A young woman stands in front of a mirror in a room void of any furniture. The walls, however, are plastered with advertisements from magazines, newspapers, and catalogues. Her short, thick dark hair is cut in a bob, and it lays in layers around her face, barely touching her shoulders. Her eyes are not hidden by the frames of her stylish glasses. Her unpainted fingers lie over her heart, seemingly protecting herself from the onslaught of images surrounding her. The nearly too tight black tank top reveals that she is not an overly thin girl. Her complexion is clear, and naturally dark, making her ethnicity appear a bit more obvious. Yet, her dark eyes do not show a glimmer of happiness one would imagine from a young woman. Her shoulders slump, almost seeming to attempt to hide her natural and fuller figure. This is a young woman that is being bombarded with the messages that encapsulate the room.
Advertisements from makeup companies, perfumes, clothing lines, and even food products tell this young woman that she isn't enough. Clothing modeled by waif like, fair skinned, light haired women, yet advertised that these same clothes are manufactured in sizes to fit the more petit, yet larger body types. Make-up that guarantees its use will attract people to the user, and give the user the appearance of desirability, again modeled by a lighter complected and overly glorified celebrity. New diet fads, exercising techniques flash images of fit and attractive women, sending the message that if the viewer eats these foods, does these routines, she will be found sexually attractive. All these images, all this marketing, undoing the years this young woman's family and friends has encouraged and uplifted her, telling her she is beautiful, in a matter of minutes. The feeling of defeat and being imperfect reflects in this girls eyes. A small warning label splashes across the bottom, much like any warning label would be visualized, reading: WARNING: Reflections in this mirror may be distorted by socially constructed ideas of beauty.
