Being a 13 year old girl, I know a lot about how much body image effects people lives, so I decided to study how much the media in popular teen stores contributes to body issues and teens overall confidence in who they are and how they look. I went into stores like Express, Hollister, and Forever 21 and studied what the models in ads looked like, including their race, body type, hair color and texture, and other things that teens worry about appearance-wise. I hope to help teens realize that a lot of their body image issues are caused by the media trying to get you to buy their merchandise. I wanted to do so by showing patterns of how the models look in the popular teen stores and compare them to image concerns that other teenagers have.
Weight issues are one of the biggest things our society is dealing with right now. The urge to be "perfect" a.k.a, thin, tall, clear skin etc. is being reinforced everyday in the media, especially for teens. Most of the popular teen stores only carry sizes 00-8 or in some cases, like in Express for example, they only carry large sizes for about half
their merchandise. So imagine what a plus-sized teenager must feel like (maybe not even plus sized just not a size 0). Imagine knowing that you're not going to fit into any of the clothes that your friends or your favorite beautiful celebrities wear, but instead having to go to a plus-sized store where the walls are plain and there are no muscly guys standing at the entrance waiting for you, only loose fitting clothes (compared to Hollister) that claim to make you look thin. And these body issues are not something the teens make up in their head; the popular stores are basically enforcing the idea that being thin is better by selling small things, like this T-shirt that was sold at Urban Outfitters, or not showing any pictures of plus/normal sized women anywhere in the store (including the plus-sized section). Overall, teens think that if they are not thin they aren't beautiful and that's not true it's really just the media trying to give off an image that will make you want to buy their merchandise.
Race/Ethnicity in the media is also another big thing that effects how teens feel about themselves. In stores like Hollister or Gilly Hicks, where they try to make you feel that you're elite if you shop there, you all most never see a model that is a person of color (or even a model with brown hair or brown eyes). It is almost always the same, blonde hair, blue eyes ,which gives off the idea that white is better. And even though teen stores are getting better at putting African American models in their ads, other Ethnicities like Asian, Native American, and Latino are barley represented. In my whole time at the mall I didn't see any ad campaigns that had one or more models of these ethnicities in any of the stores I went into.
Even if they don't know it, the media is sending teens a message in everything they do, from simple things like using only models with blue eyes, or all the models being tall. These patterns can cause great insecurities for teens. Being a teenager is hard enough as it is, but having messages all around you telling you that you won't be perfect until you buy this product doesn't help. And the truth is, you will never end up looking like that model even if you do buy their merchandise because everyone looks different and has a different perspective on beauty. After my research, I have concluded that the media isn't purposely trying to make you feel bad about yourself, they are just trying to sell their products. So if they think using only white models will help their sales, then they will do it! Tactics like these leads teens to feeling insecure about themselves. When you're a teenager your brain is re-wiring for adulthood so you're sensitive enough already. 73% of seventeen year olds are unhappy with how they look, but next time you're standing in front of the mirror looking at one of your "flaws", think about the media you have been exposed to and what messages it was giving you. Because even though it may not seem like it, every form of media is trying to tell you some message, and you need to make sure that these messages don't get in the way of your values.
My Sources
Stores:
Hollister at the Mall of America [MOA]
Abercrombie and Fitch at MOA
Forever21at MOA
WetSeal at MOA
Pink at MOA
Aeropostale at MOA
Pacsun at MOA
Express at MOA
Websites:
It is clear from this project that you analyzed the stores and thought about what you were finding. Including more of your research would have supported your arguments and made your conclusions more clear to your audience. You found out some really interesting things about the stores (and sizes)--I wanted to know more about your research!
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