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This Monday, ads began going up on buses and in subways in New York City for the first public health campaign aimed at body image to be carried out in a major city. The $330,000 campaign, titled “NYC Girls Project” includes ads depicting preteen girls of different sizes and ethnicities with the statement “I’m a Girl. I’m Beautiful the Way I Am.” Additional features of the program include fitness classes through the parks department, a Twitter Campaign #ImAGirl, and a pilot program that addresses self-esteem issues.
The project was conceived by Mayor Bloomberg’s deputy press secretary, Samantha Levine, who was affected by stories of young girls getting plastic surgery and wearing body-shaping undergarments. City Officials and adolescent health experts referred to studies in The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing stating that over 80% of 10-year old girls have a fear of being fat, and that between the ages of 12 and 20, girls’ self-esteem plummets as a result of negative body image.   For this reason, these upbeat ads are aimed at girls within an age range of 7-12 who are at the highest risk for developing early body image issues.
Levine explained “I think being a women in this society, it’s sort of impossible to not be aware of the pressures there are around appearance, around weight, around trying to always look a certain way.”  For this reason, none of the girls featured in the ads are professional models, all are daughters of city workers and their acquaintances who were moved by the cause, and eager to participate.
12 year old DeVoray Wigfall, who was featured in one of the ads and aspires to be either the first female black president or police commissioner, said in an interview earlier this week, “I say you’re beautiful even if somebody tells you you’re not…You have to keep your head up, don’t let anybody bring you down.”Â
We can only hope this ad campaign can instill a similar level of ambition and self-confidence in other young girls, and help them reach their highest potential.