Subliminal messages in media

Subliminal messages can be seen all over media especially within the beauty industry. Subliminal messages can be seen more clearly with the model industry with the fact that a lot of important brands (such as Victoria’s Secret) advertise the same type of woman with the same type of body. During an interview, it was even stated that Victoria’s Secret clothing/ undergarments are not “made for plus sized” women, and that the brand is only really catering to those of a thinner statures. Even instagram influencers tend to all have the natural/ unnatural “hourglass” figure and that is the standard of beauty. For women now, if you don’t have that body type, are good at makeup or have the same image as every other woman that is seen as attractive, you are no longer attractive. Subliminal messages like these are extremely negative especially when it comes to the psychology of a woman and the impact on further generations of women. Harmful subliminal messages can also be seen in cartoons, television advertising and more. This is extremely harmful for consumers because if children are consuming the information and are not initially aware of the information and its consequences, negative behavior could be the result. A negative psychological disorder seen in cartoons (specifically in Looney Tunes) is suicide and this is extremely harmful for children to be exposed to because now the child could consider suicide as a solution to escape their problems. This can be seen with the scene of a character shooting themselves just because life was getting “too difficult”. However, when there is more inclusion of positive messages than subliminal messages may be alright (although it does seem there are significantly more negative impacts than positive ones). People sending these messages need to give more of a clarification of whether or not they mean to send a certain message because it is extremely impactful whether they realize it or not. People will even go as far as harming themselves or others due to the impact of subliminal messages which is NOT okay. Additionally, subliminal messages (especially in media) could completely destroy someone’s confidence, perception of themselves and others and could even impact their behavior in a negative way due to the psychological impact. The sources that I chose to include in my essay help give different perspectives on the topic and even uncovers a german-suicide hashtag! Another source included discusses the misrepresentation of minorities in media and how the subliminal messages can be harmful for the community and those not familiar about the community. This could be be harmful for the community because it could give children within those communities the wrong ideas about their heritage and more. It is harmful for those not within the community because it could cause those people to form opinions that are harmful and unfair based on misrepresentation. Another aspect some of my sources addresses is exactly how it impacts behavior and how it can even “awaken” some individuals psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression and suicide.