Effects of advertising on teen body image

The effects of advertising on body image have been studied by various researchers, ranging from psychologists to professors of Marketing. This is due to the fact that thousands of advertisements contain messages about physical attractiveness and beauty, examples of which include commercials for clothes, cosmetics, weight reduction, and physical fitness. Researchers have conducted studies in an attempt to see if such advertisements have effects on teenage body image, and what those effects might be.

Some researchers, such as Mary Martin and James Gentry, have found that teen advertising negatively impacts teenagers’ self-esteem by setting unrealistic expectations for them about their physical appearances through the use of idealized models. Others, such as Heidi Posavac, acknowledge this, but believe that this only applies to teenagers who already possess low self-esteem or a poor self-images.

In contrast, additional researchers, including Terry Bristol, have found teenagers to be generally unaffected by these advertisements due to the idea that repeat exposure can create an immunity to images and messages in advertisements. Moreover, some researchers, such as Paul Humphreys, have concluded that exposure to such advertisements can actually create higher self-esteem in teenagers.

Background

According to Medimark Research Inc., a marketing research company, teenagers are important to marketers because they "have significant discretionary income; spend family money, as well as influence their parents' spending on both large and small household purchases; establish and affect fashion, lifestyle, and overall trends; and provide a 'window' into our society – a view of how it is now and what it is likely to become."

Teens have been found to trust advertisements in magazines the most, followed by radio ads, television ads, then internet ads.

Almost half of the space of the most popular magazines for adolescent girls is made up of advertisements.

In an effort to further reach young men with advertisements, branded content is now being included in video games as well.

Negative effects

Effects on young women

A study by A. Chris Downs and Sheila Harrison from Sex Roles: A Journal of Research found that one out of every 3.8 television commercials has a message about attractiveness in it. They determined that viewers receive roughly 5,260 advertisements related to attractiveness per year (or at least 14 per day). Of these messages, 1,850 of them are specifically about beauty.

In a study published in the Journal of Advertising, Marketing professors Mary Martin and James Gentry noted that images of blonde, thin women are predominant in mass media, and that these characteristics are often portrayed as being ideal. Martin and Gentry also found that advertising can "impose a sense of inadequacy on young women's self-concepts." This is because some girls and young women compare their own physical attractiveness to the physical attractiveness of models in ads. They then experience lowered self-esteem if they do not feel that they look like the models in advertisements.

In regard to this comparison between young women and the models that they view in advertisements, it has been noted that today's models weigh 23 percent less than the average woman and that the average model two decades ago weighed eight percent less than the average woman. This current media ideal of thinness is met by only about five percent of the population.

Additionally, a study of Seventeen magazine concluded that the models featured in this popular teen magazine were far less curvy than those portrayed in women's magazines. It was also noted that the hip-to-waist ratio had decreased in these models from 1970 to 1990.

In a study published in Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, psychologists Heidi Posavac, Steven Posavac, and Emil Posavac found that many young women will express dissatisfaction with their bodies, particularly with their body weight, when they are exposed to images of thin models who are slimmer than the average woman (as many of today's models are).

Expressing similar sentiments, an aspiring young model was quoted as saying, "Deep down I still want to be a supermodel... As long as they're there, screaming at me from the television, glaring at me from the magazines, I'm stuck in the model trap. Hate them first. Then grow to like them. Love them. Emulate them. Die to be them. All the while praying the cycle will come to an end."

Academic researchers Philip Myers Jr. and Frank Biocca concluded, in their study published in the Journal of Communication, that a woman's self-perceived body image can change after watching a half-an-hour of television programming and advertising.

Likewise, a study by Stice et al in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology concluded that there is a direct relationship between the amount of media exposure that a young woman has and the likelihood that she will develop eating disorder symptoms

Martin and Gentry also found that the mass media "creates and reinforces a preoccupation with physical attractiveness in young women," which can lead to bulimia, anorexia, and opting for cosmetic surgery. She also concluded that, "exposure to ultra-thin models in advertisements and magazine pictures produced depression, stress, guilt, shame, insecurity, and body dissatisfaction in female college students."

In a study published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Paxton et al found body dissatisfaction to be more prevalent in young women than in young men.

Seventy-five percent of young women with low self-esteem report engaging in negative activities such as "cutting, bullying, smoking, or drinking when feeling badly about themselves."

Teen promiscuity is another possible effect of low self-esteem.

Effects on young men

Research by Lynch et al in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence found that the media sets unrealistic expectations for teen boys and that this can cause negative psychological impacts, including "eating disorders, body image problems, and the construction of negative gender stereotypes."

"Teenage boys can be prone to obsessive exercising, binge eating, anorexia nervosa, bulimia, steroid abuse and diet aid abuse."

The Media Awareness Network notes that young men in advertisements are often portrayed as having a cool, confident, independent, or rebellious attitude. They are frequently shown as physically strong, powerful, athletic, dominant, and emotionally detached while lacking sensitivity, vulnerability, and compassion. Also, they are generally very physically attractive with clear skin. "Many ads show men engaging in physically challenging, dangerous, or aggressive sports or acts which exhibit their physical or sexual prowess." Young men can see these portrayals in ads and feel pressure to act like this as well.

One observer stated, "Advertisements in men’s magazines promote the possession of stuff as a valuable, important attribute to have, while lowering the self-esteem of men who do not own the trendiest fashions or have perfect six-pack abs."

Moreover, men in advertisements are more muscular today than they were 25 to 30 years ago.

A 2002 study found that male college students who are exposed to advertisements featuring muscular men show a significant "discrepancy between their own perceived muscularity and the level of muscularity that they ideally wanted to have."

Additionally, a study from the Journal of Social and Clinical Pyshology by Daniel Agliata and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn found that exposure to media images of lean and muscular men increases muscle dissatisfaction, depression, anger, and anxiety in young men.

Physician and professor of Psychology Harrison Pope theorized, “Many boys are embarrassed and ashamed of their appearance concerns, and keep them a secret. They may feel it ‘wimpy’ or ‘girlish’ to worry about their looks... [they're] increasingly vulnerable to the advertising messages of the supplement industry and other body image industries eager to capitalize on their anxieties.”

Positive or neutral effects

Effects on teenagers

Heidi Posavac, Steven Posavac, and Emil Posavac found that young women who are already content with their bodies are generally unaffected by media images of models and other attractive women. They concluded that only those who are dissatisfied with their bodies prior to viewing advertisements will then feel poorly after seeing advertisements featuring thin, attractive women.

Furthermore, Myers and Biocca found that some young women actually feel thinner after viewing advertisements featuring thin, idealized women.

Likewise, a study by professors of Psychology Paul Humphreys and Susan Paxton suggests that young men who view images of idealized men either feel no different or feel more positive about themselves after viewing such images.

Tamara Mangleburg and Terry Bristol's studies featured in the The Journal of Advertising found that teens are not typically swayed by images in advertisements. They suggest the more teens view advertisements, the less they are affected by them and the more they become skeptical of the messages that are in advertisements. This is because repeat exposure to ads can give them a better understanding of the motives behind such ads.

Similarly, Marsha Richins, former president of the Association for Consumer Research, theorized that, "by late adolescence... the sight of extremely attractive models is 'old news' and unlikely to provide new information that might influence self-perception".

Psychological researchers Christopher Ferguson, Benjamin Winegard, and Bo Winegard feel that the media’s effects on body dissatisfaction have been over-exaggerated. They believe that media does not heavily influence body dissatisfaction. Instead, they have found peers to have a much greater influence than the media in terms of body dissatisfaction in teenagers.