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The "standards of beauty" go way beyond just obesity. At least people can control that if they want to. It's much much worse for people of color who cannot reasonably change their appearance to adhere to some arbitrary western notion of beauty. The role the media has to play is the repetitive drilling and brainwashing of an audience and institutionalizing these "standards" of beauty which are then reinforced in daily societal interactions. Once these harmful notions are institutionalized, they become very difficult to eradicate and operate at a subconcious level.
There is however, a distinctionm between institutionalized beauty standards through media investment and blind consumerism. People make their own choices and willingly allow themselves to buy into the media setting the standards. In theory, no one should be unhappy with the way they look. If beauty is relative, then we have choices and can decide for ourselves how we present ourselves. No one is forced to buy make up or ridiculous fashion items.
But in some cases, this may prove to be impossibe. It is a known fact that tall white males make more money, simply based on their appearance.
The media most certainly plays a role as do ourselves.
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