Dear Ms. Howell,

As ombudsman of The Washington Post, we depend on you to be concerned about tastefulness and accuracy. I therefore turn to you to protest an ad that appeared on the inside back cover of yesterday’s Washington Post Sunday magazine.

A plastic surgery group placed the ad to promote cosmetic breast augmentation.

The ad’s headline says: “Natural Stunning Results: We Are About Empowering Women…”

The image is of very large breasts, modestly covered with some fabric. There is also a “before” photo of small breasts, with a thick line across the nipples for modesty.

The ad says:

Our philosophy at the Austin-Westin Center is centered upon the well-being of our patients – not only upon how you look, but how you feel. We take pride in empowering people and seeing their self-esteem soar. Our physicians…are dedicated to upholding the highest standards in patient safety and improving quality of life.

This kind of ad does not belong in a paper like The Washington Post, a family newspaper with high journalistic standards. Should your newspaper tell the girls of the Washington, DC, metropolitan area that large breasts empower women? Moreover, the language about self-esteem is inaccurate.

Research has clearly shown that breast enlargement does not improve self-esteem or quality of life. In fact, when FDA scientists reviewed well-conducted studies at an FDA Advisory Committee meeting in 2005, they concluded that self-esteem and quality of life were significantly more likely to decrease than increase two years after breast augmentation compared to before augmentation. See the research here and here.

Other studies show that for all plastic surgery, the data indicate that patients say that they have higher self-esteem, especially in the short-term, but when objective scientific measures are used, they don’t. Plastic surgery patients feel better about the specific body part that has been changed (at least in the short-term), but report no improvements in their quality of life, self-esteem or even their social lives.

Ms. Howell, ads like this do a huge disservice to women and society by contributing to a social environment that tells girls and women that breasts equal power. Logic tells us this is not true (think of Anna Nicole Smith), and research confirms it.

I understand that an ad is different from editorial content, but neither should be inaccurate or misleading.

I hope the Post will review its screening process for advertisements so that such ads will not appear again.

Sincerely,

Diana Zuckerman, Ph.D.
President
National Research Center for Women & Families

TAGS: Washington Post, Advertising, Women and Advertising, False Advertising