Pictures Do Lie!!!!!!!!!!!

In my last two blogs entries, I discussed the effects of media on women and young girl’s body image. How the media portrays what’s right and wrong. This could potentially led to certain individuals wanting to fix there imperfections with plastic surgery. The media portrays beauty in everything we come across in our daily lives, such as magazines, television, advertisement, and billboards. Some of the comments on my last entry opened up my eyes to different types of discrimination in the media such as age and how shows like American Next Top Model can affect how people view themselves also. On American Next Top Model, Tyra Banks states that she is for all type of women but the fashion industry wants certain body types. So why are you adding onto what you know is wrong? The media does effect body image but its not just with body types but also the color of your skin. In Latin American and African American culture, girls with lighter skin are considered prettier, more exotic, and higher privilege. On the other hand, in South Asia lighter skin is considered more attractive. I always wondered why skin color was connected to beauty or why it still is an issue to this day.

When I look at different cultures I see why in the past color was portrayed the way it is. In the African American culture, during slavery time the light skin slaves had special privileges than those of a darker skin. They were considered cooperative because of their skin color. Okay, that was in the past so why lighter skin is still considered better is because of the media. In my first entry, I showed you airbrushed pictures of different celebrities and how their bodies were dramatically changed. One of the changes was skin color, making the pictures lighter but not to light were the public eye knows the change. Recently L’Oréal published a picture of Beyonce Knowles in Elle magazine. Some say that L’Oreal lightened Beyonce’s picture to make the advertisement be more appealing. L’Oreal denied the allegations to E! News “We highly value our relationship with Ms. Knowles. It is categorically untrue that L'Oréal Paris altered Ms. Knowles's features or skin-tone in the campaign for Feria's hair color.” Even though they denied the allegations, the public sees different. What do you think?




Fantasia Burrino, a singer that won American Idol, is starting to speak up about the negative press surrounding her. She says that her negative press is because of her skin color. In an interview with Vibe magazine “Fantasia shares that she feels the media response has much to do with her skin tone, full lips, full nose, and short hair.” Many magazines have compared the media’s response to Fantasia and how they reacted to Alicia Keys scandal. The media acted as if it never happened and she went on with her career. Fantasia fells as if her career has been dramatically affected by what the media portrayed her as. Does the color of your skin really play a role in how the media portrays you?

The media plays a big role in body images and it causes different things to happen. Whether it’s causing an eating disorder, or putting the idea of plastic surgery into someone’s head. The average US resident is exposed to approximately 5,000 advertising messages a day. The main source of information about women’s health issues comes from the media. Why can’t the media portray every body type as beautiful? When is the media going to realize the affect it has on body image and decides to change? When are the people going to stand up to the media and command change?