Speech 3 Essay

Submitted By treefinger
Words: 1231
Pages: 5

Advertisement and the Female Self-Image in America
Specific Purpose Statement: To invite my audience to explore the way advertisements in the United States may affect the body image of females in today’s society.
Thesis: The United States is a capitalistic society in which advertisements is used to generate profit, I would like to explore the way in which this thought process has affected the self-body image of females.
Introduction
I. [Attention Getter; Facts]- According to the website Healthy Place: America’s Mental Health Channel
a. “69% of girls in one study said that magazine models influence their idea of the perfect body shape”
b. “The average U.S. woman is 5’4” and weighs 140 pounds whereas the average U.S. model is 5’11” and weighs 117 pounds”
II. [Reveal topic and relate to audience] Whether we are media enthusiasts and are constantly being bombarded by advertisements or rarely browse magazines in the grocery checkout line, we are surrounded with advertisements that use body appeal as a main selling point and many times we unconsciously compare ourselves to those images.
III. [Establish Credibility] As a female I see advertisements that have other females in them and internalize what I see.
a. As an educated female I am able to recognize subliminal messages and critically look at how these images impact me positively or negatively.
b. I have also taken development courses that discuss advertisements effect on the female body image.
IV. [Thesis and Preview] The United States is a capitalistic society in which advertisements is used to generate profit, I would like to explore the way in which this thought process has affected self-body image of females.
a. I hope that by sharing the information I have found today with you and in return you sharing your insightful thoughts on the topic, we can explore this topic to the max of our ability in our limited time frame.
Signpost: First, we will look at advertisements used.

Body
I. Advertisements in the United States are used to promote or sell everything with monetary value; many times it seems that the main focus of the advertisement is not what it is actually supposed to be selling.
a. “The average woman sees 400 to 600 advertisements per day, and by the time she is 17 years old, she has received over 250,000 commercial messages through the media.”
b. “Studies found 50% of advertisements in teen girl magazines and 56% of television commercials aimed at female viewers used beauty as a product appeal”
c.
II. There has been many potential negative effects of advertisements on self-image arguments, they include but are not limited to the following reasons.
a. “Today's fashion models weigh 23% less than the average female and a young woman between the ages of 18-34 have a 7% chance of being as slim as a catwalk model and a 1% chance of being as thin as a supermodel.”
b. “"The media markets desire. And by reproducing ideals that are absurdly out of line with what real bodies really do look like...the media perpetuates a market for frustration and disappointment. Its customers will never disappear," writes Paul Hamburg, an assistant professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.”
c. “The majority of teenagers with eating disorders are girls (90%)”
III. Many argue that there are positive moves of advertisements on self-image, they include but are not limited to the following points.
a. ““The bootylicious-ness of the Beyoncé, the J-Lo, and the Kim Kardashian effect is contagious, and Hollywood runs things more than models nowadays. It is definitely not about make-me-look skinny, it is make me look sexy and curvy. And we’re also seeing a trend in cleavage,” explained top celebrity stylist, Phillip Bloch. “(Airbrushing) is happening in several other parts of the body too. They want toned arms, and fuller faces.””
b. Dove; Campaign for Real Beauty was launched in 2004 to expand the definition of beauty.
b.i. In 2005 Dove started to use 6 women of