads. Since three of the magazines I read are in the top 25, and since two fashion magazines are in the top 10, I am even more convinced that the media has had an influence on how I/we all view our bodies.

                I think one way health educators can counter some of these negative images and ideas generated in the media is to present power point presentations just like Jody’s.  I do, however, think that in order to reach children and young adults that they need to use social networks like Facebook and YouTube. According to Nielsenwire, dated March 6, 2012-an online report that analyzed a recent Nielsen survey about the advantages of social ads over non-social ads on Facebook found that users had a greater recall of ads if they were recommended by their friends (social ads) on Facebook rather than the traditional (non-social) ad.

I do believe that some aspects of the media have made some changes to show more diversity in body shape, size and color than was “acceptable” years ago. However, I still think, as long as there are celebrities and models and reality TV shows that it’s not really going to have a huge impact on the way most people think about women. I believe that the thin woman is still considered the ideal woman, and that a thin woman will always be treated differently than a plus-size woman.