Flip through any women’s magazine, such as Cosmopolitan, and there’s bound to be one thing you notice, no matter what — the number of cosmetic ads. For many women these advertisements sell poor body image and low self-esteem along with lipstick, mascara and foundation.

These ads suggest that girls need to change their appearance in order to be beautiful. The media paint a clear picture of what they think beauty is — skinny, young, beautiful, Caucasian, blonde and blue-eyed — and it’s painfully obvious that most of us don’t fit that description. Racial minorities are extremely underrepresented in the media and advertisements because they are unable to fit some of this description. Not to mention only about 5 percent of the entire population naturally has the body type needed to become a model.

Many fail to realize that even the women in these advertisements aren’t perfect by our society’s standards. First, they have to be dyed, waxed, plucked, exfoliated and tanned before their images can even be taken. Then they have to be air-brushed and digitally enhanced prior to being printed. The Dove Evolution video, available on YouTube, shows the steps of what a model must undergo to be ready for the public.

Even this isn’t always good enough. Sometimes the women in ads are not even one woman. The media may use different parts from different women to create a “perfect” woman. There is no such thing as a perfect woman.  

Remember that the images we see in media advertisements are not real beauty. Not only are the models already part of the 5 percent, they also have to be enhanced to fit our society’s impossible ideals. So next time you look at that cosmetic ad, remember what that model had to go through to be “beautiful.”

Beth Kenkel

Senior

Genetics-Liberal Arts and Sciences

Holly Janssen

Freshman

Open option-Liberal Arts and Sciences

Caitlin Savage

Freshman

Animal ecology

Lacey Hauser

Freshman

Animal science