Still working on my MK Paper....

History and Advertising of Mary Kay Cosmetics

Introduction

While most companies depend upon imposing advertising schemes, Mary Kay has found success in word of mouth alone. Why is Mary Kay’s Advertisement so different then everyone else’s, but so effective? Their customers have stayed loyal to them because of their hands-off advertising techniques. Mary Kay consultants are trained to approach the customers with a positive attitude and encouraging spirit. Because of the way they present themselves and their product, Mary Kay has achieved international success without pushy advertising.

Founded

Without the strength and confidence of Mary Kay Ash, this business may never have achieved such success as one of the largest privately held firms in the cosmetic industry. She inspired her consultants with words of wisdom:

Do you know that within your power lies every step you ever dreamed of stepping and within your power lies every joy you ever dreamed of seeing? Within yourself lies everything you ever dreamed of being. Become everything that God wants you to be. It is within your reach. Dare to grow into your dreams and claim this as your motto: Let it be me. (Mary Kay 5, 2007)

She used her past experiences to inspire all of her consultants, she wanted to know that they carer a lot about the business as she did. Mary Kay Ash had worked two jobs that required door to door sales, which also included her meeting her goals every day, but Mary Kay wanted more of a challenge. She retired at the age of 25 in 1963, but only for a month. After her retirement, she wrote a book named How to, a career book that gave business tips to woman. After she wrote this book, it encouraged her to start her dream company, which led her on her way to Mary Kay Cosmetics. The way she started her company was by buying the formula to a skin care cream she had been using. She then enlisted her husband to handle operations and began recruiting friends and family to be independent beauty consultants for the business enterprise called “Beauty by Mary Kay”. Unfortunately, tragic hit one month before the scheduled opening for her premier of her product, Mary Kay’s husband passed away from cancer. It was a disastrous time in the Ash family but she knew if she did not bring her product out soon after this tragedy, she would never get around to it. So, on Friday, September 13, 1963, Mary Kay premiered her new company and her exciting new products. Everyone loved the new merchandise; the first year it was out it landed a profit of $198,000. The true aim for Mary Kay Inc. then became to enrich woman’s lives in four fields:

· Recognition- the identification of something as having been previously seen, heard, and known.

· Motivation- the act or an instance of motivating.

· Support- to bear or hold up (a load, mass, structure, part, etc.); serve as a foundation.

· Earning Opportunities- Prizes and awards for best sellers.

Today, consultants still focus on these four principles and base their sales on them. (MaryKayInc.com, April, 2007)

Sale Representatives

Mary Kay’s independent sales power exceeds 1.7 million independent beauty consultants in more than thirty markets worldwide. There are two different employee branches while selling Mary Kay cosmetics. These two branches are independent beauty consultants and independent sales directors. Independent beauty consultants focus on the ground rules of establishing customer relationships, booking appointments, sharing the Mary Kay business opportunity and operating a commercial business. After reaching all of the goals of a beauty consultant, employees can get promoted to an independent sales director which holds a lot of responsibility as well. The independent sales director provides their sales division with continuing direction and assistance. While being a Mary Kay representative consultants have flexible hours, they are their own boss and they set their own schedule. The beauty consultant decides on how much they want to make and the opportunity is unlimited. The more hours a beauty consultant puts out selling the product, the more profit they will be able to make. While I was interviewing a former sales consultant of Mary Kay Inc, she said that it was worth every second to sell Mary Kay products, although it took a great deal of time and she had put loads of effort in to selling a large number of the products, in the end it came out profitable. “It is great the image that Mary Kay holds, when you are talking to people and explaining Mary Kay they have a lot of good things to say about the product and company which is always nice to hear,” said Ronning. “You have to have a strong passion towards the company and a good attitude towards your customers in order to make the profit you want.” (Ronning, Brittney, interview) To keep their sales representatives and consumers at Mary Kay, they came up with a mission statement. In this proclamation, it states that they are offering quality products to their consumers and fulfilling careers to their employees. They also want to reach out to women; they keep to this statement by caring and setting positive values. (Mary Kay Inc. Magazine)

Sales Product

Because the product is made to sell without advertisement, it is necessary that it be of the utmost quality. There are many beauty products that come out of Mary Kay Inc: Skin care, Makeup, Fragrances, and Spa and Body:

• Skin Care: Anti- aging, cleanser, moisturizer, classic basic skin care, basic needs and lip and eye care.
• Make up: Eyes, lips, cheeks, foundation, concealers, powders,
• Fragrances: woman’s and men’s
• Spa and Body: private spa collection, body care, Mary Kay sun care collection.

Product safety is Mary Kay Inc.’s highest priority. In one year alone, Mary Kay Inc. spends millions of dollars conducting over three hundred thousand tests to promise that all of their products meet the highest standards of safety, quality and performance. Scientific experts review every individual ingredient and every finished product. All the skin care and cosmetic products are regulated by governmental health and safety authorities. This means that before the product goes out to the market, it must pass tough safety requirements. Mary Kay is the world’s largest direct sale provider of skin care and color cosmetics. Besides all the tests that Mary Kay puts their products through, they also worry about their competitors. One of Mary Kay’s largest competitors is Avon; Avon is also sold door to door or at beauty parties similar to those by Mary Kay. Some other top competitors with Mary Kay include L’Oreal and Estee Lauder. Mary Kay is always looking for new sales products in order to keep up with the current trends and competition. (Harper and Row, 51-53)

Advertising

When Mary Kay started the business, she made it clear that she did not like pushy sales people. Mary Kay wanted her consultants to go out with a positive attitude, because she knew that they could sell a lot using their own good judgment, along with a loving and caring spirit. Many of Mary Kay’s consultants have good personal selling skills, selling door to door or over the phone. They also like to have parties and give makeovers. Mary Kay Inc. is known just by its name alone. Mary Kay is such a big company that they do not need their name in lights to dominate over their competitors. However Mary Kay has put a few ads in magazines before; for example, when MK Signature was voted “Glamour’s Gold Style” in the May 2004 issue of Glamour. When the Mary Kay signature gold was voted hot color for fall-winter of 2004, Mary Kay Inc. was offered to put an ad in Glamour for their achievement. By doing this advertisement, they sold out of their entire gold glimmer stock by December, which then became a new goal for Mary Kay’s products. (MaryKay Financial.com) Mary Kay does not use billboards, television advertisements, or newspapers for advertising; their biggest goal is to get their sales consultants out there talking about it. In this case, a great deal of advertisement for Mary Kay Inc. is word of mouth. Mary Kay emphasizes consulting door to door so that the sales representatives can make a connection with the consumer. This gives them a lot of potential for selling more of the product or add-on items that may help the sale representative’s goal. In 1970, a Mary Kay consultant brought the company to advertise on 60 minutes when she was discovered for being the first representative to reach the million dollar mark in commissions. This also brought loads of attention to Mary Kay, not only for sales, but for new employment. Mary Kay herself also got a lot of attention from public relations. When she won Lifetime’s outstanding woman of the year award in 2000, she was recognized for a while on the Lifetime channel. As you can see, Mary Kay does not need to do a whole lot to advertise because the product being sold advertises itself. (Mary Kay Inc. Magazine)

International

Mary Kay’s headquarter/corporate office started in a 500 square foot building in Dallas, Texas. It opened with the help of her twenty-year-old son, her life savings of $5,000 (none of which was used for advertisements) and nine independent beauty consultants. It was not until 1995 that Mary Kay Inc. expanded into a 600,000 square foot headquarters in North Dallas, Texas. Since opening their first international venture in Australia in 1971, Mary Kay Inc. has extended into thirty markets on five continents. Remarkably, they achieved this success by focusing on the client and the product- not pushy advertisement. (MaryKayInc.com, April, 2007)

Achievements

By focusing on offering women unique opportunities, Mary Kay Inc. has achieved great success. Starting by making the dream company, Mary Kay gave women something to work for and goals that they could set for themselves; for example, by getting enough sales one could receive a pink Cadillac. To symbolize a woman’s ability to reach beyond her possible top routine in the independent sales force, they would receive an impressive diamond bumblebee pin. When consumers see the consultants are treated well, they are more willing to purchase the product. From 1981-1984, Mary Kay came out with two bestselling books. The first book was an autobiography, written about her life and her goals with over two million copies sold. The second book was called Peoples Management; this book explained business advice and tips. The books served as a form of subtle advertisement, which encouraged the consumer instead of pushing them. (Taking Care of Business, March, 2007) One of Mary Kay’s largest achievements was when their company took a leadership position in the cosmetics industry by ceasing animal testing. This was a big jump for Mary Kay Inc. because a lot of people were against animal unkindness. Another outstanding achievement took place in 2000, when Interactive Week Magazine named Mary Kay Inc. one of the largest companies in the world for online sales, which at the time were 90 percent of the company’s revenues. By rewarding the consultants, publishing encouraging books, and providing convenient online sales options, Mary Kay reached out to its clients in a way that billboard advertisements could never do. (Mary Kay On People Management)

Charitable

Mary Kay Inc. receives a lot of advertisement and recognition from the charitable events it sponsors. Mary Kay focused on the foundations that were closest to her and had the most impact on her life. In 1980, when Mel Ash, Mary Kay Ash’s husband, died of lung cancer, Mary Kay decided to start a foundation to raise money to cure cancer. In 1996, Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation was recognized to honor the raising and distributing of research funds for cancer affecting women. This is a nonprofit foundation, which receives donations from members of the general public, Mary Kay independent sales force, and employees. This is not the only charitable program that Mary Kay has set up, though; she also started a group called “Breaking the Silence against Violence” for women who are victims of violence: domestic violence, rape, stalking, and even murder threats. In 2000, Mary Kay Ash Charity foundation awarded millions of dollars to women’s shelters across the country. In 2001, “Breaking the Silence Journey of Hope,” a document written on domestic violence victims, aired nationally on the public television station and was sponsored by Mary Kay Inc. Foundation. This gave Mary Kay advertisement, as viewers saw that her company was sponsoring such an eye-opening documentary. The public respected her activism towards such a touchy issue. In 2005, the foundation distributed $20,000 in grants to 150 shelters across the United States. In 2001, when Mary Kay Ash passed away, she left fifteen million dollars to all of the foundations that she started. Today, anyone is able to donate money to the organizations, and there are also products that you can buy (for example, picture frames and books), the profits of which will be fully donated towards the charitable cause. (Gross, 235-239)

Conclusion

Without ostentatious advertising, Mary Kay Corporation has been able to start a whole new vision for women around the world. Because of the quality of their product and the sales consultants, Mary Kay Inc. has not needed to spend millions of dollars on advertisement. Instead, they focus more on word of mouth and charitable events. They trust that the product will “do the talking” and that the client will recognize the quality of their makeup. The clients are able to trust the product, because they see that the makers themselves believe in the product enough that they do not feel the need for pushy advertisement.

Annotated Bib: Mary Kay

Research Question: Without the strength and confidence of Mary Kay Ash, Mary Kay Inc. may never have achieved such success as one of the largest privately held firms in the cosmetic industry. How did Mary Kay Ash advertise her products from only working out of her house? How was Mary Kay able to find beauty consultants to help sell her products? How was Mary Kay able to develop such a successful product and how was she able to develop such a strong market segment?
Loretz, L J., A M. Api, and L Babcock, comps. Exposure Data for Cosmetic Products. Vers. 31409425. 2008. Academic Search Premier. 10 Apr. 20008 .
This article talks about exposure information for cosmetic and personal care products. Loretz talks about how to obtain current data, a study to assess consumer use practices. Loretz also discusses the three largely used types of cosmetic products which are facial cleanser, hair conditioner and eye shadow. Three hundred and sixty women ages 18-69 years who use these products on regular bases were recruited to help out with the journal. This study provides an estimate of current exposure information for commonly used products which will be helpful for risk assessment.
This source is from a scholarly journal, it provides a good sense of credibility for the source. This source is credible and will help a lot with writing my paper. I will be able to compare products from this article to the products of Mary Kay. It will provide a lot of information about chemicals in products also what are good ones and what are ones to watch for. I will be able to use quotes from this source in my paper while comparing the two products. This journal will fit in to my essay when talking about competitors of Mary Kay cosmetics.
"Mary Kay." Cosmetics. 2008. Mary Kay Inc. 11 Apr. 2008 .
Mary Kay has an international website that everyone can view. At this site they have the products available, information about their company and also where you can find a beauty consultant that is near you. This site talks about new products that they have came out with to keep everyone up to date. It also tells you about their; skin care; make up, spa and body and fragrance products. At this site it also discusses the benefits of being a beauty consultant and how to become one if you were interested.
This source is from the internet although it is not scholarly because it has a .com it is a very valuable source for my paper. This source is beneficial to me because it is Mary Kay’s international homepage. It will help me when I am looking to talk about how Mary Kay was founded and it will also help me discuss the type of products they sell, and why they choose to sell those products.
Steinbach, Nancy. "Mary Kay One of Americas Most Influential Woman." Mary Kay Cosmetics. Apr. 2005: 26-29, 34
The magazines that Mary Kay puts out with her products in them are to advertise what her company is selling and what is new and upcoming for the year. This magazine includes product description, prices, and even talks a little bit about the company. You can pick up these magazines from a sales representative of Mary Kay’s or you can order one off of the website at www.MaryKay.com.
Having a magazine as a source will be very helpful in more ways than one. I will be able to use this source in many parts of my paper. I can compare other products to Mary Kay for example Cover Girl, Maybelline, and higher price cosmetics like Clinique. I will also be able to look at what their product stands for, and how they present their brand compared to others.
Ronning, Brittany. Personal interview. 10 Apr. 2008.
An interview was a great thing to ad to my paper because Mary Kay is not a product you hear about every day. In the interview I was able to talk about how she got the job, what she does, how often she works, if they have to meet quotas and discussed some benefits in her future and what she had to do to earn certain stuff. Brittany was also able to walk me through a pamphlet of Mary Kay showing me how she presents herself to people and encourages them to buy products. They have makeup parties which they advertise the Mary Kay make up at and are usually do facials on each other and this is where consumers can order their product.
This source was an interview and I think it will be one of my greater sources for this paper. Interviewing Brittany really helped me out because she showed me what she does. She also explained a lot to me how often she works and what she looks forward to the job. I can include this interview in to almost any part of my paper and if I have follow up questions I will be able to find her and talk to her some more.
Tynana, Dan, and Robert Kopecky. "Taking Care of Business." IT as a Service os (2007): 17-22. Info World. ID Weeks, Vermillion. 11 Apr. 2008.
This source was an electronic journal from the ID Week’s library website. This article talks about the strategic role in the modern IT organization and how it must run itself as a separate operation, meaning all of the cosmetic industries are their own branch. This journal showed the reinventing relationship between the businesses.
I think this electronic journal from the ID Weeks library will be a good source for just a small portion of my paper. It will come in handy when I am comparing products and talking about how they use competitors to also help sell products. For example Clinique might make a eyeliner and Cover Girl might make the same one and use all the same products but Clinique sells it for more. This source will tell us why Clinique is able to sell it for a larger profit and the benefits that might come to them because of it.
Ash, Mary K. Mary Kay on People Management. New York: Warner Bros Inc., 1984.
Mary Kay on People Management is a book of lots of ideas. This book explains how to approach customers, how to encourage the product being sold and how to keep your customer. This book is how Mary Kay Ash kept her business alive and running so successfully until today. This book shows you invisible signs that you might need to be aware with people for example their needs and desires, what might interest them that might not interest you.
This book the Mary Kay Ash published is going to be a big help in my paper. It will be able to come in to almost every part of my paper. It will be used mostly in the section where I discuss how her representatives keep their customers and also gain them. It will also help me discuss the sales representatives and how they were recruited, what they were told when hired, the process and training they need to go through and what they say to people.
Gross, Daniel. Forbes: Greatest Business Stories of All Time. Toronto: Jon Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1996. 232-245.
This book talks about different steps that Mary Kay Ash had taken to become such a successful business women. This book talks about, the birth of a sales women, building the company geared toward women, the company spreading its wings, which was when they opened the company, releasing their first products and all the chaos that went with it. The book also discussed regaining control of the company which was a huge turn in sales for Mary Kay cosmetics.
Greatest Business Stories of All Time is an excellent source for this paper. This book will be able to fit in to this paper where I talk about how the company was founded. I will be able to talk about the struggles they went through, how much time it took to start such a large business, and the goals she had made for herself and representatives. It will also fit in to the sales product part a little bit on what she expected from her product and what she wanted other people to think of it.
Ash, Mary K. Mary Kay Ash. New York: Harper and Row, 1981.
The Story of Mary Kay Ash’s live was put in to a book, a book that will help me complete my paper of her cosmetic company. This book is an excellent source and talks about her whole life, from the day she was born to when she got married when she thought about starting a company to opening it. This book is all about Mary Kay and will be very source-full in my paper.
This book will fit in to every aspect of my paper on Mary Kay Ash’s cosmetics. I will be able to talk about how she founded the company, why she wanted to open it, where she opened it and who she opened it with. I can also talk about the sales product that she had in mind of selling and how it got so big, why she expanded it so much. This book will also help me talk about her achievements, awards handed out to her sales reps and advertising that they have done throughout the years.
Booe, Martin. "Sales Force At Mary Kay China Embraces the American Way." Ebsco Host 84.4 (2005): 24-25. 13 Apr. 2008.
This article found at the academic search premier, from the ID Weeks’ library talks about how Mary Kay products are also well known in China. This article discusses a little bit about Mary Kay Ash’s life and then it goes in to how the product got started in China and how it is so successful out there even till today. It also interviews a man named Paul Mak who is the president of Mary Kay Cosmetics in China.
I think this article will fit well in to the international part of my research paper. Talking about how Mary Kay cosmetics is successful in China proves that this product can be successful anywhere. I will also talk about the interview that they had with Paul Mak, and show the numbers that he had talked about on how much money Mary Kay cosmetics brings in yearly and how many consultants they have selling the product there as well.
Gincel, Richard. "Mary Kay Rejuvenates Its Supply Chain." Ebsco Host 26.46 (2004): 44. Academic Search Premier. Ebsco. ID Weeks Library, Vermillion. 13 Apr. 2008.
The article “Mary Kay Rejuvenates Its Supply Chain” provides information on web based management systems of Mary Kay Inc. because they are the largest seller and provider of cosmetics. This article talks about how they were able to bring their vendor s, suppliers and partners closer. This article basically describes the financial side of Mary Kay, the profits that they had to put in to it and how they got ahead and never behind.
This article will be able to fit in to the sales products portion of my paper. I will e comparing how Mary Kay was able to work out her profits compared to other companies. I will also be comparing how Mary Kay’s profits did compared to Clinique, and Maybelline because Mary Kay does not do a lot of advertising, advertising for her is a lot of word of mouth, through representatives of hers.
Farnham, Alan. "The Party That Crashed Retailing." Ebsco Host 174 (2004): 80+. Academic Search Premier. Ebsco. ID Weeks Library, Vermillion. 13 Apr. 2008.
This article discusses Mary Kay’s parties that she holds. In order for representatives of Mary Kay to sell products they want their consumers to be able to try them out. This is why they have Mary Kay Makeup parties. At these parties representative hands out invitations to buyers and potential buyers of the product. They usually bring food and music and they sit around and talk about and test products people may be interested in. They are then able to take a magazine and keep looking at the product or they are able to order the product then and there.
This journal is a good one for my paper because it talks a lot about the sales representatives and what they really do. I will be able to discuss behind the scene with them, what their goals are, how much they are required to sell, the prizes they are able to win and the profit that they make of selling Mary Kay products.
Brown, Heidi. "The Eastern Front." Ebsco Host 172 (2003): 60. Academic Search Premier. E. ID Weeks Library, Vermillion. 13 Apr. 2008.
This article focuses on the battle between Mary Kay cosmetics and the Avon cosmetic brand. These two brands have a lot in common they both have door to door selling, selling of cosmetics and other beauty wants, and brand name products that are very well known. They also talk about how in Europe it is also very competitive for them, and how in the United States Mary Kay is known to have the pink Cadillac and in Europe it is a silver BMW.
This article will fit well into the competitive portion of my paper. Avon and Mary Kay are both very well known, and I think their competition with each other is probably very common. In this article I will be able to find what is products are comparable and how their prices also compare. This article also talks about the difference between their sales representatives, because they are both door to door sales so I would be able to discuss that in the representative’s portion of my paper.
Berke, Debra L. "Coming Home Again." Ebsco Host 24 (2003): 513+. Academic Search Premier. Ebsco. ID Weeks Library, Vermillion. 13 Apr. 2008.
This article talks about the sales consultants for Mary Kay Inc. This article looks closely on ways of negotiating and balancing work and family. This article talks to twenty different Mary Kay consultants. It talks to them on how they sell, how they balance work and family time and how they gain their job experience. This article mainly just focuses on the balance between work and family for Mary Kay consultants.
“Coming Home Again” is an article that will be helpful for the reparative part of my paper. It shows me how time consuming being a Mary Kay consultant can be. I can also talk about how families might get involve with having members work for Mary Kay because they are the biggest customers to the consumers.
Lo, Amy. "Selling Dreams the Mary Kay Way." Ebsco Host 27 (2001): 27. A. Ebsco. ID Weeks Library, Vermillion. 13 Apr. 2008.
This article about Mary Kay Inc. talks about the marketing strategies made by cosmetics symbol Mary Kay Inc. It discusses the agreement with the rules issued by the Chinese government for how direct sales companies should operate. It also discusses Mary Kay Inc. profit earned in 2000.
“Selling Dreams the Mary Kay Way” is an article that will help a lot in this paper because it talks about profits. I have yet to find a lot on Mary Kay’s profit or income so this will be a big jump in my paper. I will also be able to discuss some of the marketing strategies that Mary Kay had put in to her company that made is so successful.
"The National Business Hall of Fame: Mary Kay Ash." Fortune 133 (1996): 123. Academic Search Premier. Ebsco. ID Weeks Library, Vermillion. 13 Apr. 2008.
This article talked about Mary Kay Ash and how she was elected the member of the 1996 National Business Hall of Fame in the United States. It also goes in to talking about who Mary Kay was and how she started her business with 5,000 dollars which was her life savings and help from her son. This article also talks about her achievements in helping out with raising money for cancer research.
“The National Business Hall of Fame” will be helpful in two main parts of my paper. The first part it will be helpful in is while talking about the founder. This article talks a lot about how Mary Kay and who she really was. It also talks about how her company won this award and the strengths of the company. I will also be able to fit this article in to the achievements section, talking about how she helps out with raising money for cancer research and why she does this. Her husband passed away from cancer being one of the biggest reasons why she started raising money for this cause.

Annotated Bib. 2

Research Question: What effects do different birth controls have on women that want to get pregnant after being on birth control for two or more years?
The directions inside the birth control case. Every case of birth control has a booklet of directions explaining how to use it. In this booklet it presents the side effects, such as cramps, longer and shorter periods, and maybe even danger to where you may not be able to get pregnant it also explains when to stop taking it when you want to start trying to get pregnant. The book of directions also explains the safety of it and other ways it may be helping you for example people get on birth control a lot of the time to help with their skin. I think this book of directions will be a huge jump for me on my research paper, it has a lot of good information that I will need to use.
Birth Control directions
Selling Anxiety: There are thousands of scares on birth control and the place that you usually hear them is on the news. This book Selling Anxiety explains how the news media scares women. It tells you stories that may have been heard and if they are myths or not. It also explains why in the past they had banded birth control for awhile and why they had decided to bring it back. Selling anxiety will give me a lot of information on why the media “blames the pill” this book will supply a lot of good information that I will need to help answer my research question.
Rivers, Caryl. Selling Anxiety: How the News Media Scares Women. New England: University P, 2007. 131-133.
Planned Parent Hood: This website is a great resource for information on birth control. This website tells me how often someone should take it, the side effects, what it does and does not protect, and how much it costs. There are a variety of bitch controls that you can take for example there is a pill, a patch, a shot, and it even talks about abstinence. I think this website has a lot of information that will help me collect information on birth control and some important facts that I may need.
Planned Parenthood Birth Control." Planned Parenthood. 2008. Federation of America. 01 Apr. 2008 .
Women’s Health (1): This is a website based on how birth control affects pregnancy. Since this is the websites focus there is a lot of information specifically towards my research question. In this website you will find when you should stop taking birth control when trying to get pregnant. It also explains what might happen if one did take birth control and couldn’t get pregnant it gives some facts on what to do. This website will be very helpful with my research because it is directed toward my topic.
Birth Control Pill FAQ: Benefits, Risks and Choices." Women's Health. 08 Feb. 2008. Mayo Clinic. 2 Apr. 2008 .
Women’s Health (2): There is another website which women’s health has created that I also found helpful. This website tells you the effects of all the different pills that they have made. It also explains how likely it is to get pregnant if you miss the pill. I like this kind of facts because it is something that I would like to include in to my paper because it is very important to know.
Birth Control Pill FAQ: Benefits, Risks and Choices." Women's Health. 08 Feb. 2008. Mayo Clinic. 2 Apr. 2008 .
Side Effects and Safety: This site explains all the side effects that you get while being on the pill. It also explains some risks that might occur and talks a little about pregnancy. I do not think this site will be that involved in my paper but it does have some information that I will need to know about, so it is a good web site to use.
"Side Effects and Safety." Lybrel. 2008. Wyeth. 6 Apr. 2008 .
Over View: Types of Birth Control: Knowing about all the different kinds of birth control will be a big jump start in this paper because there are so many different types. For example, the pill, the patch, the shit, a ring, this is just a few and at this site it explains all of them and their side effects it also explains why everyone is so effective against pregnancy and how it affects it.
"Overview: Type of Birth Control." American Pregnency. 07 Jan. 2008. American Pregnency Association. 6 Apr. 2008 .
Getting Pregnant after stopping birth control: This web site I found might not be very source full, but, after I started reading it, I recognized a lot of the information coming from other sites. This site really had the information about how to stop taking the birth control if you are trying to get pregnant.
"Getting Pregnent After Stopping Birth Control." Health Wise. 2008. Health Wise. 6 Apr. 2008 .
"Getting Pregnent After Stopping Birth Control." Health Wise. 2008. Health Wise. 6 Apr. 2008 .
"Frequently Asked Questions." Womens Health. Jan. 2008. 6 Apr. 2008 .

Annotated Bibliography: Final Paper

Annotated Bibliography
Research Question: What effect does birth control have on ladies that want to get pregnant in the future after taking it for a few years?
The directions inside the birth control case. Every case of birth control has a booklet of directions explaining how to use it. In this booklet it presents the side effects, such as cramps, longer and shorter periods, and maybe even danger to where you may not be able to get pregnant it also explains when to stop taking it when you want to start trying to get pregnant. The book of directions also explains the safety of it and other ways it may be helping you for example people get on birth control a lot of the time to help with their skin. I think this book of directions will be a huge jump for me on my research paper, it has a lot of good information that I will need to use.
Birth Control directions
Selling Anxiety: There are thousands of scares on birth control and the place that you usually hear them is on the news. This book Selling Anxiety explains how the news media scares women. It tells you stories that may have been heard and if they are myths or not. It also explains why in the past they had banded birth control for awhile and why they had decided to bring it back. Selling anxiety will give me a lot of information on why the media “blames the pill” this book will supply a lot of good information that I will need to help answer my research question.
Rivers, Caryl. Selling Anxiety: How the News Media Scares Women. New England: University P, 2007. 131-133.
Planned Parent Hood: This website is a great resource for information on birth control. This website tells me how often someone should take it, the side effects, what it does and does not protect, and how much it costs. There are a variety of bitch controls that you can take for example there is a pill, a patch, a shot, and it even talks about abstinence. I think this website has a lot of information that will help me collect information on birth control and some important facts that I may need.
Planned Parenthood Birth Control." Planned Parenthood. 2008. Federation of America. 01 Apr. 2008 .
Women’s Health (1): This is a website based on how birth control affects pregnancy. Since this is the websites focus there is a lot of information specifically towards my research question. In this website you will find when you should stop taking birth control when trying to get pregnant. It also explains what might happen if one did take birth control and couldn’t get pregnant it gives some facts on what to do. This website will be very helpful with my research because it is directed toward my topic.
Birth Control Pill FAQ: Benefits, Risks and Choices." Women's Health. 08 Feb. 2008. Mayo Clinic. 2 Apr. 2008 .
Women’s Health (2): There is another website which women’s health has created that I also found helpful. This website tells you the effects of all the different pills that they have made. It also explains how likely it is to get pregnant if you miss the pill. I like this kind of facts because it is something that I would like to include in to my paper because it is very important to know.
Birth Control Pill FAQ: Benefits, Risks and Choices." Women's Health. 08 Feb. 2008. Mayo Clinic. 2 Apr. 2008 .

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful- Final

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful!
When you hear the word makeup there could be thousands of brands that may pop in to a customer’s head to try. This is why Cover girl cosmetics tries to make a statement with the products they sell. From foundation to eye shadow, mascara and lip gloss, Cover girl cosmetics have came out with millions of new makeup products for teenage consumer. Cover girl cosmetics comes out with make up for all buyers: dry skin, oily skin, sensitive skin, dark eyes, light eyes, long eye lashes and short eyelashes, they cover it all. A Cover girl advertisement is known for the actresses, colors, and slogans used in them. They care a lot about the set up of their advertisement because they want to know that they will be able to target the right audience. The biggest consumer for Cover girl is teenage girls around the high school level, ages twelve and up. This is because Cover girl is not an expensive brand; it is cheap enough where the girls feel comfortable enough testing it on their face for an affordable price. Cover girl is known as a “start out” makeup, for teenagers who are just starting to experience with makeup.
Famous actresses, black and white ads with one standout color, and a big bold heading which says COVER GIRL is what catches a young teenager’s attention while flipping through a hip new magazine. Cover girl comes out with new products just about every two months, and with that they always have the same ad layout while advertising the fresh new product. Their ads always seem to use three colors black, white, and a bold highlight color. Also on the ad there will always be a famous actress, they usually update their actresses every six months; the actresses they chose are always good role models and never have any skeletons in their closets. In the past they have used role models such as Rihanna, a popular music artist and Halley Berry, a famous actress. The actresses they choose pertain to teenage girls so it catches their attention to look at the ad in the magazine. Cover girl is also very famous for their slogans on their ads that always stay the same on all ads. For example when they advertise mascara it is always, “Big, Bold, Look at me lashes!” Cover girl also has a slogan that goes on all of their ads that is very famous which is, “Easy Breezy, Beautiful Cover Girl.” The Cover Girl ads always go in to details about how the new product that they have come out with is different from others that they have previously put out. These steps are what make Cover Girl products such a popular item for consumption for teenage girls.
When flipping through a magazine it is common to see famous actors and actresses on different pages, but when there is a big bold title that says Cover girl it really catches ones attention right away just because of how big this brand has gotten. The ad that I picked out right away caught my attention because of the one stand out color that they used throughout the advertisement, bright highlight neon orange. Cover Girl made their ad for mascara a two page ad, which was creative thinking by the creator of it and it also makes sense for placing the ad in a magazine, only because this way they knew that the ad they had put in the magazine would not be competing with any other ads next to it. With bold letters and bright colors the ad set up was quite eye catching.
At the top of the first page it says Cover Girl in big bold bright orange letters that a reader could not miss. You can tell they were trying to keep it simple because the rest of the first page is in black and white with a picture of their spokes model for their product who is Drew Barrymore. This picture of Drew Barrymore really brings out her long curled up eyelashes which is demonstrating their new mascara. At the bottom corner of the ad it says there slogan for mascara that is quite catchy for people to remember, “The Next Big Thing? Big, Bold, Look-At-Me- Lashes.” On the second page of the same ad for mascara, there is a big picture of the mascara brush, because, this is what they have changed about their product this month. Again they decided to use the bright neon orange color and next to the brush it states “New Lash blast, Volume Blasting Mascara.” All of these letters were bold which was different because it makes a reader want to read what is different about the product made this time. When you look at the bottom of the second page there is a little display of the whole mascara container, demonstrating to the reader what it looks like this way you would be able to recognize it and know what to buy at the store. Right next to this small bottle of mascara they give some facts about the product and what has changed.
Cover girl knows how to word things when it comes to their advertisements. The way they had expressed the information provided in this ad was very interesting because it is all in words that are crazy and fun to say they are also a sure in to catch a teenager’s attention. You notice that the product is Cover Girl because it is in large, bold bright orange letters at the top of the page and you know they are selling new mascara because they have a huge picture of it on the side of the advertisement. The term used to describe the mascara “New Lash Blast” is very unique to hear and it makes the ad more fun and hip to look at. Blast is a word that is exciting while reading the ad a reader would want to see why the new mascara is so exciting. All of the words in the ad are capitalized and for the words that they really wanted to stand out they bolded so people could really tell their strength to the advertisement. Having the neon orange color on black and white really makes you look twice at the ad, they did this because it is the color of the bottle of mascara being sold so they know that this color will be unforgettable while shopping for the product.
What was Cover Girl trying to say exactly in this advertisement? They are trying to advertise that when you use Cover Girls new lash blast mascara every lash gets singled out and coaxed up. It also tells you that they also have it in different styles, like, waterproof, this way you can keep it on while you are swimming and not have to worry about it run. They also have it in four different colors: very black, black, black brown, and brown. This ad also gives you the website to visit so you can see the product up close. While readers visit the website there are different activities that can be done. For example, there is a spot on the website where you can demonstrate colors, where you just had to drag the mouse over one of the colors being sold in that product and it gave you a larger view of what color to expect from the makeup. Having the website on the ad page also gets people to look at their other products being sold so they might get interested in buying other accessories for example, foundation, eye shadow, lip gloss, and eyeliner, as well as their new mascara. Cover girl is usually giving out coupons for their products so you can save money and or buy more of their products. They also get involved with a lot of contest and sweepstakes where you can win a lot of cool free products just for visiting their website which is a way to get people to visit it more often.
The result in this message is when you wear Cover Girl mascara and other products by them your makeup will look as good as Drew Barrymore’s in the advertisement being shown. They want the reader to know if they use Cover Girl mascara their eyelashes will be big, bold and beautiful, they will standout to impress everyone. The ad explained to the reader why the new mascara makes your eyelashes standout more just because they changed how the bristles work on the brush. With hundreds of competitors out there competing with Cover Girl, they do an amazing job with keeping their prices low and always updating their products, this way there is always something new for everyone to try and be excited about. It is like one of their most famous slogans out there… Who wouldn’t want to make their eye lashes easy, breezy and beautiful? I know I would!

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful: Part 2

Famous actresses, black and white ads with one standout color, and a big bold heading which says Cover Girl is what catches a young teenager’s eye while flipping through magazines. Cover girl comes out with new mascara just about every two months, and with that they always have the same ad layout while advertising the fresh new mascara. There ads always seem to use three colors black, white, and a bold highlight color. Also on the ad there will always be a famous actress, they usually update their actresses every six months; the actresses they chose are always the ones that pertain to teenage girls so it catches their attention to look at the ad. Cover girl is also very famous for their slogans on their ads that always stay the same which for advertising mascara it is always, “Big, Bold, Look at me lashes!” Cover girl also has a slogan that goes on all of their ads that is very famous which is, “Easy Breezy, Beautiful Cover Girl.” The Cover Girl ads always go in to details about why the mascara is different from others that they have previously put out. These steps are what make Cover Girl mascara such a popular product for teenage girls.
The ad that I picked out caught my attention because of the one stand out color that they used, bright highlight neon orange. Cover Girl made this ad two pages, which was creative thinking by the creator and it also makes sense for placing in a magazine because this way you know that the ad you are putting in will not be competing with any ads next to it. The ad set up was quite eye catching. At the top of the first page it says Cover Girl in big bold letters bright orange letters. Then the rest of this page is in black and white where there is a huge picture of Drew Barrymore (there spokes model at the time) which really brings out her eyes lashes demonstrating the new mascara. Then in the bottom corner it says there slogan “The Next Big Thing? Big, Bold, Look-At-Me- Lashes.” On the second page there is a big picture of the mascara brush because this is what they have changed this month about their mascara and next to the brush it advertises “New Lash blast, Volume Blasting Mascara.” Then there is a little display of the whole mascara container showing what it looks like so you know what to buy at the store and it describes all the small detail about it.
The way they had worded the information provided in this ad was very interesting because it is all in words that are crazy and fun to say they are also a sure in to catch a teenager’s attention. You notice that the product being sold in the ad is Cover Girl because it is in large, bold bright orange letters at the top of the page and you know they are selling mascara because they have a huge picture of it on the side of the ad. The term used to describe the mascara “New Lash Blast” is very unique to hear and it makes the ad more fun and hip to look at. It also makes you want to read more in to it because you want to see what it really means. All of the words in the ad are capitalized and for the words that are really important are bolded so that they also really catch the reader’s attention. Having the neon orange color on black and white really makes you look twice at the ad because it looks really interesting and makes you wonder what they are selling.
What was Cover Girl trying to say exactly in this advertisement? They are trying to advertise that when you use Cover Girls new lash blast mascara every lash gets singled out and coaxed up. It also tells you that they also have it in different styles like waterproof, this way you can keep it on while you are swimming and not have to worry about it run. They also have it in four different colors: very black, black, black brown, and brown. This ad also gives you the website to visit so you can see the product up close. While visiting the website I noticed how they had a spot where you can demonstrate colors where you just had to drag the mouse over one of the colors it sells in and it gave you a larger view of what color to expect from the mascara. Having the website on the ad page also gets people to look at their other products being sold so they might get interested in buying other accessories for example, foundation, eye shadow, lip gloss, and eyeliner, as well as their mascara. Cover Girl is usually giving out coupons for their products so you can save money and or buy more of their products and they even get involved with a lot of contest where you can win a lot of free cool things for just visiting their website which is a way to get people to visit it more often.
The result in this message is when you wear Cover Girl mascara and other products by them your makeup will look as good as Drew Barrymore’s in this ad. They want the reader to know if they use Cover Girl mascara their eyelashes will be big, bold and standout to impress everyone. The mascara makes you eyelashes standout more just because they changed how the bristles work on the brush. With hundreds of competitors out there competing with Cover Girl, they do an amazing job with keeping their prices low and always updating their products so there is something new for everyone to try and be excited about. It is like one of their most famous slogans… Who wouldn’t want to make their eye lashes easy, breezy and beautiful? I know I would!

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful: Part 1

Famous actresses, black and white ads with one standout color, and the heading Cover Girl is what catches a young teens eye while flipping through magazines. Cover girl usually comes out with new mascara just about every two months and they always have the same ad layout while advertising the mascara. There ads always seem to be black and white with an actress on it. They usually get new actresses every six months; the actresses are always the ones that pertain to teenage girls so it catches their attention to look at the ad Cover girl always has a slogan on their ad that always seems to stay the same as well which is “Big, Bold, Look at me lashes!” The Cover Girl ads always go in to details about why the mascara is different from others that they have previously made.
The ad that I picked out caught my attention because of the main color that they used, neon orange. It is a two page ad which makes sense in a magazine because this way you know that the ad you are putting in won’t be competing with any ads next to it. At the top of the first page it says Cover Girl in big bold letters. Then there is a huge picture of Drew Barrymore (there spokesperson at the time) which really brings out her eyes. Then in the bottom corner it says there slogan “The Next Big Thing? Big, Bold, Look-At-Me- Lashes.” On the second page there is a big picture of the mascara brush because this is what they have changed this month about their mascara and next to the brush it says “New Lash blast, Volume Blasting Mascara.” Then there is a little display of the whole mascara container showing what it looks like so you know what to buy at the store and it describes all the small detail about it.
The way they worded things in this ad are very interesting because it is all in words that are fun to say and able to catch a teenagers attention. You notice that the product being sold in the ad is Cover Girl because it is in large, bold letters in orange at the top of the page and you know they are selling mascara because they have a huge picture of it on the side of the ad. The term “New Lash Blast” is very unique to hear and it makes the ad more fun and hip to look at. All of the words in the ad are capitalized and the words that are really important are bolded so that also really catches your attention. Having the neon color on black and white really makes you look twice because it looks really interesting and makes you wonder what they are selling.
What was Cover Girl trying to say in this advertisement? They are trying to advertise that when you use Cover Girls new lash blast mascara every lash gets singled out and coaxed up. It also tells you that they also have it so it is waterproof this way you can keep it on while you are swimming and not have to worry about it run. This ad also gives you the website to visit so you can see the product up close. This also gets people to look at their other products so they might get interested in buying other things as well as the mascara. Cover Girl is usually giving out coupons to there make up as well so you can save money and or buy more of their products.
The result in this message is when you wear Cover Girl mascara your eyelashes will look as good as Drew Barrymore’s in this ad. They will be big, bold and standout to impress everyone just because they changed how the bristles work on the brush. With hundreds of competitors out there with Cover Girl, they do a good job with keeping their prices low and always updating their products so there is something new for everyone to try and be excited about. It is like one of their most famous slogans… Who wouldn’t want to make their eye lashes breezy and beautiful? I know I would!

Ad on Gap

My ad that I chose is the gap. The consumer to this ad is people that like to shop there or may be looking for some clean cut work clothes or tees. The Gap is a little more expensive store so most of the time it is people that are wealthier that shop here. The wants and desires are just the clothes that they might like about this store and these items might stand out in the ad they see. Gap has a logo on all of their clothes so everyone knows where its from and everyone wearing it is advertising for them.

Body Image: Final Assignment 2

Body Image
“Did you see her nose job?!” Teenage girls today are able to have surgery on just about anything that they may not like on their body. From boob jobs to lip injections, you can get almost anything fixed for the right price. Teens are so concerned about their own looks and everybody else’s looks that they are willing to pay just about anything for the right change. Body image is sweeping the nation fast; it is becoming one of the most widely discussed topics in the media. Body image concerns are caused by media and peer pressure, which affects a majority of teenage girls today, as shown through higher than average diagnoses of anorexia and bulimia, which lead to numerous health problems that otherwise could be avoided.
Body image is not only the world’s most common cause eating disorder but is defined as a mental image that we form of our bodies and is a simple factor of our self and our own personality. Today, body image is mainly a serious issue for teenage girls around the high school level. Many people do not understand that body image is all psychological, meaning these teenage girls are just mentally imagining their body looking different than it appears in a mirror. When younger girls view themselves this way, it can be harmful, and lead to some strong dangerous emotions which lead them to some dangerous addictions. There are a lot of reasons why girls start worrying about their body. The number one environment that a girl adapts to judging herself is at school. This is because there is a lot of peer pressure at the high school level and trying to impress someone and always look your best is the pass with the “in crowd.” Teens also have problems at home with their parents or sister telling them how to look and what to eat, which can cause a lot of self esteem issues.
Media is one of the largest contributing factors to body image. Ads in magazines, billboards, and on television always have glimmered out teenagers who are nowhere near being the size of an average teenager. Today’s models weigh around twenty three percent less than the average woman. The average model is 5’10 weighing around one hundred and ten pounds but the average woman is 5’4 weighing one hundred and forty five pounds.(Loving Yourself Inside and Out) This shows why this is such a health risk for teenagers. Advertisers place these attractive girls in their ads as an attempt to sell more of their product. A survey was conducted by Teen People Magazine on how girls felt about advertisements. Twenty seven percent of the girls felt that the media pressures them to have a perfect body. Magazines are emphasizing to girls that thinness is beauty, which is not true. A teen diva, pop sensation, and hero to young girls, Ashlee Tisdale, even had body image issues so she recently had gotten a nose job. Tisdale stated that she did it because she has always had trouble breathing out of her nose, so it was about time she had got it fixed. She said she is not for plastic surgery it is just something that she had to do. Tisdale is such a pretty girl and her getting a nose job will only be an example for younger girls. They know now that even if you are pretty there will always be something more to fix.
Peer pressure comes from everyone around, from our parents to our classmates. Peer pressure is most commonly found in a group of friends that are all around the same age group. When one is a different size than the other people in their group, one could feel out of place, and helpless. They start looking at their self in a new light, thinking what they could do to improve their body or maybe get thoughts in their head they may lead to some awful things, for example suicide. Suicidal thoughts are common for someone with a body image crisis; they look at every flaw on their body and basically want to discipline their self for looking that way. A study showed that seventy eight percent of people with a body image disorder said that at one time they had contemplated suicide.
Anorexia and Bulimia are also some harmful illnesses that people come across when they are worried about how they look. These are more common illnesses for teenagers because they are easy things to cover up. Anorexia is an eating disorder where people starve themselves. These people have a serious fear of gaining weight; anorexia causes people to not want to eat in public and not consume large amounts of food in one helping. People who are anorexic usually start hearing voices in their head and they usually give these an identity, even its own name. (Beyond killing us softly) On average a person is supposed to consume 2,500 calories a day; a person who is anorexic will usually consume around 150 calories a day. It is the most deadly of all the psychological disorders. The average age of developing anorexia is fifteen to nineteen years old; around one to five percent of women are anorexic. Twenty percent of people that develop this eating disorder and choose not to receive treatment for it end up dying. People with anorexia can have a lot of medical problems like heart disease, heart failure and kidney and liver disease. They also have high chances of going through depression, anxiety and other psychological problems.
Bulimia is also a dangerous eating disorder where people binge followed by purging. This disorder is usually a response to depression, stress or self esteem issues, or a fear of becoming fat. Having this disorder for an extended period of time the individual will usually experience loss of control over his or her own body. Thirteen percent of high school girls today are bulimic. It is hard to determine whether someone is bulimic or not because they do a good job of covering it up, usually wearing baggy clothing and eating a good meal. Sufferers consume a lot of food in one helping usually up to 20,000 calories. The foods that they usually eat are called “comfort foods” which are sweets. A person with this disorder will usually binge anywhere from two times a day or more. They are most likely to purge twenty to thirty minutes after consuming their food and usually it is when no one is around. Ten percent of people that suffer from this illness will usually die from starvation, have cardiac arrest, or commit suicide.
Avoiding negative body image and these illnesses are fortunately possible. Talking at home is a great way to start letting teenagers know that the way they look is the right way to look. Teenagers need to understand that the models they see in magazines aren’t even perfect and they air brush them to make them look the way they do. People can also change their idea of weight loss to getting in shape and healthier, making up a plan for themselves to work out a few times a week. Informing teens that skipping meals is no help to them at all, it just ends up slowing down their metabolism and their body absorbs more calories than it would have originally taken in may be helpful advice. Taking multi-vitamins every day is also a healthy way to make sure that one is getting all the vitamins they need. Parents are a huge part of negative body image because teens look up to them for advice, so it is important that people are talking in the household about issues that might be going on at school or maybe even in the house.
There are many ways to prevent people from viewing their bodies in negative ways. Media does target a lot of teenagers but if parents help and talk to their kids about how the media plots and explain that they are just trying to advertise better, then maybe teens could look at advertisements in a new way. Peer pressure at school is a hard thing to avoid, but having confidence in oneself and prepping themselves everyday knowing that it will be a good one is a good way to avoid negative thoughts while around close friends that may look different. Anorexia and bulimia are dangerous illnesses that are hard to get rid of once started, they are the antidote to people’s depression and is the cause of many suicides. Avoiding body image problems/ issues is the best answer and it starts at home. Staying healthy and in shape is another great way to avoid it. Plastic surgery shouldn’t be the answer because of the damage it can create with one’s body or even the reputation it might give someone after it is done. Perhaps in the future body image around the high school level will not be such a big deal, and will be less common to hear about. Teenagers already have a lot of things to worry about at their age and appearance shouldn’t be one of them.
Work Cited Page

Wegenstein, Bernadette. Getting Under the Skin. Massachusetts, 2006. 25-28.
Owens, Timothy J., Sheldon Stryker, and Norman Goodman. Extending Self-Esteem Theory and Research. New York: Cambridge UP, 2001. 159-160.
Dinnes, Gail, and Carrol Gilligan, eds. Beyond Killing Us Softly. 26 Feb. 2008 .
"Loving Yourself Inside and Out." WomensHealth.Gov. June 2007. Officer of Women Health. 6 Mar. 2008 .
Homeier, Barbara P. "Body Image and Self Esteem." Teens Health. Apr. 2006. Nemours Foundation. 28 Feb. 2008 .

Body Image: Assignment 2 Part 4

“Did you see her nose job?!” Teenage girls today are able to have surgery on just about anything that they may not like on their body. From boob jobs to lip injections you can get almost anything fixed for the right price. Teens are so concerned about their own looks and everybody else’s looks that they are willing to pay just about anything for the right change. Body image is sweeping the nation fast; it is becoming one of the most widely discussed topics in the media. Body image concerns is caused by media and peer pressure which affects a majority of teenage girls today as shown through higher than average diagnosis’s of anorexia and bulimia which lead to numerous health problems that can be avoided.
Body image is a very serious issue for teenage girls mainly. Although, many people don’t understand that body image is all psychological, meaning it is in their mind and that they are just mentally imagining their body looking different than it really looks. This kind of thinking can also lead to some strong dangerous emotions, leading to a very dangerous addiction. Body image can start anywhere from being insecure on how a person might look and feel or even just in the home where their parents may be criticizing them on how they look or even if anyone in their household is experiencing body image issues.
Girls usually start getting concerned on how their bodies are looking when they reach the high school level. There is so much peer pressure that is going on. If their peers and friends are looking great then they are going to want to look that way to. The media is not helping with this issue at all; they pay billions of dollars a year to make people feel bad about themselves. Magazines are where most teenage girls get the resources from; supermodels and actresses are a huge influence on how girls want to look today. Teenagers usually do not understand that these magazine companies are using computers to crop and use photo shop to edit a photo to look completely different. The companies advertising only care about how much of the product they can sell to their audience not the effect that the ad might have on them. This has taken a huge toll on how younger girls are looking at and judging themselves.
Body image gets people thinking on what they could change to make them look better, and the first thing that people usually result to is surgery. Surgery is one of the highest ranked problem solvers, for someone that wants to change something about their self. Surgery also comes with many risks, some examples are swelling of the body, complications with medication they have been given and infections that might occur after the surgery is over. There are also certain activities that one cannot participate in while the healing process is in effect, this way the stitches can heal and your body has time to adjust to the change. Although plastic surgery risks are small and complications with it are less than one half percent surgeries are still very risky, especially for a high school student.
Anorexia and Bulimia are also some harmful illnesses that people come across when they are worried about how they look. These are the more common illnesses for a teenager, because they are easy to cover up. Anorexia is an eating disorder where people starve themselves. These people have a serious fear of gaining weight; anorexia causes people to not want to eat in public and not eat large amounts of food in one helping. People with this disease can start to hear voices in their head and they usually give this voice an identity, its own name. It is the most deadly of all the psychological disorders. On average a person is suppose to consume 2,500 calories a day a person who is anorexic consumes around 150 calories a day. Bulimia is also a dangerous eating disorder where people binge followed by purging. This disorder is usually a response to depression, stress or self esteem issues, usually the individual will experience loss of control over their own body. These two eating disorders are very unsafe, unhealthy and can lead to death. These eating disorders are usually very addicting once they have been formed they are not easy to stop the habit on binging, purging, or not eating regular meals.
Having issues with body image can also be prevented. Someone that is insecure about how their body looks may diet regularly and avoid eating. They may not know that skipping meals is no help to them at all, it just ends up slowing down your metabolism and your body absorbs more calories than they would have originally taken in. Some other ways that they can keep from gaining weight and keep their body healthy is eating three meals a day, especially breakfast also known as the most important meal of the day- because that is the meal that gives you energy for the whole day. Drinking at least sixty-four ounces of water a day is also very helpful and healthy this will keep a person hydrated while avoiding caffeine and alcohol. Taking a multi vitamin daily will make sure you are getting all your vitamins that you need for the day. Teenagers should also make sure they are exercising daily, to speed up their metabolism which will also keep them in shape.
There are many ways to prevent people from viewing their bodies in negative ways. Staying healthy is just one of them, and plastic surgery is just a way of covering up their possible flaws that they do not want people to notice. Hopefully in the future body image around the high school level will not be such a big deal. Teenagers already have a lot of things to worry about at that age and self appearance shouldn’t be one of them.

Work Cited Page
Witmer, Denis. “Parenting of Adolescents.” Does your daughter have a healthy body image?
Valeso, Bryan. “Teen girls diets.” The body image antidote for teenage girls 2007, 36

Body Image: Assignment 2 Part 3

“Did you see her nose job?!” Teenage girls today are able to have surgery on just about anything that they may not like on their body. From boob jobs to lip injections you can get anything fixed for the right price. Teens are so concerned about their own and everybody else’s looks that they are willing to pay just about anything. Body image is sweeping the nation fast; it is becoming one of the most widely discussed topics in the media. Body image concerns caused by media and peer pressure affect a majority of teenage girls as shown through higher than average diagnosis’s of anorexia and bulimia which lead to numerous health problems that can be avoided. .
Body image is a very serious issue for some people although it is all psychological meaning it is in the mind, they are just imagining their body looking different then it really is; it can become a very dangerous addiction. Body image can start anywhere from being insecure on how a person might look or even just in the home where their parents are telling them that they do not look good. Surgery is one of the highest ranked problem solvers, if someone wanted to change something about their self. Surgery also comes with many risks, some examples are swelling of the body, complications with medication they have been given and infections that might occur after the surgery is over. There are also certain activities that one cannot participate in while the healing process is in effect, this way the stitches can heal and your body has time to adjust to the change. Although plastic surgery risks are small and complications with it are less than one half percent surgeries are still very risky.
Girls usually start getting concerned on how their bodies are looking when they reach the high school level. There is so much peer pressure that is going on. If their peers and friends are looking great then they are going to want to look that way to. The media is not helping with this issue at all; they pay billions of dollars a year to make people feel bad about themselves. Magazines are where most teenagers get the resources from though; supermodels and actresses are a huge influence on how girls want to look today. Teenagers usually do not understand that these magazine companies are using computers to crop and use photo shop to edit a photo to look completely different. This has taken a huge toll on how younger girls are looking at themselves.
Anorexia and Bulimia are also some harmful illnesses that people come across when they are worried about how they look. Anorexia is an eating disorder where people starve themselves. These people have a serious fear of gaining weight; anorexia causes people to not want to eat in public and not eat large amounts of food in one helping. People with this disease can start to hear voices in their head and they usually give this voice an identity, its own name. It is the most deadly of all the psychological disorders. On average a person is suppose to consume 2,500 calories a day a person who is anorexic consumes around 150 calories a day. Bulimia is also a dangerous eating disorder where people binge followed by purging. This disorder is usually a response to depression, stress or self esteem issues, usually the individual will experience loss of control over their own body. These two eating disorders are very unsafe, unhealthy and can lead to death. These eating disorders are usually very addicting once they have been formed they are not easy to stop the habit on binging, purging, or not eating regular meals.
Having issues with body image can also be prevented. Someone that is insecure about how their body looks may diet regularly and avoid eating. They may not know that skipping meals is no help to them at all, it just ends up slowing down your metabolism and your body absorbs more calories than they would have originally taken in. Some other ways that they can keep from gaining weight and keep their body healthy is eating three meals a day, especially breakfast also known as the most important meal of the day- because that is the meal that gives you energy for the whole day. Drinking at least sixty-four ounces of water a day is also very helpful and healthy this will keep a person hydrated while avoiding caffeine and alcohol. Taking a multi vitamin daily will make sure you are getting all your vitamins that you need for the day. Teenagers should also make sure they are exercising daily, to speed up their metabolism which will also keep them in shape.
There are many ways to prevent people from viewing their bodies in negative ways. Staying healthy is just one of them, and plastic surgery is just a way of covering up their possible flaws that they do not want people to notice. Hopefully in the future body image around the high school level will not be such a big deal. Teenagers already have a lot of things to worry about at that age and self appearance shouldn’t be one of them.

Work Cited Page
Witmer, Denis. “Parenting of Adolescents.” Does your daughter have a healthy body image?
Valeso, Bryan. “Teen girls diets.” The body image antidote for teenage girls 2007, 36

Assignment 2 Part 2 Body Image

“Did you see her nose job?!” Teenagers today are able to have surgery on just about anything that they may not like on their body. From boob jobs to lip injections you can get anything fixed for the right price. Teens are so concerned about their looks that they are willing to pay just about anything. Body image is sweeping the nation fast; it is becoming one of the most widely discussed topics in the media. Body image concerns a majority of high school students. The reason for this study is to argue why it affects students at such a young age explain ways to possibly prevent it from occurring.
Body image is a very serious thing for some people; it can become a very dangerous addiction. Body image can start anywhere from being insecure on how a person might look or even just in the home where their parents are telling them that they do not look good. Surgery is one of the highest ranked problem solvers, if someone wanted to change something about their self. Surgery also comes with many risks, some examples are swelling of the body, complications with medication they have been given and infections that might occur after the surgery is over. There is also certain activities that one cannot participate in while the healing process is in effect, this way the stitches can heal and your body has time to adjust to the change. Although plastic surgery risks are small and complications with it are less than one half percent surgeries are still very risky.
Anorexia and Bulimia are also some harmful illnesses that people come across when they are worried about how they look. Anorexia is an eating disorder where people starve themselves. These people have a serious fear of gaining weight; anorexia causes people to not want to eat in public and not eat large amounts of food in one helping. People with this disease can start to hear voices in their head and they usually give this voice an identity, its own name. It is the most deadly of all the psychological disorders. On average a person is suppose to consume 2,500 calories a day a person who is anorexic consumes around 150 calories a day. Bulimia is also a dangerous eating disorder where people binge followed by purging. This disorder is usually a response to depression, stress or self esteem issues, usually the individual will experience loss of control over their own body. These two eating disorders are very unsafe, unhealthy and can lead to death. These eating disorders are usually very addicting once they have been formed and they are not easy to stop the habit on binging, purging, or not eating regular meals.
Having issues with boy image can also be prevented. Someone that is insecure about how their body looks may diet regularly and avoid eating. They may not know that skipping meals is no help to them at all, it just ends up slowing down your metabolism and your body absorbs more calories. Some other ways they can keep from gaining weight and keep their body healthy is eating three meals a day, especially breakfast because that is the meal that gives you energy for the day. Drinking at least sixty-four ounces of water a day is also very helpful this will keep a person hydrated while avoiding caffeine and alcohol. Taking a multi vitamin daily will make sure you are getting all your vitamins that you need for the day. Teenagers should also make sure they are exercising daily, to speed up their metabolism which will also keep them in shape.
There are many ways to prevent people from viewing their bodies in negative ways. Staying healthy is just one of them, and plastic surgery is just a way of covering up their possible flaws that they do not want people to notice. Hopefully in the future body image around the high school level will not be such a big deal. Teenagers already have a lot of things to worry about at that age and self appearance shouldn’t be one of them.

Assignment 2 Part 1: Body Image

“Did you see her nose job?!” Teenagers today are able to have surgery on just about anything that they may not like on their body. From boob jobs to lip injections you can get anything fixed for the right price. Teens are so concerned about their looks that they are willing to pay just about anything. Body image is sweeping the nation fast; it is becoming one of the most widely discussed topics in the media. Body image concerns a majority of high school students. The reason for this study is to identify why it affects students at such a young age and ways to possibly prevent it from occurring.
Body image is a very serious thing for some people; it can become a very dangerous addiction. Body image can start anywhere from being insecure on how a person might look or even just in the home where their parents are telling them that they do not look good. Surgery is one of the highest ranked problem solvers, if someone wanted to change something about their self. Surgery also comes with many risks, some examples are swelling of the body, complications with medication they have been given and infections that might occur after the surgery is over. There is also certain activities that one cannot participate in while the healing process is in effect, this way the stitches can heal and your body has time to adjust to the change. Although plastic surgery risks are small and complications with it are less than one half percent surgeries are still very risky.
Anorexia and Bulimia are also some harmful illnesses that people come across when they are worried about how they look. Anorexia is an eating disorder where people starve themselves. These people have a serious fear of gaining weight; anorexia causes people to not want to eat in public and not eat large amounts of food in one helping. Bulimia is also a dangerous eating disorder where people binge followed by purging. This disorder is usually a response to depression, stress or self esteem issues, usually the individual will experience loss of control over their own body. These two eating disorders are very unsafe, unhealthy and can lead to death. These eating disorders are usually very addicting once they have been formed and they are not easy to stop the habit on binging, purging, or not eating regular meals.
Having issues with boy image can also be prevented. Someone that is insecure about how their body looks may diet regularly and avoid eating. They may not know that skipping meals is no help to them at all, it just ends up slowing down your metabolism and your body absorbs more calories. Some other ways they can keep from gaining weight and keep their body healthy is eating three meals a day, especially breakfast because that is the meal that gives you energy for the day. Drinking at least sixty-four ounces of water a day is also very helpful this will keep a person hydrated while avoiding caffeine and alcohol. Taking a multi vitamin daily will make sure you are getting all your vitamins that you need for the day. Teenagers should also make sure they are exercising daily, to speed up their metabolism which will also keep them in shape.
There are many ways to prevent people from viewing their bodies in negative ways. Staying healthy is just one of them, and plastic surgery is just a way of covering up their possible flaws that they do not want people to notice. Hopefully in the future body image around the high school level will not be such a big deal. Teenagers already have a lot of things to worry about at that age and self appearance shouldn’t be one of them.

Body Image: Part 5

Body image is becoming a huge issue today with younger girls around the high school level. They are becoming more interested in what models in the magazine and ads look like and they want to look and come off as just like them. Mass communication is a broad field of study that is used in everyday life. Mass media is commonly seen in the news, from reporters and in newspapers- updating you on what is going on around the area. The most commonly known part of mass communication is advertising. Advertising is seen everywhere from commercials to magazines, billboards and now even on cars, for example the Red Bull truck. Advertising has a lot of positive and negative effects to it, but, the main issue that is being discussed a lot more often that has to do with advertising is body image. Body image is how people view themselves and others on a daily basis; it has to do a lot with judging others or even themselves. This is becoming a bigger issue towards teenage girls that are entering the high school level or in high school already. This is because they are trying to find the “in look” for themselves and these models in magazines are how they find it. Models are becoming role models to teenagers and they don’t even realize it.
My feelings on body image are very strong. I feel as if girls rely too much on others to figure out what they want or think they need to look like. Magazines and ads always have very beautiful models; they do this because they know it will help them sell their product better because the models catch the reader’s attention by their looks. I feel in a teenage magazine, for example, Teen People or YM, girls aren’t reading to look at ads they are reading to find out what is cool and in for the upcoming season. Teenagers already have enough stress in their lives at that age, whose dating who, who they will go with to homecoming, keeping their grades high enough that they will please their parents and that’s just a few things. The last thing they should be worrying about is their weight, or how pretty they need to be. Everybody wants to be in the popular crowd at school, but making yourself sick just to be that person usually isn’t flattering to many. Today big role models to high school aged girls are Lindsey Lohan and Mary Kate Olsen. Look at these girls now, they are anorexic, sick and even out of control of their own bodies. I am sure that some of the girls that look up to these young stars might be losing weight, coloring their hair, getting tattoos and piercings, because they think this is what other people want them to look like. But what they don’t see is how people really don’t fine these things attractive.
What is it that makes people judge others on how they look? How do they determine if someone doesn’t look good enough in what they are wearing or how big someone is when obesity might run in their family? I just feel that you can’t judge someone without knowing anything about them. An example of body image happened recently at the University of South Dakota with the cheerleading and dance teams that advertise the coyote logo on their uniforms. Someone that works for the university mentioned to their coaches that they would not be able to wear their uniforms anymore if some of the girls didn’t lose a little weight. When they were told this of course it affected the squad as a whole because they couldn’t just point out the girls that they were directing these comments towards because that would be very upsetting to them and discouraging to hear.
There could be opposite view points on the topic body image. Some people may think that magazines don’t affect the way that girls look themselves. Others may say that Lindsey Lohan and Mary Kate Olson might have no affect on the younger crowd or that the University of South Dakota told the cheerleaders and dancers that they need to lose weight because there is a lot of people that look up to them; a lot of younger girls that may want to be just like them someday are watching them and they need to present themselves in a clean manner. These are all good opposite viewings of body image because all of these points are very strong as well.
Body image is a problem that is just becoming worse over the years and it would be an excellent problem to clean up because there would be a lot less illness and deaths from illnesses of people becoming anorexic or bulimic and a lot less self-esteem issues as well. Body image could be cured by people just starting to respect themselves and others in public and at home. No one needs to be compared to “Americas Next Top Model” everyone is beautiful in their own way. Even stars in magazines think they need to lose weight because one of the competitors in smaller then they are, which isn’t setting a good example for the younger crowd. Hopefully in a few years body image will not be such a large social problem, and we can start to cure it.