Emphasis on Gaining Weight

The October 28, 2013 cover of Life & Style Weekly attempts to grab the attention of a consumer who is simply passing by. Well-known celebrity icon, Kim Kardashian, is pictured loud and proud in the center of this cover, wearing nothing more than a skimpy bathing suit. First things first, the image of Kim in the suit is clearly provocative, purposely utilizing an alluring appeal to hail to an audience. This cover uses sex appeal and the exposure of a woman’s body to sell itself, essentially exploiting this image of Kim as a marketing technique. It’s understood that over all else, a magazine is a business, but it seems degrading that publications such as Life & Style Weekly have no shame is exploiting sex appeal in place of attention and sales. Getting consumers’ attention in a way that emphasizes sex and appearance in order to sell is strategic and successful, but can it also send a misleading and slightly offensive message sometimes? Think about it. We see it all the time in ads and on commercials—the female body, sex appeal of women—either objectified or used to grab attention and sell a product. This kind of approach stealthily degrades women in the sense that the female body is manipulated while making that idea appear okay to society, including women.

Beyond this, the content of this cover demonstrates the hidden message of beauty-ideals sent to consumers. As far as the image of Kim, it really seems to set standards high as of what ‘good looking’ in society is portrayed as. With no knowledge of how retouched the photo is, it leaves consumers wondering if such an appearance is even realistically attainable, especially after pregnancy weight gain! But it fools us into to thinking it is, therefore putting this universal pressure on females to live up to such standards as well has setting a bar for males of what beautiful, successful and desirable women should be able to look like.

Meanwhile, ridiculous subtitles and picture of a “heavier” Kim rests off to the side in order to show the contrast in her weight fluctuation. In regards to an article found on the inside of the magazine, Kim’s pregnancy weight gain and loss is the majority focus of this issue’s cover. Kim’s image and the untrustworthy claims swamp the mass of the page. The subtitle of the smaller pregnancy photo reads, “April 2013: Kim at her heaviest and most miserable”. While bullets at the base of the main image of Kim exclaim of her “no-starve diet”, “flat-tummy workout trick” and “secret snack that burns calories fast”. These are apparently tricks of Kim’s after having been “bullied for her pregnancy weight gain”.

Praising Kim’s weight loss is absolutely ludicrous when no less than a couple weeks prior, Life & Style Weekly were part of the exact “bullying” they refer to here. This cover has the intent of showing a heavier Kim that boasts the words “Ruining my life”, in reference to her pregnancy. Underneath it continues to claim the weight gain as a reason for Kim’s supposed distress.

This kind of attention, on weight gain—especially a pregnant woman’s—is extremely trivial and gives society the impression that weight gain is something to be ashamed of, especially if  a famous face such as Kim Kardashian “cries” over apparently “fat hands”.  Does that mean the rest of us too should be overly upset if our hands are pudgy? Society sees these claims, this emphasis on weight—in turn appearance—and may succumb to the influence that tabloids put on females to live up to the expectation of beauty.