Factors Mediating the Negative Effects of Advertisements on Young Women’s Body Images

Abstract

In anywhere and doubtlessly in anything - within the soles of one’s home to the open airs of the outside world, we have come to witness how tremendously the advertising industry exploits its power. Through countless forms of media: the television, billboards, magazines, newspapers, other print ads, and even the internet, every advertisement endorses not only the product by itself, but also the arrays of cultural messages bound to it. Women above all, are directed at as the advertisers’ marketing strategies propagate unrealistic standards of beauty. They are being defined by their physical appearances, are compelled to adhere to unachievable beauty standards, and are subsequently subjected to body dissatisfaction. A multitude of women suffer from low self-esteem, body image distortions, and eating disorders as a consequence. Yet, not every one of them is as susceptible; some women experience greater dissatisfaction than the others. It is for these reasons that this study is generated, to identify the factors - individual characteristics of young women - that tend to reduce and/or increase the negative effects of advertisements on them. In pursuit of this objective, a total of two hundred and nineteen female college students from the University of the Philippines Manila (UPM) and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) took part in this study. Accordingly, a quantitative survey composed of five sections: (1) demographics, (2) family structure, (3) level of exposure, (4) perceived social support and (5) body esteem, was used. Moreover, a series of Focus Group Discussions and Photo Elicitation was carried out for its qualitative approach. Results show that “white beauty” epitomize the Filipinos’ current notion of beauty. Furthermore, apart from exposure to commercials alone, individual differences led to the variations in the respondents’ body esteem scores. All age, year level, religion, parental status, number of siblings and birth order have no bearing on the body esteem scores of the respondents. All height, weight and body mass index have no bearing on the body esteem scores of PLM students, while both weight and body mass index have a negative relationship with the body esteem scores of the UPM students. The body esteem scores of the obese were also significantly lower than those of the normal weight and underweight respondents. This goes to show that the heavier the respondent, the greater is her negative feelings about her body. In addition, perceived social support has been found to have a strong positive relationship with the body esteem scores of the students of both universities. Meaning, the more support a respondent receives from her family, friends and significant others, the greater is her positive feelings about her body. Other factors such as the importance of beauty per se for a woman, social status and ethnicity, appearance of commercial models, awareness and self-satisfaction are all vital in the matter of beauty ads exposure and the subsequent body dissatisfaction. Hence, this study ascertains the existence of factors that mediate the negative effects of advertisements on young women’s body images.