When I saw and read the article in Us Magazine this month about Jennifer Love Hewitt on losing 18 LBS in ten weeks, my first thought was “I thought weight didn’t matter”.
I know she states in the article that she didn’t lose the weight because of the rude and mean comments, so my questions to her is why go on the cover of Us Magazine and make it such a HUGE deal that you lost 18 LBS, why make it so public?
Lose the weight, be happy, and run your marathon. Don’t make such a production out of losing weight, it sends the wrong message to our teens. Every time a teen see a cover like this one on a popular magazine, it screams “if you looked like I did you need to lose weight.
80% of women feel badly about their bodies, and most women and teens have an immediate reaction to seeing someone on the cover of a magazine showing off their body. The reaction is usually I’m not good enough.
80% of women report that images of women on TV, fashion magazines, and advertising make them feel insecure about their looks.
So I don’t know if Jennifer Love Hewitt thought she was doing our youth a favor, she might want to rethink it. Any image of a women that is showing her slim body with a smiling face, and heavier body with an unhappy face is sending a message that thin is better.
The media is bombarding our youth on all levels, mostly about our bodies not being thin enough.
Talk to your teen about how this makes her feel, and let her know that she is great the way she is and that most of the images in magazines aren’t real. What’s real is the essence of who we are.
Here is a video about how the media is affecting our teenage girls and yes us too. Let me know what you think about it.
The irony in the video is that Dove’s parent company Unilever also owns Axe Body Spray. Creators of some of the more offensive ads on television. It’s like playing roulette and betting on both red and black.
I have only seen one of the ads for Axe body spray, although it is rather stupid, I don’t find it that offensive. Dove is out there with a great campaign for young girls and their body image.