Brandan J Cromartie
The media seeks whichever is least offensive however both underweight and overweight women have gotten jeers though there are indeed commercials featuring overweight women esp. in relation to housewife roles. Youth and fashion are generally attributed to the skinny and maturity, solidity, and age are attributed to the fatter women. Only commercials where the stars advertise their own things really break this trend.
I do not agree though that society doesn't crave all that isn't novel. Novelty itself is the very basis of advertisement. It's why we make stupid car commercials. From sex appeal to seriousness every person, esp. for females as many if not most adverts target them, fits a role and all those roles portray extremes. This is what leads us to the figure that is desirable in the first place; let's say you're a tight bodied blonde but have small breasts? No. Out. A fiery but fat redhead? No. Out. Huge thighs with disproportionate waist? Out. Washboard? Out. Etc. The thing is there's more than one 'real' figure for every point in life! It is better for you to be the busty and plump mother of two than for you to be the same as a teenager and truthfully being as skinny as a teenager when you're 32 is not necessarily optimal! But anyway, my point is made. I should take a nap.
The media seeks whatever is best to sell a specific product, not "whichever is least offensive". It will use social conceptions for this. In the case of perfumes, for example, it will be skinny women. This use of skinny women for these type of adverts isn't because it isn't something 'new' (it has been used for several of the past decades). The media can't care less about if it is offensive to overweight of skinny women (unless it is something that could get the advert removed), it cares about getting the product sold. However it is true that only adverts where the stars advertise their own things break this trend, but even then this depends since they have to stick by what fashion dictates (although this depends on the effect that they want to get).
I didn't say that society craves everything that isn't novel, I just said that it didn't always have to crave what is novel. Adverts are based on conceptions that we have and that will help to sell the product, not new things. When these conceptions change, so do the things used in adverts. What you say in that last part is true though, these adverts are based in surreal types of women whose appearance often has been altered with Photoshop. This is a cruel and bad thing to do (as we can all see by the effects that it can have, which can be women starving themselves until they reach a very unhealthy body state).