Marketing and Self Image

I recently stumbled upon and article that talked about both the pros and the cons of the fitness revolution that is starting to spread in America. It talked about how in many ways it is good and is helping people to finally commit to getting in shape and working out. It has also spurred movements such as the "pro ana" movement. The internet is full of blogs and websites that seek to encourage people to be "healthier" but are all of these sites promoting a truly healthy lifestyle?

For those who do not know what "pro ana" is urban dictionary defines it as "Someone who thinks anorexia is a lifestyle and gets help from a web community to achieve his/her goals. Used to describe the internet anorexia movement." This is not the only movement out there that is promoting unhealthy diets and exercise plans, but it is the one that I am going to talk about here. Pro Ana sites often talk about ways that people can achieve their UGW (Ultimate Goal Weight) by doing things like b/p'ing (binge purging- eating 2,000 calories and then throwing it up), consuming ultra low amounts of calories per day, setting weekly weight loss goals of 5 lbs/per week or more. They frequently match these suggestions with photos of ultra skinny girls and "inspirational" quotes.

Coupled with photos like this one:

In writing this post I perused one pro ana blog to see the kinds of things that the author wrote and it was littered with comments such as "i b/p'ed two times this morning. really upset and disappointed in myself about that.... And it also means i probably havent lost any weight today. so screw the scale, i'm just going to hibernate in my room for today. i wish i had the strength to just not binge. but when i get stressed out, i go blind and i can't help it. i wont eat for the rest of the day today and hopefully tomorrow will be better." "I have another date tomorrow with the dude i've been talking about (a little bit excessively. apologies for that too :x) and i'm SO NERVOUS. my god.... and more than the fact that i'm nervous to actually see him, i would say what's frightening me is that fact that he's going to take me to a dinner and i have no frikkin clue where he's taking me. It could be italian, japanese, chinese, WHATEVER but i have no ideaaaa where!!! and that means i'll have to order something i'm not prepared to order and actually have to eat it to show him that i'm not nutso in the head. I'm going to die inside. literally. my god. i have not sat down for a normal meal in so long i just dont think i'll have to courage to eat something that i know NOTHING ABOUT. i will not know how much calories are in a bowl of spaghetti with whatever sauce they decide to use or some sushi rolls or ... it goes on and on. sigh... my social life down the drain thanks to this ED. whatever. life goes on. thinspo to make me feel better and keep my head up hopefully.... hope everyone else is keeping strong!!" "Finally 118. My ugw!"

In my mind none of this is healthy. In another post she talks about how glad she is that no one has discovered that she is "ana" because she watched a show about girls in recovery and could never eat as much as they are forced to (2,000 calories a day). This is a movement that is picking up steam and drawing a lot of people into it.

Then there are sites such as http://fitfluential.com/ that encourage people to be fit, not skinny. They promote eating a healthy, well balanced diet that gives your body the fuel that it needs without all of the junk. It encourages people to form a work out plan and stick to it. Some of their inspirational photos are below:

 So where does marketing fit into this? We talked in class about if marketers have a responsibility in what they market, particularly as it is related to "the self". I feel that they do. I think that for years companies, particularly in the fashion world have projected an image of what beauty and perfection is and that has been ultra skinny, and often anorexic or bulimic models. I think that marketers need to be conscious of the image that they are projecting and make sure that it is one that is healthy and beneficial to society. I'm not saying that it is marketers fault, but I do think that they have played their part in this through the images that they have presented as being perfection.