How EAS Fitness Ads Manipulate Women's Body Image

Introduction: Advertising and Women's Body Image

Individuals today are inundated with countless advertisements in a variety of formats. As we surf the web, we see advertisements posted on websites, receive advertisements in our email, and encounter personalized advertisements on social networking sites. These types of ads are not entirely new — they are simply presented in new media — and have by no means replaced the more traditional advertising formats seen in magazines, commercials, and on billboards. A large number of these advertisements target and manipulate women and young girls. From dictating the latest fashions to providing normative information about body structure to convincing women that one brand of cleaning product is better than another, many advertisements are designed to speak directly to women.

To some extent, advertising can be seen as useful, since it helps consumers understand the various products available to them. However, advertising can also be harmful. A great deal of research has established that advertising is often misleading and has contributed significantly to the distortion of normalized body image among women of all ages. This paper examines one particular advertisement intended to help women select a specific product to aid in their efforts to lose weight and get in shape.

The ad displays a series of pictures of a young woman posed to mimic the familiar "evolution of man from ape" image. As the pictures progress, the woman in the ad becomes more physically fit, and the small text states that these are untouched photos of the same person taken over a period of twelve weeks. The ad promotes a specific line of fitness supplements — the EAS fitness program — which combines shakes, nutrition bars, and a special exercise routine to help women lose weight. The ad suggests that women who use the EAS program may see results similar to those shown, leading to an improved body over twelve weeks.

There are a number of features in this ad that make it misleading and that reinforce the normalization of an ideal female body type that may not be a realistic goal for all women. According to Kathleen Firth (1998), a productive way to analyze a visual advertisement is to examine it at three different levels: the surface level, the intended message, and the cultural message. This paper examines three distinct elements of the advertisement across these three levels in order to demonstrate that the ad is misleading. The analysis shows that the advertisement presents women with a normalized version of an ideal body image that is not realistic and that contributes to impossible expectations through the provision of empty advertising promises.

The Evolution Allusion and Its Cultural Message

The EAS ad uses an allusion to the evolution of man to make a derogatory statement about the relative size of women's bodies. On the surface, the ad shows four pictures of the same woman wearing the same bikini workout outfit. In the first image, the woman has very poor posture, is hunched over, has a slightly rounded belly, and has sagging breasts. As the images progress, her posture improves, her body becomes more contoured, her facial expression becomes happier, and her hair gains more volume. The poses are intended to mimic the well-known image of apes evolving into cavemen and then into modern human beings. Beneath the image is the caption "The New Theory of Evolution," reinforcing the visual comparison for any reader who might have missed it.

With respect to the intended message, the advertisers are attempting to convey that engaging in their fitness nutritional program will cause a woman's body to "evolve" over a twelve-week period into a more sculpted and attractive form. At a cultural level, however, the message uses the comparison to evolutionary theory to imply that the model in the original image is a "lesser" or "less evolved" version of the person shown in the fourth picture. In this way, the advertisement contributes to the notion that women who do not meet a specific ideal body type are somehow less valuable than those who do — a notion that is wholly unjustified.

Facial Expressions and the Promise of Happiness

The facial expressions on the model shift from depressed and sullen to happy and confident as the pictures progress. These changes imply that participation in the EAS fitness program will not only affect one's body type and form, but will also contribute to a greater sense of well-being and overall happiness. On the surface, the ad simply shows facial expressions changing over the twelve-week period. At the intended message level, the advertisers are demonstrating that as fitness improves, so do happiness and confidence.

At the cultural level, however, the ad implies that a woman whose body resembles the first image should not be happy or confident. The advertisement suggests that only women who meet the idealized version of how a woman should look have the right to feel happy and self-confident. While research does indicate that improved fitness can be linked to greater senses of well-being and happiness (Hammett, 1967), in this particular ad the message is overstated to imply that individuals who are not physically fit must not be — and should not be — happy. This reinforces the fear that women have of becoming out of shape.

Advertising of this kind operates on both those who want to lose weight and those who fear gaining it. A common misconception among women who are average to small in size is that women who are larger are inherently depressed and unhappy. By implying that this is true, the advertisement creates fear associated with not being physically fit, threatening that if a woman does not maintain an ideal body type she may become depressed and lose confidence in herself. This is not an accurate representation of how happiness and confidence are achieved. Research on self-esteem consistently shows that body size is only one of many factors influencing a person's sense of well-being.

Conclusion: Empty Promises and the Culture of Idealized Bodies

This advertisement has sought to communicate to its female audience that there is an ideal body type that they should all attempt to achieve, and that if they do achieve this ideal body type, they will be blessed with greater happiness and self-confidence. Furthermore, the ad distorts reality by suggesting that the initial body type shown is unacceptable, of less value, or "less evolved," and that a woman with such a body would likely be depressed and less attractive to herself and to others.

The ad manipulates its message in three distinct ways: by comparing the image series to the well-known evolution-of-man image; by manipulating the model's facial expressions to make claims — potentially irrelevant ones — about happiness and self-confidence; and by manipulating the model's posture throughout the photo series to exaggerate the impact of the fitness program being advertised.

Women are presented with advertisements like this on a regular basis, and the cumulative impact of such a high volume of messaging has contributed to a culture that objectifies the female image and encourages obsessive efforts to achieve and maintain an idealized, often unrealistic, body type that is promised to bring attractiveness, success, and happiness. These are empty promises that no advertiser can honestly make to their audience. Understanding how these techniques operate — as explored through feminist media analysis — is an important step in critically evaluating the advertising that surrounds us every day.

References

Firth, K. T. (1998). Undressing the ad: Reading culture in advertising. In Undressing the Ad: Reading Culture in Advertising (pp. 1–17). Peter Lang Publishing.

Hammett, V. B. (1967). Psychological changes with physical fitness training. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 96(12), 764–769.

Lukas, S. (2002). The Gender Ads Project. South Lake Tahoe, California. http://www.genderads.com. Accessed November 23, 2010.

"New Theory of Evolution EAS Advertisement." http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/normal/pics/normal47.jpg. Accessed November 23, 2010.