The Elastic Body Image: The Effect of Television Advertising and Programming on Body Image Distortions in Young Women

Abstract

The emphasis the media place on the thin ideal body image may be responsible for body size overestimations that women make, and indirectly cause increases in anorexia nervosa and bulimia. In this experimental study, two variables - ideal-body programming and ideal-body commercials - had an effect on female subjects' self-perceived body images and moods. Ideal-body image commercials lowered body size overestimations and subjects' depression levels. This study supports the notion of an elastic body image in which actual body size is in conflict with a mediated ideal body image and an unstable self-perceived body image. Results of this study suggest that watching even 30 minutes' worth of television programming and advertising can alter a woman's perception of the shape of her body