Responsible Advertising to Teen Girls in the Media
Help get Congress to implement stricter guidelines for magazines, television and the internet and how they advertise to teen girls and young women. They need to show more realistic advertisements and messages when it comes to beauty and self-esteem. Too many teen girls and young women do not realize that what they are seeing on these forms of the media represents an unrealistic standard of beauty. These women in these advertisements are not real. They have been altered to look perfect. They see these women and want to be like them, look like them, and become them. This is why so many of them begin dieting at such young ages and begin to suffer from anorexia and bulimia. They begin to have a poor self-esteem and low self-confidence in themselves. There are other ways to help teen girls and young women become confident in themselves and how they look and lose weight safely, if they really need to lose weight. They should not have to turn to such drastic measures that could in the end cost them their own lives!
Everyday teen girls and young women are exposed to several media advertisements. Many of these advertisements show unrealistic standards of beauty with the models used in these media advertisements are thin, look unhealthy, and have a flawless appearance. The teen girls and young women who are viewing these advertisements see these women as perfect and want to be like them, look like them, and become them. As a result of these advertisements, these young girls are losing their self-esteem and self-confidence in themselves. Due to this these girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way including their looks, performance in school, and relationships with family and friends. Because of this they are likely to engage in negative activities such as disordered eating, cutting, bullying, smoking, and drinking when feeling bad about themselves.
Congress can do something to support this cause. You can implement stricter guidelines for the media when it comes to advertising messages concerning beauty and self-esteem. As a legislator, it is your duty to protect our children from harm and these advertisements are giving them the wrong impression about whom those women are and who they should be when they are viewing these advertisements. It is important to make changes now before it is too late. Teen girls and young women should not have to turn to such drastic measures to see themselves as beautiful that could in the end cost them their own lives.
Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
