Health is something that everyone needs to be concerned about. Therefor, I believe that is a topic worthy of attention. The media has the responsibility to report on health news and it fulfills that responsibility, just not in the right way. America has seen a dramatic decline in health over the past decades, especially among the youth. With this decline, there has been an incline in the amount of money that junk food, fast food restaurants and beverage companies have been spending on advertising. Along with this trend is the increase in the advertisement of unrealistic body images. Models are getting thiner and celebrities are being idolized for their thigh gaps. This is creating a circulation of media topics that contradict each other and promote unhealthy and unrealistic lifestyles.
All over the internet, most particularly on social media sites used predominately by girls, one can find “thinspo”(thin-inspiration) pictures, memes and eating choices that are supposed to give young girls inspiration to lose weight. However, these pictures and messages are incredibly harmful and unrealistic for the mind. Also, they normally promote getting skinny, not healthy. This leads to unhealthy expectations and to young people resorting to tactics and disorders such as anorexia, binge eating, bulimia, and more.
As an attempt to bring awareness to the fact that the media is promoting unhealthy eating habits and body images, I have started a REALhealth blog. The goal of this blog is to promote a REAL healthy lifestyle with realistic images, messages and life tips. Hopefully the trend of REALhealth blogs will catch on and become just as popular as “thinspo” and that support for healthy advertising will become a more prominent cause. The eventual goal would be for greater limitation regarding advertising unhealthy eating habits, especially among channels and sites that are predominately used by youth and for there to be a movement to make depicted body images more realistic.
Here is the link to my blog:
http://realhealthblog.tumblr.com
The media has had a long streak of providing the public mixed messages. On one spectrum the public is encouraged to eat fast foods while on the other the public is expected to maintain a thin figure. Considering this public health does not seem the primary concern, product sales have priority. If America is to change public health governmental action or industrial cooperation may be necessary to promote more realistic and healthy ideals. Since this scenario is likely unachievable, an alternative is to promote school education programs that teach kids how to identify misconceptions within the media. Starting at a young age would be essential since many girls start worrying about body image starting in early teenage years.
The social media project is great because as Americans, we are viewed as the latest country in the world. I believe that the target of this campaign should also target all food providers across the nation and pass a food quality standard that is strict and required throughout all food distributers. The quality of food is more important than the choices we make, and if the quality of food is better then by default, the choices of the people will be better.
I also agree that you should target food providers. Definitely the cost of food is a big part as to why Americans buy fast food. I mean, you can get two tacos for $1 at the Jack in the Box! This means that you can get full with maybe $3 to $4. It is sad that the healthier food is more expensive (I mean compare the prices of water and sodas).