Body Image

An Introduction to Advertising and Body Image

Teacher’s Notes – 10 to 11 year olds

A media literacy resource focused on advertising.

Produced by Media Smart

Feeling comfortable in our skin is important, but it can be difficult because we just don’t look like the images of

models and celebrities that we see around us in the media every day. It may seem as though we should be able to

dismiss these images but that isn’t always the case; they affect the way that we all feel about ourselves, children,

parents, and teachers.

Of course there are many factors that influence the way a child feels but one of the major underlying causes for

increasing low self-esteem amongst young people is that they do not see their uniqueness reflected back at them

within the media environment that surrounds them. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy. My own research

has shown that 92% of girls worldwide want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance, with 12%

resorting to extreme measures to lose weight. However, problems with body image are not restricted to girls;

research by Beat has shown that 20% of those that suffer from an eating disorder are male.

Although, as teachers it is impossible and unrealistic to try and prevent young children from viewing advertising or other images within the media,

it is possible to help children to be thoughtful about what they are absorbing. Highlighting the inconsistencies between what is real and what has

been altered can be a valuable tool in helping children towards self-acceptance as they realise that the celebrities and models they are invited to

admire don’t quite look as they are portrayed.

Catching the low self-esteem that comes from having a negative body image from a young age is important. It is equally important for children to

have a chance to develop positive relationships with their bodies. In this lesson which helps to educate children about the ways images are altered

and demonstrates the role of media and advertising in influencing young people’s perceptions of body image, there is a chance for children and

teachers to challenge this limited and limiting idea of self-worth.

Dr. Susie Orbach, author and psychoanalyst

This Media Smart Body Image Lesson has been produced in partnership with the Government Equalities Office as part of its Body Confidence

Campaign. Lynne Featherstone, Minister for Equalities, leads the campaign which aims to reduce the burdens that popular culture places on an

individual’s wellbeing and self-esteem. For more information about the campaign visit http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/body-confidence

Media Smart® is a non-profit media literacy programme for 6 to 11 year-olds, focusing initially on advertising. Media Smart® develops and provides free of charge, educational materials to primary schools that teach children to think critically about advertising in the context of their daily lives. Media Smart® is supported by: Mars, Hasbro, Ferrero, Lego, McDonald’s, Mattel UK, Five, Mindshare, Turner, The Advertising Association, The British Toy and Hobby Association, The CTPA, The Internet Advertising Bureau and The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers.

This displays a series of adverts. Ask the class about the people

portrayed in the adverts:

• Who are these people/what do they do for a living?

• Why were these people chosen for the particular ads?

• What do they look like/ what characteristics do they share?

• Who are these ads trying to appeal to?

• How do the people in these images fit in with the product they

are selling?

A realistic representation of society?Show the class Slide 3:

Use the Tommy Hilfiger “Country Club” campaign advert to open up a

class discussion:

• Which brand does this advert represent? What are they selling?

• Where are they? How can you tell? Eg. champagne

• Why did they chose this location, and not just use a studio?

• If this advert is selling clothes, why are some models bare chested?

When you first look at the advert is this what you look at first?

• What impression/feeling are they trying to portray?

Hand out the country club worksheet. Divide the class into small

groups to discuss one or more of the suggested questions listed above.

Then bring their ideas back to a plenary session.

This Media Smart Body Image lesson has been developed to provide

a one hour introduction into the role of media and advertising in

influencing young people’s perceptions of body image.

Lesson PreparationPrior to the lesson, ask the class to bring in two pictures of someone

they love and someone they think is beautiful. Before the lesson, display

the pictures on a wall or board. On one side place the people they love

on the other people who they think are beautiful.

IntroductionDepending on the level of understanding of the class, you may wish to

begin the lesson by discussing the following questions.

• What is advertising?

• What is an ‘advertising campaign’?

• What is a brand?

• What is the purpose of advertising?

• What does aspirational mean? Eg. ambition/hope/

what you aspire to be like.

Aspirational attributes and characteristicsShow the class Slide 2:

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Understanding the choice of people used in advertising/marketing.

• Understand that particular models or images of people are

popularly used in the media.

• Understand that these characteristics are used because they are

considered aspirational by society, and therefore encourage

people to buy products because they associate being ‘perfect’

or beautiful with having/using the product.

Media Smart Body Image Lesson

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Understand that some campaigns can help foster self esteem.

• Consider that not all advertising is unrealistic.

• Understand that it is sufficiently unusual to use diverse images,

that many brands gain popularity from doing so.

•

Image alterationAsk the class if they can think of adverts where images have been

altered. How do they think they were changed?

Explain that adverts can be retouched in many different ways:

Show Slide 7:

When diversity is used in the mediaThe activity could be extended for older or more-able pupils to link up

with the campaigns detailed on slides 3-4 United Colors of Benetton

and Dove. Explain to pupils that diversity in the selection of models

(body shape, ethnicity, age) is rare enough that these campaigns are

considered unique and their unique selling point is about showing racial

and body type diversity.

Go through each campaign with the class and ask whether they think

using diverse body images will help sell the product.

Ask the class:

• How do these images stand out from the other images we’ve seen?

• What do you notice about the people?

• What is the feeling you get from these images?

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Understand that images are altered.

• Understand that almost all images are manipulated in some way.

• Understand that there are many different ways in which images

can be changed.

• Understand that brands want images/products to appear

perfect to encourage people to buy them.

• Understand that technology has advanced to the extent that

often images look completely unrealistic, and can create a

degree of perfection which is unattainable in reality.

Airbrushing techniques can be used to alter images to ‘smooth out’

imperfections (give examples such as clearer skin. This technique is

used to try to create a flawless image.

Show Slide 8:

Digital enhancement can be used to accentuate aspects of an image

by making a models hair shinier/muscles more defined or on objects to

make jewellery look more sparkly/ food more delicious.

Show Slide 9:

Photo manipulation alters the image by making the model appear

thinner/taller/make eyes bigger/jaw more or less square. This technique

can give a model a more aspirational body or face shape.

Explain that airbrushed images are used for many different reasons in

ads to sell products. Today, technology has advanced so far that it can

create flawless images.

Ask the class

• Are these images real?

• Why do brands want to create such a perfect representation of

the product?

Show Slide 12:

to explore the differences between the airbrushed and original

photographs of Britney Spears.

Ask the class:

• What are all the differences they can find between the image on the

left and right?

• Why would Britney prefer the image on the right to be shown in the

press, rather than the image on the left?

(NB Britney Spears distributed both the pre and post production images

to highlight the extent to which photos are manipulated)

Encourage pupils to think about why celebrities might want images

of themselves to be airbrushed. What do they do? Will looking more

attractive help their career? Why?

Show Slide 10:

See if the children can spot the airbrushing mistakes within these

photos of celebrities.

Explain that there are legal restrictions on digital retouching. It is

unlawful if retouching is ‘related to any characteristics directly relevant

to the apparent performance of the product being advertised’.

For example:

• Removing wrinkles around the eyes for an eye cream advertisement.

• Increasing the length or thickness of eyelashes in an advertisement

for mascara.

Show Slide 11:

which encourages the class to think about what techniques are used to

prepare a final image.

• Ask the class to guess how the image has been retouched before

showing them the following video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hibyAJOSW8U• Discuss the variety of ways in which the image is retouched.

• Ask the class what do they think of the statement posed at the end

of the video: is our perception of beauty influenced because of

techniques used in the advertising process?

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Understand the impact of these images on identity and self esteem.

• Realise that many of the images in the media are passive and

only represent one dimensional physical beauty.

• Understand that in society we consider human values to be

more important.

Did you know? According to the ASA nearly all adverts have been altered in some way.

Split the class into pairs and hand out the self esteem worksheet.

Ask the class to complete it, encouraging them to help each other by

suggesting things that their friends are good at. Ask the class whether

these positive talents and attributes are often shown in advertising?

Overall Discussion

This should open up a class discussion of the pupils’ ideas and

feelings about the links they’ve made, and include discussion of the

issues involved.

• Should advertisers only use models of a certain body shape, skin

colour or age?

• What affect does this have on society’s perception of beauty?

• Should image alteration be used as a technique in media images?

• Should advertisers be required to use representative models in

advertising? What might be the positive and negative impact of this?

Did you know? • Looking at magazines for just 60 minutes lowers the self

esteem of over 80% percent of girls.

• The body fat of models and actresses portrayed in the media is

at least 50% less than that of healthy women.

• Most men would ideally gain 13 kg more muscle than the

average male build.

• 6 out of 10 teenage girls think they’d ‘be happier if they

were thinner’.

The importance of personal attributes and human values over physical beautyShow Slide 13:

Turn to the wall/whiteboard with the images the children have brought

in of people they love and people who they think are beautiful.

Point to the images of the ‘loved’ people on one side of the wall.

Ask the class:

• Why do you love them? What is it about them that you love?

• What do you love about their personality/what attributes do they

have? For example: kindness, generosity, honesty, intelligence,

humour and trustworthiness.

Write all the words mentioned on the board. Point out that in these

images we can only see their one dimensional beauty, but we cannot

tell what kind of person they are.

Then turn to the images of ‘beautiful’ people and ask the class:

• Do they share these qualities?

• Do you need to be beautiful in order to be a good or

lovable person?

• What is the difference between the two groups?

Show Slide 14:

Did you know? 2,397 ads were changed or withdrawn in 2009 as a result of ASA action for being misleading.

Girlguiding UK conducted research recently which has found that 75 per cent of 11- to 21-year-olds say girls diet to look more attractive. However, this issue is more prominent within 14 to 16 year olds as this is when girls are most critical of their overall level of health.

Did you know? According to ASA, on average 97% of ads we see each day are in line with the Codes.

1. WHY BODY IMAGEBody image is how a person feels about the way he or she looks

and it is learned from the environment that surrounds us. As

children grow, body image becomes closely related to self-esteem

and research has shown that poor self-esteem can have hugely

detrimental effects on both physical and mental health. Although

most people think of body image as a girls’ issue, more and more

studies are showing that boys are affected as well. Research has

also shown that children are becoming more and more concerned

with their bodies at younger ages.

5. PRE-CLEARANCEAdverts can influence what people perceive as the ‘ideal body’.

If adverts are seen to be misleading or inappropriate advertisers

can have to pay huge fines. Therefore, most advertisers use a

service of pre-clearance to ensure that all ads transmitted are

compliant with the Advertising Standards Code.

2. WHAT FACTORS SHAPE OUR BODY IMAGE?There are many factors that shape the way we feel about ourselves.

Biological, psychological and societal factors such as peer groups

and family values can influence the way in which children feel about

themselves. Although media, including advertising, is just one factor,

research has shown that it can be a highly influencial medium.

3. WHY MEDIA SMART?Through its teaching materials Media Smart provides an

introduction into the role of the media and advertising in

influencing young people’s perceptions of body image.

Through outlining the issues as well as showing examples

of positive advertising.

4. LEGAL, DECENT, HONEST AND TRUTHFULEach year, many millions of ads are put out in the UK. Although the

UK industry is known for its ability to self-regulate, advertisers are

governed by Codes of Practice. The principles above are the basis

of the Codes of Practice that Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

uses to regulate all adverts. Here are some examples of the Codes

of Practice:

• Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by

exaggerating the capability or performance of a product. For

example cosmetic companies cannot airbrush the appearance of

lines or wrinkles around the eyes for an advert for eye cream.

• Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be

likely to do so. For examples advertisers cannot add highlights

or shine to hair for a product claiming to produce shiny hair.

• Qualifications in marketing communications may clarify but

must not contradict the claims they qualify. For example you

cannot claim that you are committed to providing a service

when the small print states that they are not legally

bound to do so.

EXTRA INFORMATION

• Advertising Standards Authority

http://www.asa.org.uk/

• Committee of Advertising Practice

http://www.cap.org.uk/

• Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice

http://www.cap.org.uk/The-Codes/BCAP-Code/BCAP-TV- Code.aspx

• All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image

http://www.ymca.co.uk/body-confidence/parliament

• GirlGuiding UK

http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/home.aspx