Overweight Women: Stop Looking At Models
From new research in the Journal of Consumer Research:
"We recommend that overweight consumers attempt to avoid looking at ads with any models, thin or heavy (perhaps by avoiding women's magazines),"
This study looked at the way individuals of differing BMI's responded to pictures of thin or heavy models. The results are fascinating.
Normal weight females:
- Felt better when exposed to extremely heavy models and moderately thin models.
- Felt worse when exposed to moderately heavy models (because they feel similar) and extremely thin models (because they feel dissimilar).
Overweight females:
- Felt worse no matter what size models they looked at.
Incredibly "overweight and underweight women showed comparable levels of self-esteem when they weren't looking at models".
Written By J. Foster on Dec 2, 2009
It is weird, and I know my own issue, but I can be going around feeling good about my body, smaller than a lot of the people around me and certainly not big enough that anyone, period, would call me fat... and then I see a model and feel absolutely gross...
ReplyI'm really passionate about this issue and am currently conducting research on the impact of advertising on food choices. If you're interested please follow the address to my survey:
fastfoodads.surveyconsole.com
it takes about 10 minutes to complete
thanks,
Catherine
ReplyI rarely post, but I wanted to say thanks for sharing this information.I have gained 8 lbs in the pass month, i have no energy what so ever. i dont look a skinny girls and feel bad i look at skinny girls and think i need to stop eating bad foods.
ReplyI hate looking at models, too. I'm a thin person and I'm by no means overweight, but when I see one of those tall, skinny, waifs with legs up to their armpits, I feel so chunky and gross. I would say that I do feel better when I look at models that aren't super tall and have thighs that look like twigs. I'd rather look at models that are normal-weight/normal height because it gives me a better idea of how clothes will look on real people.
ReplyGood points Spectra! I think anyone that is overweight & unhappy is going to feel bad looking at models in general...
ReplyI feel sorry for most models I see in magazines - they're so photoshopped, it's hard to know what's real and what's not. I always wonder if they look at their own photos and get depressed that they don't look like that in real life. Very sad, IMHO. I avoid such magazines because I realize how unreal those photos are, even "real" photos.
ReplyAvoid look at ads with any kind of models! So they're just supposed to stop reading all magazines, watching all TV shows with commercials, and browsing any websites with graphic ads? I'm amazed that the researchers a) are so out of touch as to make such a suggestion and b) put all the impetus on the women to avoid looking, rather than the advertisers to stop showing.
ReplyThing is, these models are glamorized to sell the tantalizing ideal of success, happiness and frivolity, which becomes associated with the image of waifishness because that body type dominates the marketing. Yes, this is bad, but sex sells, and American culture has conditioned many to think that skinny=sexy. It's a self perpetuating machine.
What these ads don't show is the interior - most likely, very few of these women are naturally that thin. Combined with the expectations/pressures in their field, I would project that many experience the same negativity/alienation towards their own bodies as their audience does. The alluring surface fails to represent the extreme means in which less naturally bone-thin models alter their bodies with unhealthy lifestyles (eating disorders, exercise bulimia, stimulants, etc). They don't look healthy, and putting them on a pedestal is absurd and dangerous.
However, considering the function of a fashion model, it at least makes sense in some kind of twisted, anti-humanist way: they are selling clothes, which show the artistry of the design better on a wire frame than on natural human bulk.
What really bothers me is that the same idealized, homogenized body type saturates nearly all "star culture". Being underweight does not make you a better singer, actress, designer, and so forth. Problem is, these vocations have become centered on appearance and selling an image, whereas you rarely get the same obsession in the fields of the intellectual, aesthetic, or sports. The first two because writers/filmmakers/journalists/artists aren't nearly as much in the public eye, and the latter because, well, if you're an athlete then taking care of your body in a proactive way is your job.
It's just a shame that attractiveness is confused with or often considered as important as talent. People lap it up without questioning the validity of consumer values. It would be nice if people would recognize function and focus on the clothes and not the bodies in regards to fashion. As to the rest... it's just absurd.
ReplyThe Dove ads are really great for pointing out air-brushing on models. There's one on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
ReplyI am quite thankful for models actually, because when I was about 11, I was on my way to being obesed. Fortunately, my friend told me that I was beautiful and even better if I was in a "just-right" figure, and showed me a picture of a model for Paul Frank or something else, right then I got motivated straight away, but thanks to my father, who is a health-freak, I managed to loose weight the Healty Way, yes the Healty Way, never skipped a meal, never puked out food, and ran for 1 and a half hour non-stop everyday. Looking at those models kept me motivated and I am thankful for that. Now I'm very healty and in shape.
Replyand I am now a size 7-8 naturally, and the thing was, whenever I loose weight, I just kept on sheding the weight, never was there a time where my weight would stay the same (as in still heavy), my mother says that maybe my body was meant to be in shape.
Replywhy do you people think that people have to look that way to be beuatyful.......people look good the way they are
Reply