Effects of Media Images on Attitudes Toward Tanning

Abstract

Two experiments evaluated the effects of exposure to pictures of suntanned and untanned fashion models on attitudes regarding the importance of having a tan. In Experiment 1, 128 women were randomly assigned to view images of photographer's models that had been digitally altered to make it appear that the model either did or did not have a tan. Participants who viewed images of the models without a tan expressed significantly less positive attitudes toward tanning than did those who viewed the same models with a tan. In Experiment 2, 169 women were randomly assigned to view advertisements taken from fashion and beauty magazines that contained models who appeared to have suntanned skin, models who appeared not to have a tan, or no models at all. The results demonstrated that participants who viewed ads depicting models with untanned skin expressed less favorable attitudes toward tanning than did those who viewed control ads or those who viewed tan models. Given escalating skin cancer rates, it is important to examine the role that media exposure may play in promoting risky behaviors.

North American Magazine Coverage of Skin Cancer and Recreational Tanning Before and After the WHO/IARC 2009 Classification of Indoor Tanning Devices as Carcinogenic

“…This finding supports previous research suggesting that media promotes the tanned beauty ideal [15], which is a driver of dangerous UV exposure behaviors [16]. This is worrying because it suggests that media images may be encouraging dangerous tanning behaviors by having certain types of images accompany articles.…”

Life After NHST: How to Describe Your Data Without “p-ing” Everywhere

“…Although in our experience many researchers do not think of this as an effect size, it actually is an effect size, though unstandardized (Lipsey & Wilson, 2001). For Mahler et al's (2010) study, the mean on the attitude scale was .23 units higher for participants exposed to a tanned model presurvey than for participants exposed to an untanned model presurvey (s ¼ 0.83). When used properly, standardized effect sizes facilitate comparison of effects across similar outcomes measured on different scales.…”

“…When satisfied that the necessary conditions are met, we suggest beginning data presentation with basic descriptive statistics. See Table 1 for a suggestion for how these might be displayed for the Mahler et al (2010) study. Researchers should consider reporting, both overall and by group, the range of scores, the mean and median, and the standard deviation.…”

“…Thus, the pooled standard deviation is simply the square root of the weighted average of the variances. For our simulated data from the Mahler et al (2010) study, d ¼ þ0.28, which is interpreted as revealing that means of the two groups were separated by 0.28 standard deviations.…”

“…To illustrate how to explore and present data for continuous outcomes, we used the study by Mahler, Beckerley, and Vogel (2010). In this study, the researchers were interested in the extent to which being exposed to a photograph of a tanned versus an untanned woman would affect attitudes toward tanning.…”