The fashion, media and advertising industries play a significant role in shaping the cultural ideals of society. Messages about beauty portrayed in popular media can contribute to body image pressures on young people in particular.
Young people have been saying out loud for years that they are concerned about the issue of body image and the impact that it’s having on them, their friends and the community.
A current interest of mine is the development of the Voluntary Industry Code of Conduct on Body Image for the fashion and adverting industries in the hope of addressing increasing body dissatisfaction levels among Australia’s young.
The National Advisory Group on Body Image, including Australia’s Next Top Model co-host Sarah Murdoch, was appointed by the Australian Government in 2009 to developed the Voluntary Industry Code of Conduct to provide national guidance on this important issue.
The code aims to tackle issues including clearer notification of altered or enhanced images, better representation of diverse body shapes and industry age limits. The code recommends that advertisers, the media and fashion designers:
disclose digitally manipulated images;
use models 16 years and older within a healthy weight range; and
use a more diverse range of body shapes, sizes and ethnicities as these industries have a tremendous amount of influence.
The code is for the Government to work in partnership with the media, health sector, beauty and fashion industries and young people to find a workable solution to promote positive body image.
Model Valentina Zelyaeva before (left) and after the airbrushing
Sarah Murdoch on the cover of Australian Women's Weekly - without airbrushing or photo-shopping.
The issue of body image affects the lives of real people in very powerful ways and the code will take key steps to tackle this challenge.
Indiana Holley 