Advertising and Social Mobility

Guardian op ed link.

Here's the argument. There's virtually no social mobility, and it's on the decline. Ironically, as social mobility has decreased, the perception that it exists is more widely held. That is, now more than before it's less true that hard work will get you ahead in life, while more people now hold this belief than before. Meanwhile, advertising and culture bombard people with images of unattainable ideals through advertising. The article singles out the presentation of celebrity to children, particularly the presentation of thin and beautiful people to the real and consequently fat and less fabulous. End result - childhood psychological illness on the rise. Some of the above may be more true of the UK than the US, but that's the article.