OK. If we assume that pictures of ultra-thin celebrities and articles about their bodies are not good models for anyone, especially young women, then why don't we just look away? Why don't we consciously decide to ignore the messages of Us? Can we prevent ourselves and others from being affected?
It is difficult for many reasons. A professor asked me why not just stop reading if the Us articles are so harmful to our self image? The problem is not only about reading feature stories; these messages go far beyond the articles in the magazine. Think about the last time you were at the grocery store. Did you notice that many of the magazine covers had to do with how celebrities stay fit or which celebrity has gotten too thin? The message that we need to be obsessed with how our bodies look is not something you need to search for.
Us Weekly thrusts it into our daily lives.
According to Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson, authors of Age of Propaganda, there are two main reasons why mass media models are persuasive. The first is that we think the rewards received by a model for a given behavior will also come to us. That is why some people believe that their life will be as perfect as that of their favorite celebrity if they just get rid of that cellulite. The second reason is that mass media models serve as a cue to indicate that a behavior is legitimate and appropriate. This is why there is an increase in suicides among teenagers when there is more coverage of suicide on major TV networks. It is also why girls do not register eating disorders as abnormal behavior; if the stars of 90210 have eating disorders due to "stress" (see the Us cover for image), it is appropriate for eating disorders to be an element in coping with stress.
According to Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson, authors of Age of Propaganda, there are two main reasons why mass media models are persuasive. The first is that we think the rewards received by a model for a given behavior will also come to us. That is why some people believe that their life will be as perfect as that of their favorite celebrity if they just get rid of that cellulite. The second reason is that mass media models serve as a cue to indicate that a behavior is legitimate and appropriate. This is why there is an increase in suicides among teenagers when there is more coverage of suicide on major TV networks. It is also why girls do not register eating disorders as abnormal behavior; if the stars of 90210 have eating disorders due to "stress" (see the Us cover for image), it is appropriate for eating disorders to be an element in coping with stress.
So you see, even if we know certain messages are negative, we do not and cannot necessarily fight against them. While you, the reader, now know this and can hopefully block the messages from your mind, many people are unaware of the influence of mass media. That is why it is of paramount significance that Us's editor in chief Michael Steele takes covers and articles about celebrity bodies out of his magazine. He might not mean harm, but the pervasiveness of the messages may be deadly.
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