They don't listen when their friends and families tell them that they're too thin, because they're just where they want to be. The problem, of course, is that they don't realize why they want to be where they are. They've bought into the reality offered by advertisers, the reality that says you'll be more popular if you look a certain way, if you drive a certain car, if you wear a certain brand of jeans or t-shirt. It seems so obvious that it's almost painful to see it, but try telling them that they're wearing a certain brand name because they've been victimized by advertisers, and they'll deny the possibility completely. The tragedy is that wearing those clothes or buying that car won't have the effect that the advertisers have promised, and disappointment will join the dissatisfaction, just adding to the problems that we all have to deal with in our lives.
Advertisers often work at eroding our moral character, also.
One of the more offensive styles of advertising shows that lying is acceptable if we get what we need or want through it, or if it can help us save face. One example of this is a current Dunkin' Donuts ad, in which a pregnant woman pulls up to the drive-through, pretending to be silencing kids in the back. She buys four of a certain product, hushing the kids the whole time, but it turns out that all the children sounds are on tape, and she's deceiving the drive-through person in order to buy four of the product for herself without being embarrassed. The advertisers are implying there's something wrong with that, and there isn't. We see their bird's-eye view of the highway, we hear them giving the traffic report, and we hear the sounds of the helicopter they're supposedly in.