Mass

Medias Impact on
Body Image: A Literature
Review
JOANNE MUK RUI YI

Introduction

The average person will spend seven years, eight months of their lives watching

television and five years, four months on social media (Asano). From print media such

as traditional newspapers, magazines and advertisements to new media such as social

media, most people are constantly exposed to some form of media in their daily lives.

This being so, it is nearly impossible to resist influence from the culture and norms on

body image that the media has been building in society for years (Smith).

It has been a persistent topic of interest, with countless research studies conceived, that

the mass media definitely has an influence on media consumers. Body image

perception would be defined as the way one views their appearance and if they are

satisfied with themselves. The key area of focus should be what new and more defined

factors of the media can be surfaced. For instance, ways the media influences

consumers that have not yet been concluded with certainty, as well as the form of

media which is the heaviest influence on consumers. Lastly, another area in question

would be the differences in demographics and the variety of aspects that the consumers

have been affected. As some of these areas have not been fully discovered, this

literature review will look into them and identify portions needing further research.

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How the mass media has influenced body image perception

With idealised and elusive images and portrayals of a specific body shape by the mass

media (Warren), many researchers have taken it upon themselves to study the effects

of the constant exposure, of the idealised appearance, on media consumers. Apart from

unrealistic appearance standards, Warren also brought up the method used by the

media which is the cause for high levels of body dissatisfaction. Body-shaming and

setting elusive body image goals for the media consumers is the technique Warren

mentioned which heavily influences peoples perception of body image.

According to Daily Mail, being seen as fat or obese in our society could potentially

cost a person a job (Davies). A survey conducted shows that 56% of the respondents

would consider obesity as a factor during the hiring process, such that respondents

have also mentioned that between two equally qualified candidates where the only

difference between them is their size, they would be biased towards the thinner

candidate. The reason for this discrimination being the idea that larger sized people

would be lazier employees. Such unfair stigmas in society had been increasing from 7%

in 1995 and 1996 to 12% in 2004 to 2006 (Andreyeva, Puhl and Brownell 1131).

Burmeister has narrowed the cause to Media Priming, explaining that even short-term

exposure to media can influence cognitive attitudes (10), thus creating the

discriminating stigma of a negative one-sided view of the overweight (Roskos-

Ewoldsen, Roskos-Ewoldsen and Carpentier). This theory was tested in both visual and

written media channels by Domoff et al. (995) and Heuer, McClure and Puhl

respectively. The results brought about by both studies indicated that exposure to the

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overweight caused an increase in dislike for them, proving that the media can be a

malicious source of influence on society, thus affecting mindsets and hence

subconscious or conscious behaviour. In relation to Burmeisters study, he was unable

to prove his hypothesis of media priming via disparaging weight humour, however,

mentioned that his method was not ideal (30). This calls for a deeper analysis of the

ways in which the media is able to affect the internal thought process of media

consumers.

With the media already portraying derogatory points-of-views on a specific body type,

they further influence media consumers perceptions of body image with their narrow

idealistic body portrayals. Cash stated in his research that people constantly refer to the

media for guidance on the ideals of what defines as attractive. Furthermore, Eyal and

Te'eni-Harari revealed in their study the role models of 391 students. Their study

brought up that amongst the role models of the participants, the most common

appearance trait was thinness (Vitelli). The participants also expressed to be

dissatisfied with their own appearance because of their role models, which they highly

value as seen from Cashs research. The repeating element of body dissatisfaction is

also proven in a study conducted by Anderson et al. where the participants also desire

body features, such as height, physical appearance and weight, that resemble those

portrayed in the media. Therefore, such idealised standards which are unrealistic,

partnered with the technique of body-shaming, pushes for high levels of dissatisfaction

in peoples perceptions of body image. This is an outcome of the mass medias

perpetual display of the perfect looking human being, which surfaces the concern of

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which form of media has the most influence over a persons perception of the ideal body

image.

Forms of media on their impact of body image perception

As mentioned earlier, people view the media as a guideline to standards on body image

and cultural norms (Cash). Studies have shown that media in general has influential

power over media consumers.

First of all is traditional media such as magazines and television. Magazines do have

the capability to influence perceptions. Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior

Letter states in the research they conducted the impact of magazine consumers. 69% of

the respondents felt their perceptions of the ideal body had been influenced and 47% of

the respondents expressed desires to lose weight because of the images in the

magazine. In addition, Swiatkowski was able to replicate these results with a narrower

scope. Swiatkowski identified that fashion magazines were significantly related to body

dissatisfaction while health magazines were significantly related to the desire to be thin.

Furthermore, Swiatkowski found that the higher the commitment to magazine, the more

the consumer was influenced by its contents.

Television is arguably still one of the most influential forms of media today (lonova).

Lynch states that the average person still watches 32 hours of television each week.

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Harrisons study surfaced that television consumers would have an influenced

perception of body image as the participants were found to have a higher possibility of

developing an eating disorder and would stereotype the overweight.

On the other hand, as for new media, such as social media, one of the worlds leading

forms of media which has 2.34 billion users worldwide (Statistics and facts about social

media usage). The Guardian has reported that social media is the new cause of

influencing perceptions of body image when comparing themselves to others on social

media platforms (Ratcliffe). Even though traditional media has set the standards, social

media has taken over in terms of pushing media consumers to achieve the unrealistic

beauty standards. Ratcliffe also stated that 70% of women and 50% of men edit their

images before posting them, hence showing that social media users are pushing each

other to reach the ideal body image. A study conducted by Fardouly et al. supports the

heavy influence of social media. The research had a group of participants who were to

scroll through Facebook while a control group scrolled through an appearance-neutral

website. Participants who were part of the first group reported higher levels of

appearance dissatisfaction in comparison to the latter group. With many different

researchers ably proving that their studied platform of media influences body image

perception, one needs to find out and recognise which form of media would be the

heavier influencer to a consumer, especially in a world that is moving away from

traditional media (Williams).

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Demographic differences of medias influence on body image perception

The largest, most prominent differences when it comes to the demographics studied by

researchers, is gender and race.

When it comes to gender, Warren has pointed out that the stereotypical expectations of

each gender from society is widely differing since birth. The females are ideally to have

perfect, youthful looks, while the males are valued for their brains and not just their

appearance. However, when Anderson et al. studied on televisions impact on body

image differences, the males were more concerned about their height while females

were more concerned about their weight. In addition, van den Berg et al. found that

there was a more significant direct and indirect link of medias impact of body

satisfaction in females than in males, bringing about the idea that females could be

originally more dissatisfied with their bodies (Women more unhappy with their bodies

than men). Building on the influence of media on genders, Moriarty and Harrison

conducted a study which proved that females were more affected than males as they

had a higher tendency to develop an eating disorder after longitudinal media

consumption. However, a study conducted by Hobza et al. has shown that men are no

exceptions to the influence of media on body image. The study showed that males had

low body-esteem after viewing media-portrayed ideal bodies of other men, indicating

that further research on media influence on body image should have equal emphasis on

women, as well as men.

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In the same research that Moriarty and Harrison performed, they were also able to

identify a disparity on media influence between races. Even though Black females

reported higher television consumption, their perception of body size and interest in

ideal body image were consistent with those of the White female participants, thus

showing the varied levels of impact on the two races. Another study conducted by

Okodogbe supports the racial difference of media impact. Okodogbe found that media

internalisation was more significantly related to appearance concern for White females

than Black females. However, Black females were also found to be generally more

concerned about their appearances than White females. Race, being a factor not

commonly explored, can be a topic of interest when researching more in depth on race

and media influence on body image, especially in a multiracial country such as

Singapore.

Conclusion

All in all, there is a near definite conclusion that the media does influence body image

perception of every person. From the internal thought process of media consumers, to

the different media platforms and finally to the demographic differences of media

consumers. The review has proven that there are still new areas of focus to be

researched, even on a long-standing topic, due to constant evolution of technology and

human interest.

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The only ambiguity or variants being the level of media internalisation and direct

influence on the different demographics explored in this review, as well as each form of

media and their individual extent or capability of influence in the modern day. Another

area in need of further research and clarification is the method by which the media is

able to alter our cognitive attitudes, possibly via the short-term theory of media priming.

The research used in this literature review are based overseas, and will be used to

define the preferred direction of research in a local context.

1798 words

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