Sexual exploitation in advertising health and wellness products

This paper examines the way women are portrayed by the media in photographs advertising health and wellness products. Data were collected from five different health and fitness magazines. For purposes of this study, only advertisements in which women appeared were used in the analysis (N = 191). Findings suggest that a high percent of advertisements: (1) place women in submissive positions to men; (2) place women in unnatural poses; (3) emphasize dismemberment of body parts; (4) focus on sexuality rather than wellness.