Two fantastic ads which show how the media 'tweak' reality so that the end product has very little to do with real life. It is clear that this distorts our perception of what real world people look like and can lead to all kinds of problems, but there is something that is often overlooked: the media exploit innate predispositions. The media do not set out to change our aesthetic standards; their aim is to sell stuff. To do this they have identified and they exaggerate innate preferences -- in this case innate M preferences of what the F face/body should be like. Look at these two ads: why do the Photoshop artists make the model's neck longer? Why don't they make it shorter? (A: a W's neck is longer than a M's -- the exaggeration of this feature screams out: 'I'm female' and 'I'm fertile'). It is the same with all the other differences: large eyes, triangular face, long legs, a clear skin, a 0.7 waist-to-hip ratio, a relatively low BMI, etc. etc. Most of these preferences are innate. The problem of course is that a) the media exaggerate them (the proportions of many of the models we see are simply unnatural -- they are 'Supernormal Stimuli') and b) because of constant exposure to such idealized images, our brain tends to think that the world is populated with such 'angels' (see the 'availability heuristic'); this leads to M dissatisfaction with the W they see around them and to depression and eating disorders among young girls who feel they cannot compete with them. [Strongly recommended: D. Barrett: 'Supernormal Stimuli' (Ch 3: 'Sex for Dummies' / BBC: 'How Art Made the World' (Episode 1: 'More Human than Human') / D. Kenrick: 'Sex, Murder and the Meaning of Life' (Ch 2: 'Why Playboy is Bad for your Mental Mechanisms')] [NB: I do not own the copyright to this video clip. I have uploaded it here for educational purposes].

• published: 30 Dec 2013
• views: 412