Media Influence

Reflective Writing – Media Influence

It has been long debated where true beauty really does come from; you would find the majority of people to say that a beautiful person if defined by their personality. However, if you were to go by the images and ideas we are faced with daily in the media, you would perhaps see a different side to this argument. It has been well publicised that teenagers these days are influenced overly by the media, they apparently aspire to have that “perfect image” and will go to great lengths to try and achieve it. However adults, who are not experiencing or thinking in the same way as young people today, carry out the majority of these “studies,” and it is them who then tell us all how teenagers feel about these subjects. Why do they feel they know how young minds work nowadays? They may well say that they were young once too, but I’d say that media was not as strong then as it is these days.

Can media genuinely influence people or do they just suffer from their own lack of self-confidence and self-esteem? In my opinion I have a good enough head on me to see that I am the way I am, and nothing is going to change that. I have the odd day like everyone else, when I try to conform to the image magazines and television are giving off, because that’s what’s seen to be “beautiful.” But the next again day, I’m back to my normal self and have not changed in any way.

“Beauty is in the eye ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” If this can be believed, then it is made easier, since we now have so many different images of “beauty” thrown at us daily. However, if media stick to the one stereotypical image, then it makes this much harder to accept.

If someone is confident in their self, and happy with whom they are, then no one is going to influence them enough to change that. Media influence can only be blamed for so much, and I think it is stupid to say that young girls today are suffering from the media. The image the media portray may not be healthy for people to believe and follow, but by all means, they are not getting brainwashed in to following it. Be sure of yourself and how you want to be, and no one can force you to conform and become that “beautiful girl.”

There are many companies trying to go against this look of perfection, and appeal to more and more women. Take Dove for example, their adverts are now focusing on the “average” woman. They are giving women a fresh look on what it is to be beautiful, but isn’t this still a ploy to encourage more people to buy their product while perhaps giving them the smallest confidence-boost? Fair enough if this was their main objective; to increase the confidence of British women, but this isn’t their priority.

Magazines such as “Bliss” who claim to be helping girls feel good about themselves are running articles called “How Pretty Are You?” Although they are putting this across in a positive way, and saying that “being attractive isn’t just about having a certain eye or hair colour” isn’t this still drawing attention to the fact that the ideal look is supposedly “blue eyes, an oval shaped face, brown shoulder-length wavy hair, and olive skin”?

I still read these magazines, and yet I’m not seen to be trying a new diet every month and clearing the shelves at Boots for all the products, which claim to give me a flawless, glowing complexion and long, silky, shiny hair. Yes, I am affected by advertising, if I see a product on the TV which I’m interested in, then yes I might just go and buy it, but the media are not influencing my whole lifestyle and making me want to revamp my whole self. Neither is it making me anorexic, depressed or bulimic. This happens to a small majority of girls on the large scale, and it cannot solely be blamed on media.

I’d say I am far more influenced by people around me, such as friends, relatives and peers than by any magazine or television programme or advert. By looking at these people around me, at least I know they are real people, who have not been airbrushed to look like a model.

There has been many a day when I have looked in the mirror and hated the way I’ve looked, who hasn’t? But I can safely say that the media does not influence me to the extent that is portrayed these days. Yes, I read the occasional magazine on how to “Clear Your Skin In 5 Days!” and “Get That Perfect Look For The Winter!” but I am not obsessed with trying to look like these celebrities who have been airbrushed to perfection. Any sensible person my age, can see that these are non-realistic goals, and that these people have their off days just as we do.