Inspiring or dispiriting? The effect of diet commercials on snack food consumption in high school and college-aged women

Abstract

a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oAlthough research consistently shows that images of thin women in the media (media body ideals) affect women negatively (e.g., increased weight dissatisfaction and food intake), this effect is less clear among restrained eaters.The majority of experiments demonstrate that restrained eaters -identified with the Restraint Scale -consume more food than do other participants after viewing media body ideal images; whereas a minority of experiments suggest that such images trigger restrained eaters' dietary restraint. Weight satisfaction and mood results are just as variable. One reason for these inconsistent results might be that different methods of image exposure (e.g., slideshow vs. film) afford varying levels of attention. Therefore, we manipulated attention levels and measured participants' weight satisfaction and food intake. We based our hypotheses on the elaboration likelihood model and on restraint theory. We hypothesised that advertent (i.e., processing the images via central routes of persuasion) and inadvertent (i.e., processing the images via peripheral routes of persuasion) exposure would trigger differing degrees of weight dissatisfaction and dietary disinhibition among restrained eaters (cf. restraint theory). Participants (N = 174) were assigned to one of four conditions: advertent or inadvertent exposure to media or control images. The dependent variables were measured in a supposedly unrelated study. Although restrained eaters' weight satisfaction was not significantly affected by either media exposure condition, advertent (but not inadvertent) media exposure triggered restrained eaters' eating. These results suggest that teaching restrained eaters how to pay less attention to media body ideal images might be an effective strategy in media-literary interventions.

Exposure to slim images in mass media: Television commercials as reminders of restriction in restrained eaters.

“…In our study, it appeared that all participants (including restrained and unrestrained eaters) recalled more commercials when they contained slim models and diet-related products, and the attitudes toward these commercials were also more positive than the attitudes toward the neutral commercials. This suggests that the commercials with slim models and diet products did not cause immediate negative feelings, as proposed by Seddon and Berry (1996), Strauss et al (1994), and Warren et al (2005), but rather might have inspired restrained eaters to stick to their diets, which is more in line with the "inspiration" hypothesis. Although "inspiration" seems to be a positive effect, we agree with Mills et al (2002) stating that in the longer term, women who are inspired by the beauty ideal presented in the media may internalize an unrealistic ideal body for themselves and become at risk for development of eating pathology.…”

“…The studies by Strauss et al (1994) and Warren et al (2005) had several limitations that might have affected their results. First, because they only used a sad movie, it is not clear whether there would be an effect of the diet commercials on food intake if the mood had not been manipulated.…”

Laboratory-Based Studies of Eating Among Children and Adolescents

“…A literature search on feeding studies in adolescent populations yielded only seven (99,(123)(124)(125)(126)(127)(128) studies (Table 4). From an overview of the literature, it appears that a number of investigations have examined the eating habits of teenage populations via self-report instruments, which are problematic in that adolescents often underestimate food intake on these measures (16,129).…”

“…Influences of mood, media, and dietary restraint-In one study, researchers manipulated mood and media exposure in order to measure the effects of eating patterns on the eating behavior of 91 high-school females (127). Subjects were categorized as demonstrating either high or low levels of dietary restraint by virtue of scores on self-report measures.…”

Het effect van slanke vrouwen in commercials op eetgedrag bij lijners

“…De studies van Strauss et al (1994) en Warren et al (2005) hebben verschillende beperkingen. Ten eerste, omdat ze alleen een zielige film gebruikt hebben, is het niet duidelijk wat het effect van de reclames op het eetgedrag was geweest als de stemming van de proefpersonen niet gemanipuleerd was.…”