Persuasive Essay On Women In Weight-Loss Advertising

I have decided to focus my Problem Solver Project on a topic that has always been in the headlines; weight loss. I knew that I wanted to focus on female/male advertisements and how each gender is targeted differently, and what the “expectations” of each gender are. I decided to google “losing weight Ads” and of course the first 7 weight loss advertisements are all directed at women. It makes me wonder Why are women the ones that are automatically targeted for weight loss ads? Why are there no ads that have men on their cover? The answer is simple, we live in a world where women are expected to be fit and in tip top shape. While men receive more wiggle room. Not only are these ads aiming at women but they are also unrealistic and based on the form of a “magic pill”.

These are often unhealthy and unrealistic ways of losing weight. Now while their main target audience of these ads are women, there are little girls all around the States who are also seeing these ads. From a young mind, they start thinking that being skinny is what is expected from today’s society. “How Adolescent Girls Interpret Weight- Loss”, an article published in October of 2006, Hobbs, Broder, Pope, and Rowe identify what affects weight loss advertising has on adolescent girls. They found that even though these ads are meant for people over the age of 18, there was still a “negative influence on youth health behaviors by cultivating attitudes about dieting, nutrition, fitness, and health that are inaccurate, disported or incomplete” (pg.5). This article also agreed with my view point that the common target of weightless ads are women and that they indirectly also have a negative effect on adolescent