Abstract
Globally, the influx of Western mass media in non-Western societies has coexisted with the beauty standard of the thin ideal. Therefore, body-image disturbance becomes an emerging issue in Chinese culture as well. Using surveys, this research investigated the perceptual discrepancy between the perceived impact of idealized thin models on self and on others according to the third-person effect theory among mainland Chinese overseas undergraduate female students in Malaysia. It found that respondents perceived that the thin models in TV advertisements exerted a greater impact on others than on themselves. The role of social difference and gender was demonstrated in determining the size of the perceptual gap. This perceptual gap could lead to dieting, excessive exercising, and the likelihood of liposuction undertaking as well as body dissatisfaction. Theoretically, it expands third-person effect theory in body image field in mainland China context. It also gives practical implications to solve body image disturbance among Chinese females.
Highlights
Researchers, marketers, and social scientists have reached a consensus that TV advertisements exert influence on product evaluation and on audiences’ beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors (Read, van Driel, & Potter, 2018)
Drawing from the third-person effect theory, this study explored the discrepancy between how individuals perceive the effect of thin models on themselves and how they anticipate the effect on others
This study examines the third-person effect theory in the context of the impact of idealized thin models on college females from mainland China in Xiamen University Malaysia (XMUM)
Summary
Researchers, marketers, and social scientists have reached a consensus that TV advertisements exert influence on product evaluation and on audiences’ beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors (Read, van Driel, & Potter, 2018). When they are exposed to the media content which uses the same type of portrayal repeatedly, they will believe that is the normal standard of reality in society. The ideal of thinness is continually emphasized as the beauty standard through progressively thinner female models in the past few decades The promoted level of thinness like the models in ads is not something most women possess, nor something they can achieve even with maximum effort (Paraskeva et al, 2017)
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