#12- Sensa Weight Loss- Incredibly Skinny

June 2, 2013

This weight loss ad was actually part of an animation that showed a woman using Sensa and becoming an incredibly skinny version of herself.   As society stresses the importance of being skinny, weight loss ads often provide a simple solution to our desires to be thin.  They show a heavier woman who uses the weight loss program, and then all of a sudden, she becomes really skinny.  Of course. this ad exaggerates the end product, because the cartoon woman has unrealistic proportions.  Her waist, neck, and arms are incredibly skinny and not proportionate to her head.  This is how the ideal woman is always portrayed as a cartoon.  She has curves yet a tiny waist.  We are exposed to this image as young children, since cartoons (especially Disney cartoons) portray women in one way.  If you look at Cinderella, Jasmine, Bell, or any other classic Disney character, they all have this body type in common.  

If we are exposed to this image of the "perfect body" from an early start, we are bound to have this ingrained in our minds.  Cartoons are constantly using this stereotypical thin woman, and as we grow up, the media throws images at us of skinny women who supposedly have the ideal body.  As we get older, the weight loss ads will begin to have more of an effect on us because we want an easy way to lose that extra weight and look "skinny" again.  Why do we need to look skinny?  Because the media says so.  Therefore, society says so.  

While I admit that I am affected by media,  I am not obsessed with being perfectly skinny and looking like a model who is a size zero.  There are too many different body types to strive for one image of "perfection."  It's ridiculous how obsessed we can get over our own image, and we have the media to blame for it.  Starting from such a young age we are bombarded by the message that we have to look a certain way, otherwise we won't fit in with society.  It's a sad thought knowing the media has such power over us.  However, it is still our choice on how we decide to react to media.  It's just hard to ignore something that constantly surrounds us.