The altering of one’s appearance for professional gain is nothing new in this age of social media, but the alterations that are made have been shown to be over the top and at points, unbelievable. Some of those in the spotlight have been using their follower count to discuss issues concerning body image and the media’s influence over people’s views of their bodies.
Actress and singer Zendaya Coleman has been using her platform to raise awareness to social issues. Earlier this year, a Barbie doll was made in her likeness from the 2015 Oscars. Coleman was made fun of on the E! Network television show “Fashion Police” when one of the hosts said that her dreads made her look like she smelled of weed and patchouli oil.
Just this month, Coleman was placed in the spotlight again as she revealed untouched photos of herself. She posted them on her Instagram side by side with the retouched photos. “These are the things that make women self-conscious, that create the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have,” one of the captions says. “Thank you @modelistemagazine for pulling down the images and fixing this retouch issue.” In addition, the 19-year-old was just named one of Time Magazine’s most influential teens of 2015.
Recently, there has also been an Australian teen who quit social media because of its promotion of negative body images. Essena O’Neil began gaining followers and Instagram fame when began posting photos of herself on the social media app. According to an article by The Independent, O’Neill had over 600,000 followers before deleting her account. Before so, she deleted hundreds of pictures and leaving up others, changing their captions to what was going on behind the scenes. She stated that she would make her sister take photo after photo so she could pick the one she felt was perfect. However, a video was posted by the YouTube account NinaAndRanda saying that O’Neill is lying about leaving social media and the media frenzy has caused a number of Internet celebrities to feel the need to prove their posts aren’t fake.
Even the parody Instagram account socalitybarbie ended her account. In an article posted by Wired that was posted to the account, stated that the account “is a commentary on dishonesty in social media, where meticulously crafted photographs are presented as ‘real’ life.” The page’s owner, Portland-based Darby Cisneros stated that it “has opened the door to a lot of great discussions” like authenticity on social media, but that she believes it’s time is up.
These are not the only people to dismantle their social connections, however. Model and former talk show host Tyra Banks responded to the backlash she got of a candid shot of her at a photo shoot. On a December 2006 episode of "The Tyra Banks Show," she said that the kind of criticism she received happens to many women all over the world causing them to hate themselves. The "Kiss My Fat Ass" speech was named one of the greatest talk show moments by TV Guide in 2013.
