Does Advertising Affect Eating Disorders?
A recent Hubpages blog raised the question: Does advertising affect eating disorders?
In my opinion, much of current advertising promotes both tiny size fashion in clothes and huge portion size in food. It’s an impossible combination many people strive to integrate.
Cashing in on Symptoms of Illness
A person vulnerable to eating disorders will strive to come up with a solution that allows her (or him!) to fit into tiny clothes and eat huge portions of food at the same time. This person can become terribly ensnared by an eating disorder.
But something worse exists. Advertising that pushes people to be small and eat large supports eating disorder thinking and behavior. The continual onslaught of emaciation, body surgery, and diet publicity actually convinces many people that the lifestyle being portrayed is normal.
Such media portrayal validates starvation, cutting behaviors and binge and purge cycles. Plus, this portrayal can delay recovery work. If a person with an eating disorder is subjected to a barrage of images and messages celebrating the symptoms of her illness, she may believe she is living well and wisely and will not seek treatment.
This is a cultural phenomenon that is tragic. It contributes to people taking pride in their illness, proselytizing eating disorders, destroying their health, ruining relationships and, in far too many cases, shortening their lives.
I often ask myself, what would be the economic repercussions in this country if all eating disorders vanished? If everyone with an eating disorder suddenly became healthy what would happen to dollars?
For example, diet books, diet programs, unhealthy life styles, size zero clothes, various magazines, commercials, diet foods, junk foods, binge foods, fast foods and all their supportive staff and structure (models, photographers, accountants, designers, advertisers) would be out of business. I think the stock market would plunge and the economy would reel.
Mighty forces are in place that cater to eating disorders. You need strength, courage, support and deep personal commitment to rise through these forces to honor your recovery work.
What kind of influence does advertising and media portrayal of fashion, beauty and diet have on you? I welcome your thoughts and feelings.
Joanna Poppink, MFT, psychotherapist eating disorder specialist, Los Angeles, CA bulimia, anorexia, compulsive overeating recovery, www.poppink.com
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