You might think Pepe (27) just walked down the runway in a D&G fashion show. He is the picture perfect model type in his light blue Cheap Monday skinny jeans and a funny T-shirt with writing on it. The trendy aviator glasses just complete the whole surfer dude look. The fact that Pepe is barefoot proves his laid-back attitude which also comes through the outfit. However, before he was ready to go to the beach, he slipped on his basic flip-flops.
FRANZISKA (22) is aiming at a more comfortable yet chic look. The navy style with black and white stripes which is in again this season goes great with the “boyfriend” jeans, both items from H&M. The colorful bag adds liveliness into the outfit. Her sandals are just adorable. Created from little details such as silver beads and a little black bow, they are very girly and definitely add a spark to the rest of the outfit.
Stereotypes unfortunately persist even in today's modern and progressive world and society. A stereotype occurs when a person prejudges an individual and assigns generalizations about them based on preconceived notions of a group (Goessl). Gender, ethnicity, religion or age are some of the most basic and most frequently used stereotypes. Stereotypes are often inaccurate and made fun of, therefore have negative effect on both the people being stereotyped and on the children that are highly influenced on media, mainly the television as it creates a false perception about these people.
Children develop and shape their values, beliefs, attitudes and self-esteem around the mid-teens or even earlier (Media Awareness Network). It should be the parents who take on this role, but nowadays, in this hectic and stressful world with busy, hard-working parents with no free time, it is up to the television to do this job. According to KidsHealth.org, kids under age 6 watch an average of about 2 hours of screen media a day, primarily TV and videos or DVDs and kids and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen and almost 2 additional hours on the computer and playing video games, which makes it a total of 42 hours per week. Because of this excessive amount of time they spend with the media, there is no wonder they get influenced by its values and beliefs, and these then become their own. Due to the stereotyping of gender roles in the media, children have very distinct and rigid perception of what women and men do, what is expected of them and what is not. Kids assume that only the man works in the family, provides food and shelter, on the other hand they think the woman is the one staying at home, cooking, taking care of the household. This was very true in the past, however, in today's society where women are highly emancipated and take on jobs they could not in the future, it is often both of the parents who have jobs and support family with an income. This is very important and kids should be aware that not only daddy makes money in the family, but mom is also an able financial provider.
Another negative message that the media is sending to teenagers is about the body-image. Teens are constantly exposed to perfect bodies in magazines, advertisements, movies and TV-shows. The media sends a message that this is the ideal, and everyone should look like this. Since teens believe this, they may feel depressed or less valuable because they do not look like that perfect ideal they see on their favourite TV show which is the stereotyped image of beauty. This has a huge negative impact, leading to girls with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, and further mental problems. The media needs to show its young viewers that it is okay to be just the way they are, and its not a problem when they are not super skinny or super pretty.
