FACULTY COMMUNICATION & MEDIA STUDIES

PUBLIC RELATIONS

COM 660

ACADEMIC WRITING

Proposal:

The Influence of Beauty Projected in the Mass Media on Female Students.

Prepared by:

Khairunnisa binti Samsudin

2006807335

Prepared for:

Encik Norsham bin Firdaus

INTRODUCTION

Mass media is widely used in retaining information and entertainment disregard of

whether it is traditional media or the new media. Both categories have help people
tremendously in achieving and sourcing the info they want. But, the fact that mass
media also brings bad influence to the user is undeniable.

Media have long emphasized on images of models, actors and actresses in order to
sell their businesses and somehow have indirectly set a standard of beauty for its
viewers. Idealised beauty standards and irrelevant sexualisation are only some of
the ways on how media portray beauty, society and youth nowadays.

On average, people does not look like those portrayed in the media. Projection of
perfect images of beauty have created an idolisation especially by the youth to an
extend where they would eat, wear, talk and live like the characters viewed in the
media.

This burgeoning issue is scarily alarming and need to be taken seriously. Images of
created beauty in the media have a tremendous effect on people especially youth.
Whether it is through film, music, or any other mass media format, the public is
constantly pressured to fit into today’s ideal beauty standard.
PROBLEM STATEMENT

In general, we can see that society adore beautiful things or people but sometimes
this could lead to unhealthy obsession with images of beauty, good looks and the
idea of perfection. According an article entitled “The Media and Influence on Body
and Beauty” by Timothy Sexton in the associatedcontent.com, if we turn on any
television show, flip through any magazine or watch any movies and came across
someone who doesn’t fit into the narrow mold of what is considered good looking,
chances are that person is presented as either the “bad guy” or more probably, the
“nerd”.

The article said that the constant flow of images projected from a certain ideology
created by the media do have effect on media users. The article also said that these
images repetition has somehow create an obsession on appearance within the
media users especially when the idea of beauty shown is unrealistic and also
unhealthy. There are also a possibility that those who do not following the trend or
the idea of beauty projected in the media might be treated with disregard and
discrimination.
(http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/25236/the_media_and_influence_on_body_image.html?
cat=5)

The power of media influences the society on this trendy epidemic and it has made
the media users especially females to adopt the mindset of wanting to be skinnier
than they really should to be seen as beautiful. This issue has come to an alarming
state whether in Malaysia or other part of the world.
OBJECTIVES

1. To examine how media influences the female students of Faculty of Mass

Communication and Media Studies into considering that beauty projected in
the media is what the standard that everybody has to achieve.

2. To find out why the female students of Faculty of Mass Communication and
Media Studies who are considered as the media literate people are also
influenced by the new trend.

3. To find out how far are the sample chosen influenced with the beauty
projected by the media.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Which media influenced more on the trend, is it traditional media or new

media?

2. How far would the female students be influenced on how beauty projected in
the media?

3. What is the standard beauty according to their opinion based on what they
have seen in the media?

4. What are their opinions on beauty?

SCOPE OF STUDY

The scope of study for this research focuses on media influences and how far have
they set the mark for standardised beauty projected by media on chosen female
students of Faculty Communication and Media Studies.
METHODOLOGY

Data Collection

There are many ways of how to conduct a research and it can be either qualitative or
quantitative. In this study, the researcher have chosen the qualitative method as this
method allows a researcher to view behaviour in a natural setting without the
artificiality that sometimes surrounds experimental or survey research.

The primary source of this study will be collected through an intensive interview, also
known as in-depth interview. In-depth interviews are essentially a hybrid of one-on-
one interview approach. Generally the researcher will use smaller samples and
provide elaborate data concerning respondents’ opinions, values, motivations,
recollections, experiences and feelings.

In this study, the researcher will choose 5 female students from Faculty of Mass
Communication and Media Studies as subjects and they will be asked few questions
related to the research objectives. The format of questions is unstructured.

As for the secondary data, the information will be obtained from reference books as
well as the Internet articles that are relevant to the study.

Data Analysis
In analysing the data, researcher will observe on 5 female students of Faculty of
Communication and media studies by asking them an unstructured questions based
on lifestyle, their sense of beauty and how far are they influenced by media in
choosing their fashion trends.
SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The importance of this research is to discuss on the influence of mass media on

people especially youth in defining and classifying what beauty is based on what
they have seen in the media through created images of models and actors. These
image projections have somehow seen as a standard mark by youth nowadays
especially females and they have become obsess with being skinny and looking like
their idols.

In achieving that, a thorough analysis and research on getting the real definition of
terminologies involved in this study must be done to get the real gist of the issue.
This research will emphasize on what are the media that mainly contributed to the
rising issue and what kind of image projection that have got the subjects to be
influenced with and how far are they influenced by it.

After completing the study, it is hope that the research will benefit all individuals, best
recommended for youth in general and women especially not just within our society
but as a whole. People have to be acknowledged on the consequences that they
would face by being too influenced by the mass media especially on perceiving what
beauty is. As the saying goes, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, therefore it
should come naturally from within and not from the edited and created images by the
commercialised media.

REFERRENCES

Timothy Sexton, 2006, The Media and Influence on Body Image and Beauty.
Retrieved of July 2009 from Associate Content Website:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/25236/the_media_and_influence_on_body
_image.html?cat=5