Recent studies show that 3% of women develop anorexia, and 8% of women develop bulimic syndromes at some point in their life. Each year 1,000 women die from anorexia, while 5 million women suffer from some type of eating disorder. Also, the results of a current research show that 92% of young women and 44% of middle age women have dieted to lose weight at least once. Although, not all of these statistics seem to be extremely risky, they are still high enough to be concerned about. One of the main causes of eating disorders in today's society, is the effect that television and magazine ads in the media have on many women of all ages.
             The majority of all ads shown on television in the past five years, are full of flawless, skinny women selling beauty products for well-known companies. It is hard for some women to ignore these ads because the more that they watch them, the more they desire to be like those good-looking women. The most vulnerable age group of women to pick up eating disorders from television media is young teenage girls. During the teenage years, girls are at the age where they are attempting to find their own identity. When they see television ads with gorgeous women, they sometimes get the impression that the average girl should also have that wonderful look. For example, many commercial ads with stunning women are run while shows such as Dawson's Creek and Friends are playing on television. Mostly teenage girls watch these shows, therefore they are usually also watching the commercials that follow. The message being portrayed through these ads is that being skinny will make anyone just as beautiful, successful, and happy as the women shown on the screen. So, many young girls begin to eat less to try to develop the perfect body illustrated by brilliant models on television, and many of them also acquire various types of eating disorders.
             Another cause of eating disorders from the media comes from magazine ads. More ...