Companies have found their targets and have spent billions of dollars to get their attention. Unfortunately, advertisers realize that young females are easy targets. Most teenage girls are sensitive to peer pressure and find it difficult to resist or even to question the dominant cultural messages perpetuated and reinforced by the media (Roan, 28). Advertising is detrimental to the self-concepts of females. A systems approach towards advertising is the only solution when evaluating the already existing problems, the measures that may be ta

Many people would say that the solution to this problem begins with the individual. It is the individual's fault for having bulimia, anorexia, for smoking, drinking alcohol, or being depressed. Therefore, we as a society should examine this person to discover the problem. Advertisers want us to believe that a certain product will solve our problems. If you drink too much, and wake up with a hangover...take an Alka-Seltzer, don't worry about your drinking problem. If your teeth are rotting because you are bulimic...use a whitening gel. Don't ever look at what this all might mean or try to put it in a larger context. That would disrupt the climate of denial that is so vitally important to the sellers of addictive products. A new approach needs to be taken in order to combat the problems caused by advertising.

often shown as playful clowns in advertisements, which perpetuates the attitude that girls and women are childish and cannot be taken seriously, whereas very young men are generally portrayed as secure, powerful, and serious. Aside from the effects on attitudes, advertisements also promote activities such as drinking and smoking. Advertisers project the images that drinking certain alcoholic beverages make you classy, or pretty, or wild, or desirable. In all actuality, alcohol makes you, more often than not, the stumbling drunk at the party that everyone gets a good laugh at, but no one wants to claim. Similar to alcohol, cigarette ads promote false images as well. What they do not portray in these ads though, is the real effects of smoking. How often do you see a cigarette ad that features a woman of average weight and yellow teeth? Not often, and why? This is because companies want to sell the fantasy rather than the reality. The affects that advertising has on women are evident, as is the need for a plan to mend the situation.

By fighting against the advertising industry, we are making an effort to secure the lives of future generations. I am not saying that advertising kills us, but to a certain extent, I am stating that it does promote unwanted problems such as eating disorders and depression. From personal experience, every time a Victoria's Secret catalog is in my mailbox, just by looking at the cover I feel as though I need to diet and exercise more. No matter how many companies try to deny it, the fact remains, and I am living proof, ads often make me feel inferior. Whether it is a feeling of not being wealthy enough, thin enough, smart enough, popular enough, or athletic enough...there is always that feeling of dissatisfaction. Taking a stand against the companies that promote ads to make people

ken, and the benefits of these measures.

Some common words found in the essay are:
University Massachusetts, Centuries Christian, Drug Administration, Margaret Thatcher, Victoria's Secret, Bill Rights, Bulimia Anorexia, Hospital Boston, counter advertising, systems approach, future generations, advertising women, media literate, et al, advertisers believe, role models, methods advertising, media literacy, future generations benefit,
Approximate Word count = 1970
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)