Our Perception of Beauty is Distorted

Beauty is a concept that is mistaken. It has been mistaken on magazine covers, billboards, bus shelters and just about anywhere else we find the fashion industry’s perception of “models”. Young girls have this theory that these plastic faces are what some women wake up looking like every morning. These girls have no idea that these young women are not the same people they see in the media. It is almost as if a picture of a model is not that model as a person, but merely an image that was in a way “inspired” by that model and modified. Dove released this short clip as part of their Campaign for Real Beauty to show young women how "distorted" society's perception of beauty really is. By being able to visually show how an average looking woman can be transformed into a younger, more attractive looking model, girls everywhere might alter their views on models in magazines and on television. Videos like this one are what young girls should focus their perceptions of beauty on. With the help of make-up, camera tricks, airbrushing, and other photo-retouching techniques, spectators can be fooled into thinking that the almost robotic perfection of these models is actually real. Girls need to see that it is not worth striving for to look like the women on the covers of the magazines because no one actually looks it in reality.

Ralph Lauren Takes Skinny to a New Level

It's bad enough how anorexia is promoted in the fashion industry today, but how about being invisible? Looking at this Ralph Lauren advertisement makes you wonder, if this young woman turns to the side, will we still be able to see her? Ralph Lauren has been known for using impossibly skinny models in his clothing ads and then denying the use of Photoshop and other retouching tools to make these models look so thin. Being a famous designer, millions of young women are going to see this ad in magazines, on billboards, on bus stops and pretty much everywhere else they turn. One look at this ad could leave a person striving to look the way this model does, even when this is not the model's true body. Ads like this are a major reason for eating disorders in society today. Girls see beautiful models like the one presented in the Ralph Lauren advertisement, take one look at their bodies, and think that this is what they need to look like. This is not the first time Ralph Lauren has pulled something like this out of his pocket either. He knows what he is facing and what impact he will have on millions of young women, yet continues to publish ads like this one.