The topic I am choosing to analyse in a social science lens is advertising,
particularly when it comes to weight loss regimens. This type of
advertising can impact your psyche. Hobbs, R. et al, talks about how
adolescent girls interpret those weight loss advertisements. It states
that essentially, young girls have the critical thinking skills to weed out
the obvious advertisements, but "do not recognize how advertising
evokes emotional responses or how visual and narrative techniques are
used to increase identification in weight-loss advertising" (Hobbs, R.,
Broder S., Pope, H., Rowe, J. (2006). This type of harmful advertising is
especially susceptible by younger girls. Understanding of social
sciences has made me realize how damaging these seeming innocuous
ads can be. Eating disorders are majorly influenced by the media, and
this type of media can demonize having fat and idolize being thin.
Overall, these lenses have helped me gain a more well-rounded
understanding of my topic.
Hobbs, R., Broder S., Pope, H., Rowe, J., (2006) How adolescent girls
interpret weight-loss advertising, Health Education Research, Volume
21, Issue 5, October 2006, Pages 719–730,
