For my policy paper, I will be choosing to write about a global proposal argument. Today in our society the media has become overwhelming. On a daily basis we are subjected to over 3,000 ads. However, media does not discriminate against who they show their ads too. Therefore, young girls with body image problems are shown thousands of half naked, seemingly perfect bodies everyday. What kind of message can this be sending them? Women who struggle with self esteem problems are reminded on an hourly basis that they are not as skinny and “perfect” as girls in magazines. But what is the media to do? It’s really not entirely their fault. As a society, we have come to rely on the media to tell us what it beautiful.
If we were to no longer except their interpretation of beauty, they would no longer be able to sell us the image that is ruining our society. Recently Dove has come out with Campaign For Real Beauty, it is designed to promote natural beauty and promote the self esteem of young girls. The campaign urges parents to talk to their children about their body image and explain to them that the media is not real. Dove has put together multiple ad’s and commercials that are both informative and inspirational. They highlight the flaws within the media and promote the idea of natural beauty. Parents need to use the Campaign For Real Beauty to reach out to their children. We need to put a hold the media’s power now before it can take over another generation.
This position is based off of my claim that the media is destroying the self esteem and body image of young girls, as well as adults, in our society. From my bibliography I will use “The Media’s Effect” by Body Image and "The Relations among Body Image, Physical Attractiveness, and Body Mass in Adolescence” by Child Development. I will also use information from the Dove Campaign to help address my solution to the media crisis.
I am somewhat concerned that I will not be able to find enough information on how the Dove Campaign has actually helped people so far. Statistical evidence would really be helpful, however so far I have not be able to find any. I am also concerned that it is going to be hard to relay the powerful messages of each of their advertisements through my writing. I don’t know whether or not it would be wrong to go in depth about each ad and how they help my proposal, or if I should just use a broad description of them and focus more on my interpretation of how they could help change the world.
