Women in today"s society are influenced by advertisements. These influences could be from being the perfect size four in pants, to a type of fragrance, to a type of cigarette they choose to smoke. This is usually how women are portrayed in most ads. Because of this portrayal, women often become obsessed with becoming the same person they see on television, billboards, and in magazines. In some cases, this becomes a health hazard. Women are "tricked" into thinking that they are obese, not thin enough, not curvy enough, or just not as beautiful as the models in the ads.

             Having the "perfect" body is often associated with the emaciated supermodel Kate Moss. Moss first started to model on billboards and magazines about four years ago for the popular clothes designer Calvin Klein. When women look at this frail, 105-pound body, they begin to daydream about being this thin. In a study conducted in 1996, 60 percent of sixth graders admitted to dieting at one point. The author of a well known book "For Real: The Uncensored Truth About America"s Teenagers," comments that body perception is a "huge, huge, huge problem" for girls and "almost every teenage girl is unhappy with her body in one way or another and can tell you down to the minutest detail just what"s wrong with it" (Leland, 66). The author, Jane Pratt accuses the media for this. With the boom of advertising, they are sure to influence vulnerable girls who have trouble alone getting through puberty alone, without the pressures of having to "look perfect." .

             The perfect body is also a large part of teenage magazines such as Seventeen, 'Teen, Young and Modern, Jump, etc. These magazines tend to "have trouble escaping the 'thin is in" phenomenon" (Leland, 66). The majority of their profit comes from ads for clothes, make up products, and weight-loss programs.