Media Influences

“Twenty years ago, the average model weighed 8 percent less than the average woman—but today’s models weigh 23 percent less. Advertisers believe that thin models sell products. When the Australian magazine New Woman recently included a picture of a heavy-set model on its cover, it received a truckload of letters from grateful readers praising the move. But its advertisers complained and the magazine returned to featuring bone-thin models. Advertising Age International concluded that the incident "made clear the influence wielded by advertisers who remain convinced that only thin models spur the sales of beauty products."

By the time the average teen reaches high school, she has spent an average of three years of her waking life watching television. (JAMA study, 2003)

Adolescents who watch more than one hour of television a day are more likely to commit aggressive and/or violent acts as adults. (17-year study in the journal, Science)

With so much television programming and advertising geared toward the teen market, it isn't surprising that in a recent interview for the Today Show, a plastic surgeon stated that in 1994 approximately 30 teens a day were getting some form of plastic surgery. In 2002, the number skyrocketed to 200 a day. (The Today Show, NBC Television)