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GET REAL! Toolkit • Talk Back to Media Letter Writing Guidelines Get REAL! about body image Guidelines: Everywhere we turn, advertisers bombard us with messages about our bodies. Most ads attempt to sell us ways to achieve picture- perfect thin or muscular body “ideals” that can have a powerful effect on how we see ourselves and feel about our bodies – even leading to unhealthy eating and exercise habits to try to conform to this unrealistic body standard. Few ads promote positive body messages that reinforce a diversity of body shapes and sizes, body acceptance, and healthy lifestyle choices. Select an ad. How can we combat body-negative messages and support body-positive ones? One way is to talk back to advertisers about the messages they send to consumers. Voice your concern by writing a letter to either compliment advertisers that promote positive body image or criticize advertisers that foster negative body image to sell products. In your letter, let advertisers know how you feel about the body ideal represented in the ad, what you like and don’t like about the techniques they use and the message they promote, and what you plan to do about it. Tell them whether you will stop purchasing a product because of its negative body image or endorse a product because of its positive image. Remember: You are a consumer with buying power! Use your economic clout to voice your opinion and your social networking capital to create buzz and spread the word to family, friends, and social media followers! Select a recent advertisement concerning body image that you think is praise-worthy or protest- worthy. • Choose the ad from any print, broadcast or online media outlet – magazine, TV show, billboard, website, social media, app, etc. • Don’t limit your selection to ads for fashion, cosmetics and grooming. Messages about body image can be found in ads for food, vitamins, tech gadgets, cars, travel, furniture – virtually any type of product. Analyze the ad. • What is the message about body image? Examine what the ad actually says about body image. The best way to do this is to think of the ad as telling a story that you need to interpret. Some advertisers use a straightforward approach and feature the human body, often sexually objectified, while others more subtly embed the message in the image or text, sometimes without the human form. Ask yourself: Is the human form visually depicted in the ad or is there an underlying message about body image in the text or image? Does the message make you feel that you need to look like the model or celebrity in the ad to be attractive, popular, happy or successful? Does the ad make you worry about a problem that can be solved by using the product? Does it claim that the product can improve your appearance or reshape your body? Does it boast that the product is Get REAL! about Media and Body Image | California State University, Northrdige | National Eating Disorders Association