In the media, celebrities and models are seen as perfect and people you should try to look like. However

“Excessive photo-shopping and retouching makes it virtually unimaginable for women to feel beautiful or good about the way they look”(ideal bite)

Magazines are lying to its readers and as a result they are making the readers have unrealistic goals which promote unhealthy body ideals and eating disorders which affect so many people's lives. In most magazines it is very easy to find many pages about dieting to get the “perfect” body and lose weight. What you will find is not just tips and advice on dieting, many times it is not about helping people gain confidence in the way they look, it is about making money. It is an industry, a 20 billion dollar industry geared towards people who don’t feel good about themselves. To get readers attention, celebrities are often  paid up to 3 million dollars to endorse a certain weight-loss program.

Some people argue that photoshop and altering the images is art. Also they argue that there is so much pressure on celebrities to be perfect all the time so why not try and  help them. By slightly altering the images to try and avoid the constant criticism. People have always tried to look perfect and they have only developed new more advanced ways of perfecting one's appearance. It’s always good to have goals so why is it different if there about improving your body instead of for example getting better grades. ¨it's not hurting anyone, just enhancing the image.¨ But I do not believe that's true, it is hurting so many people and it ¨creates an unattainable ideal for our society.¨

Here’s a story of one person who was affected very negatively. “Miss Johnston’s descent into anorexia began when, at 13, she started to idolise celebrities and obsess over their figures. She stuck magazine cuttings inside her school locker and compiled motivational scrapbooks which she would pore over to prevent herself from eating when she felt hungry. Desperate to achieve a ‘celebrity figure’, she would survive on half an apple every two days, and once went without food or water for ten days… 'It wasn’t until later that I realised what an effect these images can have and how they affected the things I did or how I felt. Although these glossy magazines aren’t actually aimed at under 16s, they still read them. If an image has been airbrushed it should say so and which parts of the body have been altered.” 

Her story yet extreme, is not unique. So many people, mainly women are affected by what  they see in magazines “Seeing only perfect models on drastically retouched pictures can lower one's self-esteem, cause eating disorders and build unnecessary pressure to conform to the advertised ideals.”(to photoshop or not to photoshop).

69% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body shape.
47% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures.
81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat.

Photoshop creates unrealistic ideals and drastically changes what we think is an ideal body and how we see our own body.  I believe that if magazines used the un-altered pictures many people would feel beautiful in their own bodies and recognize that nobody is perfect and everyone is beautiful!  But I feel like that is not a realistic goal because everyone wants to be as “perfect” as they can get especially when they’re under the limelight and the subject of constant criticism. However I think a more realistic goal is for magazines to put a warning on the pictures that have been altered so people are more aware.