#8: One Extreme to the Other

Support for people with eating disorders



Sadly, this picture conveys something many many girls have gone through. On the left is a very anorexic frail girl, yet when she looks in the mirror she still see's that she is not thin enough.

Statistics:

• 10% of girls that have eating disorders will die from that disorder
• 42% of 1st - 3rd graders want to be thinner
• 95% of girls that have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25
• Over half of teenage girls use unhealthy weight loss such as skipping meals, laxatives, smoking, binging and purging, or fasting
• Anorexia is the 3rd most common illness among teenage girls

This picture is very sad because it is very true. So many girls are pressure to look a certain way because of things they see in the media, such as the Victoria's Secret models. The way they look isn't bad, though it may be very skinny. But teenage girls have a very skewed perception of how they look. Those models are women and they have been done growing for years. Teenage girls are still growing and developing, so it's not very healthy for them to be dieting strictly. Sadly, girls don't realize the damage they're doing to their body, they only focus on the outside changes which is getting thinner. Eating disorders is a world wide issue, not just the United States. It's sad to realize we are basically the ones causing these girls to feel this way because we conform to the media and force girls to feel this pressure to be perfect when we all know perfection is unattainable.

The statistics are very scary. Eating disorders can start at 12 years old? That's 6th grade. There's probably girls younger that deal with that but it's a very small percentage or not reported. Eating disorders are frightening because a girl can die from them. They effect obviously physically, because you're losing weight drastically. Also mentally, because you believe things that aren't true of yourself, that a size 2 isnt small enough. And deffinitely emotionally. Girls with eating disorders suffer from depression, I'm guessing because they're upset with themselves for not being thin enough and thinking that they aren't beautiful.

The ad uses the plain white bra and underwear to make the statement simple and straight to the point. If they had designs or color it would jumble the picture too much and distract from the message.

This ad uses the appeal of Need to Nurture because we see this poor girl who is so thin her bones are sticking out and we automatically want to help her or feel bad for her. The ad also uses the advertising technique of Plain Folks because the girl is just a girl, she's no one special, she's ment to represent the average everyday girl.