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Nickole Caballero
ENC 1101
March 24, 2015
Advertisement Paper
What It Takes To Be Skinny
Picture yourself walking through a crowded city filled with tourists from all over
the world. What is the first thing that you notice as you are strolling by? Advertisements!
Varying from positive ads to negative ads, they are everywhere. People do not stop and
take the time to actually realize what they are looking at. Many people are intrigued by
the big picture of skinny sexy women plastered on the side of a building but don't take
the time to interpret its message. Many of the Americans are blinded by the fact that the
majority of these ads are promoting negative and false messages. These ads promote the
idea that being skinny and having a perfect body is imperative in order to fit in todays
society. This fallacy is absorbed daily by every girl in America. If more ads were created
promoting the opposite message, people will notice a change in the attitudes of women
and people from all over the world.
The ad Skinny Water is very colorful and vibrant which is an attractive feature that will
catch the attention to anyone who takes a first glance at it. The bright colors of the ad
make everything seem happy and joyful as if the product will bring joy to your life. This
is the wrong idea that is being portrayed. The people are being blinded by the colorful
water and missing the big picture. By including the motto strut your skinny the ad
advertises the idea of being skinny. This can create a lot of problems amongst some of
the female population. The ad is also showing four female models. They are being

portrayed as very chic and fashionable women. Their posture says a lot about their
attitude and how they have the mentality of thinking they are the best of the best. The
goal is to get girls to think that when you drink this Skinny water, you will come out
feeling on top of the world. These results are not going to come magically out of
nowhere. Women have to realize that if they want a certain body type, there has to be
lots of work and effort put into it. Nothing is for free in this life. The original ad focused
on one size in particular, which in reality is not natural and pure beauty. Beauty has
many definitions, shapes and sizes. It is not something that is concrete and static. Beauty
is in the eye of the beholder. Everyone looks at it from different perspectives yielding
different answers every time. This makes beauty a very special concept. It simply cannot
be objectively defined.
In todays world, many girls have the mentality that they have to be skinny in
order to fit in and be beautiful. This shallow mentality can stem from the ads that are
being presented through many kinds of social media. In addition to the excess amount of
pressure expected from females every day, worrying about their body image should not
be one of them. By promoting this original ad, the media is not helping the situation to
any extent. The reason for all of this pressure brought upon society is due to
advertisements being presented in their everyday lives. The way girls think about how
they need to look and act is mainly due to the negative advertisements. This
advertisement sends out a subliminal message to the viewers. Whenever people see
vibrant colors, they associate the product being sold to something that makes them feel
very joyful. In their mind, drinking skinny water, which is a type of drink that is not
supposed to make you fat after drinking it, is something that will bring them happiness

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in life. Girls who start to drink skinny water can affect their self-esteem to a point where
it can be dangerous. The editor of Seventeen Magazines states, 70 percent of women
feel depressed, guilty, and shameful after seeing ads that incorporate skinny models
(qtd. Shoket) For example, girls who start to drink this skinny water end up becoming
frustrated and upset because they did not reach the expectations that the ad showed them
they would achieve. Because of that statistic, the anti-ad should be the one being
distributed and plastered everywhere for everyone to see because it will decrease that
statistic. A lot of women wont feel that big of a pressure being pressed into their head.
The anti ad strategy was created to negate the skinny message that has
transformed this negative view originating a whole different spin and perspective. The
ad incorporated girls from all shapes and sizes in order to not implement in peoples
minds the false message that women have to be one size in order to fit in in this world.
With the original ad, it is making the public think that the correct way to be is skinny.
Nobody is perfect and there is a body type for everyone. The anti ad does a great job by
twisting this idea and spreading the message that a person does not have to be a certain
size in order to purchase the product or fit in. This anti ad incorporates not only people
with different body types but as well as different race. Not every model has to be one
race and color. Beauty comes from all over and is not just simplified and confined into
one type person. The key concept to remember is for the person to be themselves at all
times and slowly but surely, things will fall into its place. The models used in the picture
were also portrayed from different cultures and body shapes. This is to convey a
message to be proud of who you are and to not pay attention to the negative insults from
the world that may come towards you. Self-esteem, physically and mentally, is very

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important and it is something that should not be messed with. We have natural beauty
inside and out. Everyone is unique in their own special way and that is what makes
people so interesting.
The original ad is indirectly yelling out to the public all negative messages and
some women are not realizing it. Like mentioned previously, there is a lot of pressure
already on the women of our society. This ad in particular is not one that should be
flaunted all over television and on the streets of many cities. Since the ad is making
women believe in erroneous and deceiving ideas, it can lead to many negative effects
such as depression, anorexia, and low self-esteem. There are many negative effects that
are permeating from this ad. A lot of the women are unaware of what they are putting
themselves through. It is such a tragedy to watch the girls do horrible things to
themselves just to try and live up to the expectations portrayed by this ad of Skinny
Water.
Many people in the United States look up to the wonderful models and tend to
imitate everything about them because they see them as the most beautiful people in the
world. A study called the Chameleon effect stated, This effect is the natural tendency to
imitate another persons speech inflections and physical expressions (Chartrand and
Bargh.) The actions of the models are transmitted to the public in the most negative way
possible. At times, some people take it to the extreme and the outcome turns out to be
something that is not healthy. The ad is brainwashing all of the girls for the worse and
girls from a young age become accustomed to that and grow up thinking that is the way
you have to be in order to fit in with everyone and be pretty. Each and every day, it is
becoming harder to distinguish what is real and what is not. Younger girls do not know

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any better and believe everything they see. Girls will take extreme measures just to fit in
and look to what they think is beautiful.
In the anti-ad, the vibrant colors were left to stimulate happiness and positive
thoughts with being yourself and trying to not pretend you are something different.
These positive colors are very warm and make the audience feel welcome with open
arms into being themselves and nobody else. These colors are there to permeate positive
vibes and ensure bliss. Every color that was used in the anti ad has its own hidden
meaning and purpose for incorporating it. The red color is used in association with
power, determination, energy, and strength. This red color is a very strong color that is
exuberant and very standoffish which should imitate the actions of the models in their
own skin. Orange is described as a very joyful and happy color that should make any
person feel as they are drinking the product that is trying to be sold. Yellow is also a
color that stimulates happiness and positive energy. Green is the color of the earth. It
should perceive as positive growth and harmony. This harmony should be permeated
throughout all of the models and how they should all come together as one without
caring what anyone else thinks. All of these colors in the end are only bringing positive
hidden messages without negative connotations. These messages tend to go unnoticed,
but the public should take a step back and appreciate the message being portrayed.
According to Central Penn Business Journal, 92 percent of the people surveyed
reported they do not pay attention to advertisements. This statement is false and is a
myth. The average person can typically name hundreds of brands that they see on
television or anywhere on the streets. By just giving them a few hints, they will instantly
remember what they saw after saying that they dont pay attention to the

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advertisements. According to Central Penn Business Journals, Our minds retain a

great deal of what we supposedly do not pay attention to according to our conscious
statements. Many people claim that they do not pay attention to advertisements. But
after being exposed to this same ad that is plastered everywhere over a period of time,
the message will eventually stick to your mind and you will start to believe in what the
ad is trying to portray. This ad is not exemplifying anything positive to girls and women
in America. By making this ad public for everyone to see, it is giving false hope to all of
the women. Making women feel the need to be as perfect as the models can lead to
endless amounts of negative outcomes.
A very few percentage of people are naturally as skinny as the models with their
perfect features. According to Ideal Bite News, 95 percent of what you see in fashion
magazines is retouched. The people who look at the models seem to forget that they are
fantasies and not reality. Every girl is often jealous of how the models look. Would you
be so jealous if you knew how airbrushed and fake the picture is? The media is creating
such an unbelievable world that it is hard to trust what you read and see anymore. We
live in a society where your body image means everything and without the perfect
image, you are irrelevant to society. People seem to forget the excessive amount of
retouching that goes behind that picture. The models and actresses that people see as
perfect are really far from it. It is very ironic actually when it comes to these ads.
Moreover, the women who are modeling for the product are the complete opposite of
natural. Some of the models do not know what it means to be natural.
The anti-ad does a good job of turning that negative quality of the original ad into
a positive one. The ad incorporates positive phrases that will motivate women in every

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aspect of life and not just looks. Under each product, there is a saying that goes under it
to stimulate encouraging and supporting feelings/thoughts. Be yourself, be independent,
love yourself, be different, and be positive. All of these are the phrases that are used in
the anti ad. This is used as motivational phrases. Everyone has good and bad days and
everyone deserves to get to be told these phrases every once in a while. With the anti ad,
the main focus was the skinny models and the products were basically plastered on top
of the models making the main focus on how good looking and fit the models were.
With this ad, it does a great job of not comparing the models to others and that goes to
show a great twist with individuality.
The anti ad also changes the actual title of the product being sold. The original
name of the product was Skinny Water. In the anti ad, the name of the product was
changed to Pure Water. The slogan was also changed to strut your self. These changes
were made in order to change the message that was originally portrayed to the public.
The water is now called pure. Pure has a meaning of not being mixed or altered with any
other substance. In other words, this product is solely based on the product and not
making you look a certain way. It is all natural and nothing is fake.
No matter how hard women try to be as perfect as the models, they are never
going to accomplish the goal. Perfection does not exist. Perfection is a very broad and
subjective term. It has different meanings for different people. Something that might be
perfect to them might not seem perfect to you. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
There is a tremendous amount of pressure being brought upon women in society and it is
definitely not justifiable. Many negative effects have been noticed by society. The ads
have to undergo a drastic change to stop creating stereotypes on women.

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Works Cited
"Chameleon Effect." The and Chartrand & Bargh Experiments. N.p., n.d. Web.
06 July 2014.
Powell, Camira. "Seventeen Magazine Promises Not To Photoshop Its Models. Mic. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 15 July 2014.

"The Whiteboard: The Biggest Lie in Marketing: I Don't Pay Attention to Advertising. Au
Contraire." Central Penn Business Journal. N.p., 7 Feb. 2014. Web. 15 July 2014.

"100 Percent of What You See In Fashion Magazines Is Retouched - IdealBite." IdealBite.
N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2014.

ORIGINAL ADVERTISEMENT:

Anti Advertisement:

Be
Yourself

Be
Love
Independent Yourself

Be
Be
Different Positive

STRUT
YOURSELF
FLAVORED
PURE

WATER