Media-Portryed idealized images, body shame, and Apperance Anxiety

Author: Fiona Manro and Gail Huon
Source:

• Background: Media exposure is associated with negative feeling about the body included to alter one's weight and shape. According to Brownell, media portrayed images, especially for dieting and weight-altering products, promote the idea that body shape and size are flexible, and that achieving the this ideal is relatively easy. Women that focus that more attention to appearance are the ones that are most affected by other people;s opinion about their body. This also causes body shame, anxiety, and self-scrutiny.
  
• Argument: When compared with images that do not feature idealized bodies, exposure to idealized bodies would result in increased body shape and appearance anxiety. Also, the effect would be more pronounced for body-related products.
  
• Method: This study included 39 female participants. Questionnaires that included: 12-item Social Physique. Appearance Anxiety Scale, 8-item Body Shame sub scale of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale, and the Self-objectification Questionnaires. These scales were used to measure appearance anxiety, body shame, self-objectification, and self-monitoring. This study took place in small groups and two different session. Participants were presented with magazine advertisements and were assessed on their emotional experience. During the second session, participants were shown selected advertisements that were product controlled (body-related and non-body related products) and they were assessed on their emotional experience.
  
• Results: Exposure to idealized images led the participants to have an increase in body shame and appearance anxiety. Also, appearance anxiety had a greater increase for high self-objectifies and lower increase for low self-objectifies. Findings for a relationship between body shame and appearance anxiety and non-body related products was not clear because participants may have not noticed the thin images when instructed to view non-body-related product advertisements.
  
• Personal thoughts: This study supports that fact that women are influenced by beauty enhancing product advertisements because they feel insecure about their bodies after viewing an advertisement. Women should be more aware that advertisements are adjusted and changed from how models actually look. Advertisements are altered through computer programs to enhance the visual affects. The purpose of product advertisements is to sell the product, at the same time the most effective way to sell a product is to make women think that they need it. Advertisement make women feel that they need the product by making them feel insecure about themselves so they will buy the product to enhance their beauty. It is understandable that the findings for a relationship between non-body-related products and idealized images are not clear because women do not relate to products they cannot compare themselves too.