Susan Bordo

In her chapter titled "Hunger as Ideology," Bordo discusses the strong, prevalent influence that advertisements have upon women of all ages, and upon various other audiences.  Her first example shows how young girls are being taught at a very early age that they need to monitor their eating habits and continuously be conscious of what they are eating and how much they are eating. 

All of this leads back to capitalism, which has been a common theme throughout this class.  Advertisers know exactly who to target and how to appeal to a particular demographic in order to persuade them to purchase a product or service.  At the end of the day, advertisers and companies care about one thing and one thing only - money.  They don't care if their advertisements skew a young girl's perception of her own body weight or shape.  Advertisers' goal is to do, show, or say whatever they need to in order to drive your business to their store or product.  I think that most Americans would answer "yes" if they were asked if an advertisement has ever made them feel a certain way or compelled them to buy a product or service.  I do not condone advertisers putting ideas into children's minds that may lead them to establish poor self confidence or body images problems; however, I think it is just the nature of the game.  Their goal is to make money, and in order to do that they need to make you feel like you need their product.