How Advertisement For Cosmetics Are Effecting Today's Teenagers

By Jerome Vang

Cosmetics covers a wide array of products. It can apply to make up, skin care products, or even eye wear. No matter how you look at it, they are a big part of the female world as we know it.

Advertisements in today's industry uses gorgeous women. Slim and perfect, they appear flawless. It is supposedly the result of the product being advertised. The effect on teenagers everywhere is less than good.

Most campaigns show females getting positive attention from males while looking perfect. This image has girls believing the best way to get a guy's attention is to be flawless. Even though it sells the product to the impressionable teen, it lowers their self-esteem in the process.

Depression is the normal result of advertising like this. Teen years are the most impressionable years in a young girl's life. This is where they learn to live in the adult world. If they think they have to be beautiful in order to be a success in life, this is an unrealistic outlook.

Skin care products are a good example of this kind of marketing. Most, but not all, skin care products offered these days use celebrities or hired models to star in their commercial campaigns. Actors and models already have a bad reputation for being "made up" or airbrushed. Companies using them to get to the teen market just add salt to the wound. They are considered role models so if they look perfect, girls think they have to too.

When teens see commercials like that, they think they have to look like what they see in order to be happy. That is an unrealistic outlook, and should not be allowed to be sent through television or other mediums.

TV is not the only party guilty of this. Magazines and other periodicals are worse. Flipping through any fashion magazine, girls see their favorite celebrities, or models looking down right gorgeous.This is not a realistic picture.

Companies are taking a stance against low self-esteem. Perfection is not used in any of their product media. The act of using real customers to advertise their products is becoming more common place. This is the best form of advertising. Though celebrity endorsement is still popular it's not the only form being used now. It is good for teenagers to see individuals just like them using the products they might use.

The problem will not go away over night, but there are steps being taken. Flip through a fashion magazine or a teen oriented magazine once. You will see many cosmetics advertisements now feature normal teenagers. This is a big step in helping the self-esteem of today's youth. - 33373

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