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Advertising and media companies often get lobbied to use models that represent the average woman’s body—rather than ultra-thin models, whose images may influence some women to have an unhealthy relationship with food. Now a study supports that idea that observed images affect what people consider to be acceptable body types. The report is in the journal PLoS ONE.
Researchers surveyed subjects about their opinions of their own bodies and those of others. Then they presented the subjects with photos of large or thin women. Some photos were of beauty queens in evening gowns or other high-status clothing. Other photos were of women who were either very large or very thin, wearing neutral grey leotards. Following those viewings, the subjects were again surveyed about their body preferences.
Subjects who originally preferred thin bodies only increased their preference for thinness after being shown photos of thin women. But they decreased their preference for thin bodies after being shown photos of larger women. The attire of the women in the photos made no difference to the subject’s latter preference.
The researchers say that this study provides strong evidence that images of female bodies promoted by the media and ad agencies could have a real impact on women’s preference and subsequent thoughts about body type.
—Christie Nicholson
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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4 Comments
Add CommentThe first thing to do is ban the use of Photoshopped images in advertising! Alternatively, why not just ban all realistic human images in advertising & go to cartoon characters?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOur dear old antedeluvial brain model appears to serve us social animals in camera-mode to 'keep up with the Jones' and follow a role model-in plain evolutionary sexual-selection mode!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWith two thirds of us now being either overweight or obese, thanks to our fatally fattening food industry, however, I think the specter of anorexia nervosa pales into statistical insignificance.
Funny also how any clothing seems to serve as nothing but 'trappings' in our minds - for, after all, we are only the naked ape variation of our primate species niche!
Re: Nutrition viewed under an evolutionary aspect, I recommend a free download of
"Colorific Manifesto for Women's Waist & Disease Control".
If this is true, than you have a nice explanation for the epidemic of obesity of the last two decades: people buy flatscreen TVs with 16:9 ratio. Lots of older movies in 4:3 ratio are automatically stretched. Result: the actors look fat. Many people dont care about the TV format, they do not manually correct the format back to 4:3.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisResult: you watch grossly fat people everyday for hours on your TV. This may adjust the thermostat for body image in your brain. This is my personal theory for the obesity epidemic. How to name it? Sugggestions?
Stop promoting censorship and government regulations over what foods we eat and how people present other people. It's not the food industry's fault people eat fast food, drink corn syrup sweetened soda, or the media's fault for people obsessing over body shape. It's the individual person's fault! Quit blaming others for you or anyone else being weak-willed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWant a healthy body - eat the right food and exercise. Stop watching TV. Get an active life and stop worrying about the opinion of others particularly if they come from 'research studies'.