Depictions of Female Body Types in Advertising: How Regional Visual Attention, Body Region Satisfaction, Media Influence, and Drive for Thinness Relate

• Main Author: Adams, Dallin Russell
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2020
• Subjects: eye-tracking; regional visual attention; body region satisfaction; drive for thinness; MBSRQ-BASS; SATAQ-3; DT; social comparison theory; Fine Arts
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/9042; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=10051&context=etd

Through continuing technological advancement, increased media exposure occurs as consumers are able to obtain access more easily. Various media formats, including video, are a means whereby consumers gather information about the world around them, and continually make comparisons between that information and themselves. Among the information obtained from media channels is how bodies are portrayed in the media. Comparisons between media images of body and self-perceptions of body are particularly prevalent in women. The current study employs the use of eye-tracking to examine how women view other women's body types and areas of the body in video-based advertising. The study also employs self-report measures to further understand how individual body region satisfaction, drive for thinness, and media influence relate. Findings indicate that women, regardless of personal satisfaction, tend to look longer at thin women than plus-sized or average women. Furthermore, media pressures and internalization were found to play a strong role in women's drive for thinness and personal satisfaction, while media as a source of information played no such role.