Dieting and weight loss has long been a hot topic in popular media—but now, more than ever, these topics are gaining immense traction. Social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are saturated with content promoting thin bodies and offering detailed instructions for achieving and maintaining them. Whether it is through restrictive diet plans or intensive workout routines, this obsession over thinness is accompanied by celebrities and influencers whose images dominate our feeds, significantly impacting the public’s body image. These influencers are always pushing trendy diet plans and workout routines, which consistently garner massive amounts of engagement. While such content might seem harmless—after all, what is wrong with admiring a fit body?—the impact runs deeper. Body image is not formed in isolation, nor is it a one-way street. It is a product of an interactive relationship between those displayed in the media and the audience consuming it, producing a vicious cycle. 

The issue is especially visible in Korea and its prominent media industry. K-Pop idols with their unrealistically thin bodies are propped up as the standard, and they often share extreme dieting tips and workout regimens. Yet, these same celebrities are also seen promoting high-calorie and unhealthy junk foods like fried chicken and pizza through advertisements. These advertisements send mixed messages: on one hand, they glamorize such indulgent foods by associating them with celebrities. On the other hand, they imply that maintaining a slim figure is unrelated to one’s diet, suggesting that thinness is only a matter of self-discipline, exercise, or even genetics. Thus, they confuse the public, encouraging people to feel shame for both not having the self-discipline to maintain a skinny body and not being born “naturally thin”.

Thinness is a highly idolized bodily trait not only in Korea but also globally, with the media playing a crucial role in cementing this obsession. Obesity, on the contrary, is subjected to hate and considered a public health crisis. Although morbid obesity can be detrimental to one’s health, so can extreme thinness. Yet only one end of the spectrum has this widespread negative perception.  However, even this perception of obesity is less than a century old. For much of human history, plumpness symbolized wealth, fertility, and health. In times of scarcity, a well-fed body was a sign of success and the corpulence and increased flesh were desirable, as reflected in art, literature, and medical opinion of the times. 

This shift is not just about health. Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of distinction explains how body weight became a marker of class and morality. In this framework, thinness signifies self-control, discipline, and access to resources like gym membership and organic foods, while obesity is often unfairly associated with laziness, poverty, and poor habits. These opposing traits are directly reflected in how the media portrays people and reproduces this stereotype. Anthropologist Anne Becker's 1998 study in Fiji proves this trend. The study, conducted in a rural town which had only recently been introduced to television, found that the rates of body dissatisfaction amongst adolescent females increased strikingly compared to before western media influence.

In addition, the obsession with body image often intersects with gender and generational dynamics. Viral trends like the “girl dinner” meme—where tiny portions of low-calorie foods are presented as a complete meal—highlight the disproportionate pressure on women to eat sparingly. This meme, which started out as a joke about not having the energy to prepare a full meal and thus scraping together whatever leftovers are in the fridge to satiate one’s hunger, evolved into what portrays a hegemonic expectation women keep being pushed into. Contrast this with older generations, where grandmothers and mothers often encourage larger portions with phrases like “Eat more!” This generational divide reflects broader societal changes. While older generations view food abundance as a marker of prosperity, modern media glorifies controlled, minimalist eating as a sign of sophistication and beauty. 

The glorification of thinness, while often marketed as a pursuit of health, has deeper consequences. It perpetuates narrow definitions of beauty, stigmatizes alternative body types, and fosters an environment where people feel pressured to conform. To break free from this cycle, we must critically examine the media we consume. Who benefits from these ideals? How can we create a culture that celebrates diverse body types instead of idolizing one narrow standard? Thinness may be “in”, but at what cost?