Analysis of Advertisement

   Kylie Jenner, arguably one of the most influential people of this generation, posted a Teamiblends ad promoting detox tea to her 114 million Instagram followers. Society has a strong tendency to encourage thinness, which can influence vulnerable individuals to develop eating disorders. Detox teas have become the most promoted ads on social media with the magical promise of weight loss and detoxification.

   As celebrities continue to endorse questionable health claims made by this company, most likely due to the enormous amount of money they make per ad, more of their vulnerable followers will purchase from these detox tea companies who are selling women the unattainable ideal. Within Kylie Jenner’s 114 million Instagram followers, over 40% of them are females aged 14-18 (moju.io). These young women face plenty of societal pressures to become thin and maintain a slim figure. Teamiblends does not “promote a healthy lifestyle” because detox teas are harmful to your health. Research has shown that Teamiblend’s formula for detox teas has no link to weight loss or fat loss (Gonzalez et al., 2018).

   Teamiblends is the perfect example of how social media marketing practices that are unregulated can create an unrealistic expectation of the “perfect” body to sell products on the exploitation of women’s insecurities. A closer inspection of Teamiblend’s Instagram page reveals numerous before and after images of customers’ bloated and flat stomachs, endorsements by celebrities with the ideal hourglass figure, and the occasional pseudo-feminist inspirational quote. According to Teamiblend, all of this is used to make women “feel their best” by promoting a shift towards wellness and lifestyle changes. By Kylie Jenner promoting Teamiblend, she is creating expectations that are impossible to satisfy and frequently contradictory for women. My rework of the original advertisement will be addressing the company’s problematic approach to body positivity.

Updated Advertisement

  The updated advertisement shows the negative aspect of celebrity endorsements and Kylie Jenner’s questionable promotion of feminism. I replaced a portion of Kylie Jenner’s original caption with an endorsement for social media’s beauty standards. My reason for doing so is to emphasize that social media’s standard of beauty is based on women with similar features to Kylie Jenner. Instead, social media should celebrate the different bodies among women. The world we live in emphasizes how women look and the standard of beauty continues to become more challenging to attain. The drive for thinness has lead to an increase in the prevalence of eating disorders and their grave consequences. The section of the caption about how Teamiblends “promote a healthy lifestyle” remained to show that companies can mislead women into thinking that they require a lifestyle change to fit into society’s standard of beauty. Being body positive does not mean individuals should not do their best to be beautiful and healthy; it means that we stop filling our minds with an unrealistic expectation of beauty.

   In addition, I replaced Teamiblend’s logo on their water bottle with “not a feminist.” When I researched this advertisement, I did not believe Kylie Jenner would be a feminist because of her social media posts subtly promoting thinness and the cis, white female beauty standard. Ironically, Kylie Jenner is a self-proclaimed feminist and believes she is “an inspiration for a lot of young girls who want to stand on their own” (Waldan, 2017). I believe that she has a responsibility to her female followers to use her platform to respect differences.

   My goal from these alterations is to inform women that they are worth more than what the $24.99 detox tea company says about their features. In this way, women can believe that they do not need to adhere to social media’s image of the “perfect” woman. Instead, women can be unique, perfectly imperfect, and themselves.

References

Gonzalez, A. M., Sell, K. M., Ghigiarelli, J. J., Spitz, R. W., Accetta, M. R., & Mangine, G. T. (2018). Effect of multi-ingredient supplement containing satiereal, naringin, and vitamin D on body composition, mood, and satiety in overweight adults. Journal of Dietary Supplements, 15(6), 965-976. doi:10.1080/19390211.2017.1407385

Waldan, C. (2017, August 7). Kylie Jenner: “I’m an inspiration for young girls who want to stand on their own.” Retrieved from: Glamour Magazine