I found Simrat’s blog on Toddler’s and Tiaras and I agree with her that it is very unethical to target young children with messages of wearing revealing clothing and makeup or being thin. This creates an unhealthy body image at a time they should be worrying about coluring inside the lines and not on how they look. Reading further about related topics I came across an article that said how girls as young as five where admitted to the hospital to be treated for severe anorexia. FIVE! That is just so appalling to think someone so young is so concerned about their eating habits. I don’t even remember what I did at age five, but it would be something along the lines of playing with dolls and stuffing my face with chocolate or any other sweets I could get my pudgy hands on. The question here is who’s to blame? Is it the parents or the media?

While the parents carry most of the fault (like the psycho mothers on ‘Toddelers and Tiaras”), the media piles fire to the problem.A prime example is this is a book I found “Maggie Goes on a Diet” that is listed in Barnes and Nobles to be aimed at  6-12 year olds Not to judge a book by it’s cover or anything, but it seems like a VERY bad idea to market this book to such a young crowd! Who in their right mind would buy this for their six year old?

As many other examples show, media has a huge influence on girls and thus advertisement should be more careful of the messages they indorse and be more aware of the negative impact they have on young impressionable minds. Things like “Maggie Goes on a Diet” should be banned so it would never reach any bookshelf.