This is a controversial ad that was released by a company known as Protein World which is a company that releases health supplements and meal plans that are associated with weight loss and sports nutrition. This 2015 ad was released in anticipation of its product line known as The Weight Loss Collection consisting of meal replacements and supplements.

The Issue

Upon seeing this ad, there are 2 main problems that should be addressed. The first main issue is the unrealistic beauty standards that are being set by the company. This advertisement portrays the fact that women must have a slim body, as the image shows, in order to be ready for the beach; that this “beach body” that is being described involves being incredibly slim and curvy. This image provides the connotation that the woman being represented in the advertisement is the ideal body type that all woman should attain and strive for. That being said, the reality is that being incredibly slim and curvy does not indicate that an individual has attained a “beach body” nor does it correlate with the level of health that an individual has attained. All humans come in different body types and sizes and to correlate a very specific body aesthetic to how beautiful or desirable an individual is, is incredibly harmful to one’s physical and mental health. The fact is that the body is portrayed in the image is not an everyday body type; the model has most likely undergone rigorous training and dieting to obtain a body that the public would consider slim and curvy. That being said, because we see these types of individuals so consistently in social media and advertisement we begin to believe that this toned and slim body is the norm when in actuality, there has been a huge investment that has gone into it. To criticize and judge one’s self-image based on seemingly normal expectations, but extraordinary in actuality, is so damaging to one’s self-esteem because this extraordinary image that is being visualized is thought to be the norm and thus our inability to attain this image can become especially disheartening and painful to the psyche. The physical aesthetic and body shape of an individual does not correlate with how healthy or how “beach ready” an individual is.

The second issue is related to how the woman in this advertisement is being portrayed. The ad makes you believe that by consuming the meal replacements and supplements provided by Protein World, one can attain a similar body to that of the woman in the image; it puts the idea in the consumer’s mind that the only thing that is necessary to attain that body is to consume the product. With the advancement of technology in today’s day and age, an image can be modified in so many ways. With image filters, specific photographic angles and Photoshop, the odds that the image was modified in some way, shape or form are so high. Therefore, the chances of attaining such a body by solely consuming these products are incredibly low. This may then facilitate women to undergo unhealthy means to attain this body type which was technologically generated.

Jammed Advertisement

The main alteration that was conducted in this advertisement was done in regard to the text. The initial emphasis that I wanted to portray was the fact that the goal of this advertisement is to sell a product, specifically a weight loss product. I believe that by doing so, we are dampening the legitimacy of the image being portrayed; that the image we are being shown is fabricated so that consumers are more inclined to buy the product being sold. Furthermore, the two keywords that I would like to emphasize in my alteration are the words posing and Photoshopped. As previously mentioned, the image of the model that is being portrayed in the advertisements has most likely undergone some sort modifications to make the model more aesthetically pleasing. An example of this would be the way that she is standing, with her shoulders and arms positioned farther behind the rest of her body. Normally, an individual would not stand in that manner. In this case, the only reason that she standing that way is to accentuate her figure. Therefore, by highlighting the fact that the model is posing and that she does not always look like that, I hope to actualize the fact that the images that were portrayed in the advertisement is unrealistic and that other individuals should not compare or judge themselves based on this image. Furthermore, it is very likely that the level of Photoshop was conducted on the model as well. By highlighting the fact that the woman that we are seeing may have been generated by a software, it depicts the idea that in society, woman may not necessarily look this way and that this level of slenderness and appeal is nothing but a means of promoting a product to sell; that this image is presented should not be a benchmark or point of comparison but rather a marketing scheme generated by businesses to gain revenue.