There are many programs and magazines, such as America’s next top model and Seventeen magazine, that are watched and read by many teenage girls. These girls are insecure and want to be popular, handsome and well-liked. The young women are therefore easily influenced by the information they receive from the media.
An average teenage girl hides herself using tons of make-up and beautiful clothes, because she is insecure about her outer appearance. Every morning she has to get herself prepared for the day. She decides to skip her breakfast, an extra hour of sleep, or even her first lesson. She takes a shower, puts on enough make-up and dresses herself well. These girls are influenced by the beautiful and perfect women, whose pictures are showed in advertisements and on TV. A variety of programs show us public images of how you should dress, look and act. The young girls wish that they are also perfect, with the perfect dress and with the perfect make-up; so that they are attractive to boys and that they look like the girls and women on TV.
Well known make-up artists such as Rimmel London and Max Factor present their make-up with skinny girls, who have the perfect skin and the perfect look. So the question is, are they selling the product, the make-up, or are they selling the beautiful woman? The advertisements are indeed selling the product, but they are also selling the image of the ideal woman. They emphasize thinness as part of the female’s beauty. These women, who are on the covers of the magazines, serve as an example for the teenage girls. They also want to be thin, have big boobs, and a beautiful skin. These images affect the girls’ own self-image.
Not only the models have a great influence on the girls, also the articles written in the popular teenage magazines have a great influence on the young women. The articles explain the girls about the ideal appearance. Articles like “ How to look attractive to boys” and “ How to achieve the perfect look, hair and face” are extremely normal. An article on the website of Seventeen magazine gives you the perfect example of such an article, „ New Makeup Promise to Boost Your Mood!” This article is about a new make-up that promises to make you happy. It explains about the ingredients, such as Euphoryl, Murumuru Seed Butter and Theobroma Grandiflorum, whatever they are, and I am sure that girls, who read this article, think about buying this make-up, without realising if these ingredients really work!
Outer appearance has become very important throughout the years for everyone, because of the media. They emphasize the importance of the physical appearance and that is the way advertisers sell beauty products such as day and night creams and make-up. Women and teenage girls therefore strive to achieve the ideal outer appearance presented by the media. They are not satisfied with their own body and are doing anything to become beautiful.
Do you recognize these young women? I bet that almost two third of the teenage girls could be compared to the average teenage girl who has been influenced by the media. These girls are boring and not outstanding. Thus, the media should stop offering false information to young women about the perfect body. The media encourages the girls to have a negative self-image. In fact, a person who is fat and walks like a duck has probably a more beautiful personality than the other girls. Although these girls are not to blame, the media is.
By writing an opinion column, I wanted to express my opinion about how the media influences young women, because advertisements, commercials, TV programs and magazines are all influencing the teenage girls by giving them false information. An opinion column should not be written in a particular style. As a columnist you are free to write in your own style, although it still has to be worth reading. So my first objective was to write a convincing opinion column that would be easy to read for most people. Therefore I didn’t use many difficult words and tried to be convincing by giving the reader important information about the influence of the media.
My second objective was to inform the people about the influence of the media on teenage girls. I explained the average, insecure teenage girl who can be easily influenced by beautiful models printed on the cover of the popular teenage magazines. As an example I described a daily morning of an average teenage girl. ‘ Every morning she has to get herself prepared for the day” (paragraph 2). The girls strive for having the perfect face; therefore they skip their breakfast to prepare for school. To support my opinion about the influence of media I used another example. On the website of Seventeen magazine, an American magazine for teenagers, I found an article that was called: “ New Makeup Promise to Boost Your Mood!” (see stimulus material). This article is about a special make-up that would make the girls happier. Young teenage girls are easily influenced by this text and by the convincing title, because the title makes a certain promise to you.
The Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting Blush and Face Powder by Physicians Formula promises to lift your spirits. It’s the first-ever makeup line developed to stimulate happy thoughts through mood-enhancing ingredients, color therapy, aroma therapy, and texture therapy. Basically, it copies the effect of endorphins, aka “ happy molecules,” which produce a sense of well-being. (Your body releases endorphins during exercise, which is what makes you feel great afterward.) Other ingredients include Euphoryl, which is an anti-depressant packed with Omega-3, as well as Murumuru Seed Butter and Theobroma Grandiflorum Seed Butter, which make skin feel silky-smooth and appear luminous. Finally, its blend of floral scents refreshes your mood.
And how cute is this packaging?! All this happiness is contained in a heart-shaped plastic compact with a pink metallic base. It comes in a face powder (see above), blush, and bronzer, and each is a variety of overlapping different-colored hearts. So, the big question: can you buy happiness? For $11. 95-13. 95 at select drugstores, you just might come close!
