scholarship: A reading list
Capodilupo, Christina M., and Kim Suah. "Gender And Race Matter: The Importance Of Considering Intersections In Black Women's Body Image." Journal Of Counseling Psychology 61.1 (2014): 37-49. Business Source Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
In this article Christina Capodilupo and Suah Kim investigate how race and gender in advertising impact women's body image. Through observing 26 women who identified as black, Capodilupo et al. learned how the women viewed body ideals, societal messages, cultural values, racism, and sexism in the media. The researchers' data suggested that black women are not immune from negative feelings about their physical appearance just by "virtue of their race." They highlighted that this observation is most likely due to the concept that racial identity acts as a buffer against body dissatisfaction. Those with higher racial identity are more “immune” to body dissatisfaction, while those who do not identify with their race as much are more susceptible to feelings of body inadequacy. Overall, physical characteristics portrayed in advertisements such as skin tone and hair type can create appearance-related distress in the population of those with low racial identity. In conclusion, body dissatisfaction is most dependent on low racial salience and racial identity statuses and impacts all genders and ethnicities in different ways.
Carrabis, Joseph, and Greg Peverill-Conti. "The Selling Face: Face And Body Biases In Marketing Communications." International Journal Of Integrated Marketing Communications 3.2 (2011): 19-31. Business Source Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
In this article Joseph Carrabis and Greg Peverill-Conti analyzed different mating styles of human beings and the science of cultural values of emotional reactions due to physical stimuli. The science of such emotional reactions is known as koinophology and has a major impact on the marketing community in American. The researchers found that because beauty is culturally defined, certain physiologies of models in the media drive nonconscious emotional responses across cultural groups. The researchers defined extreme emotional responses to advertisements as prejudice, bigotry, and sex appeal, adding that marketers use such strategies extensively in advertising to sell products. Carrabis et al. highlight that koinophology is urgent in today’s media because there has been a great expansion of cultural diversity in the United States as well as in the country’s media in the last fifty years. This point was also shown in the fact that many “Middle America” broad icons like Mr. Clean and The Green Giant, representative of a white audience, lost their power after the country began to diversify and the multicultural audience began to expect more relatable advertising. They concluded their research by stating that it is essential for marketers to understand where cultural, emotion-provoking boundaries lie and how they can be crossed.
Martin, Brett A. S., and Robina Xavier. "How Do Consumers React To Physically Larger Models? Effects Of Model Body Size, Weight Control Beliefs And Product Type On Evaluations And Body Perceptions." Journal Of Strategic Marketing18.6 (2010): 489-501. Business Source Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
In this article Brett Martin studies how a model’s body size and type as well as the product type being advertised for influences consumer evaluation ad consumer body perceptions. As expected, the data showed that larger sized models resulted in consumers feeling less pressure from society to be thin because they viewed their own body types as thinner than the model’s bigger size. In contrast, it was observed that slim models caused an opposite effect in the response of viewers, leading women to feel even greater body dissatisfaction and a need to appear thinner. Through examining consumer’s weight control beliefs, Martin determined that it would be very helpful for marketers to consider the use of larger models in advertising because they could most likely sell more products if the women viewing the advertisements do not feel threatened or upset by the models.
Plakoyiannaki, Emmanuella, et al. "Images Of Women In Online Advertisements Of Global Products: Does Sexism Exist?." Journal Of Business Ethics 83.1 (2008): 101-112. Business Source Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
In this article, Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki, Kalliopi Mathioudaki, and Pavlos Dimitratos performed research on female stereotypes in online advertisements, focusing on whether or not women are depicted in derogatory and stereotypical terms on the Internet. The results indicated that women are often portrayed in a stereotypical way, supporting the notion that sexism is still prevalent in online advertisements and media worldwide. It was discovered that females are often represented as being traditional housewives or decorative and nontraditional, two polar opposites. The researchers determined that the study has significant ethical and marketing practice implications because the results raised ethical concerns of the portrayal of women in online advertising. It is clear that online advertising emphasizes decorative roles and an unattainable ideal of beauty, a clearly unethical way to sell products. Plakoyiannaki et al. question the ethical effectiveness of such advertisements and found that marketers are often more concerned with making women feel that in order to be happy they must depend on “material standards of living” and purchases of products that promise “eternal beauty.”
Williams, Todd J., et al. "Following And Resisting Body Image Ideals In Advertising: The Moderating Role Of Extrinsic Contingency Focus." Self & Identity 13.4 (2014): 398-418. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
In this article Todd Williams, Jeff Schimel, Joseph Hayes, and Murat Usta investigate people’s tendency to develop differing levels of self-esteem due to the desire to meet socially, not personally, defined standards. Such standards are often found in media advertising and the researchers' data supported the hypothesis that advertisements with idealized, thin body images led women to “engage in behaviors directed toward the attainment of the ideal.” They found that the tendency to rely on social pressures rather than personal pressures is an extrinsic contingency focus and is reliant on one’s level of immersion in media and advertising. In one part of the experiment, Williams et al. discovered that self-affirmation in advertisements reduced the viewer’s desire to conform to societal and social norms because they were told to value and accept who they were. The researchers called for more research to be conducted on the topic of social versus personally defined standards of beauty and body size and shape before definitive conclusions can be drawn.
In this article Christina Capodilupo and Suah Kim investigate how race and gender in advertising impact women's body image. Through observing 26 women who identified as black, Capodilupo et al. learned how the women viewed body ideals, societal messages, cultural values, racism, and sexism in the media. The researchers' data suggested that black women are not immune from negative feelings about their physical appearance just by "virtue of their race." They highlighted that this observation is most likely due to the concept that racial identity acts as a buffer against body dissatisfaction. Those with higher racial identity are more “immune” to body dissatisfaction, while those who do not identify with their race as much are more susceptible to feelings of body inadequacy. Overall, physical characteristics portrayed in advertisements such as skin tone and hair type can create appearance-related distress in the population of those with low racial identity. In conclusion, body dissatisfaction is most dependent on low racial salience and racial identity statuses and impacts all genders and ethnicities in different ways.
Carrabis, Joseph, and Greg Peverill-Conti. "The Selling Face: Face And Body Biases In Marketing Communications." International Journal Of Integrated Marketing Communications 3.2 (2011): 19-31. Business Source Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
In this article Joseph Carrabis and Greg Peverill-Conti analyzed different mating styles of human beings and the science of cultural values of emotional reactions due to physical stimuli. The science of such emotional reactions is known as koinophology and has a major impact on the marketing community in American. The researchers found that because beauty is culturally defined, certain physiologies of models in the media drive nonconscious emotional responses across cultural groups. The researchers defined extreme emotional responses to advertisements as prejudice, bigotry, and sex appeal, adding that marketers use such strategies extensively in advertising to sell products. Carrabis et al. highlight that koinophology is urgent in today’s media because there has been a great expansion of cultural diversity in the United States as well as in the country’s media in the last fifty years. This point was also shown in the fact that many “Middle America” broad icons like Mr. Clean and The Green Giant, representative of a white audience, lost their power after the country began to diversify and the multicultural audience began to expect more relatable advertising. They concluded their research by stating that it is essential for marketers to understand where cultural, emotion-provoking boundaries lie and how they can be crossed.
Martin, Brett A. S., and Robina Xavier. "How Do Consumers React To Physically Larger Models? Effects Of Model Body Size, Weight Control Beliefs And Product Type On Evaluations And Body Perceptions." Journal Of Strategic Marketing18.6 (2010): 489-501. Business Source Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
In this article Brett Martin studies how a model’s body size and type as well as the product type being advertised for influences consumer evaluation ad consumer body perceptions. As expected, the data showed that larger sized models resulted in consumers feeling less pressure from society to be thin because they viewed their own body types as thinner than the model’s bigger size. In contrast, it was observed that slim models caused an opposite effect in the response of viewers, leading women to feel even greater body dissatisfaction and a need to appear thinner. Through examining consumer’s weight control beliefs, Martin determined that it would be very helpful for marketers to consider the use of larger models in advertising because they could most likely sell more products if the women viewing the advertisements do not feel threatened or upset by the models.
Plakoyiannaki, Emmanuella, et al. "Images Of Women In Online Advertisements Of Global Products: Does Sexism Exist?." Journal Of Business Ethics 83.1 (2008): 101-112. Business Source Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
In this article, Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki, Kalliopi Mathioudaki, and Pavlos Dimitratos performed research on female stereotypes in online advertisements, focusing on whether or not women are depicted in derogatory and stereotypical terms on the Internet. The results indicated that women are often portrayed in a stereotypical way, supporting the notion that sexism is still prevalent in online advertisements and media worldwide. It was discovered that females are often represented as being traditional housewives or decorative and nontraditional, two polar opposites. The researchers determined that the study has significant ethical and marketing practice implications because the results raised ethical concerns of the portrayal of women in online advertising. It is clear that online advertising emphasizes decorative roles and an unattainable ideal of beauty, a clearly unethical way to sell products. Plakoyiannaki et al. question the ethical effectiveness of such advertisements and found that marketers are often more concerned with making women feel that in order to be happy they must depend on “material standards of living” and purchases of products that promise “eternal beauty.”
Williams, Todd J., et al. "Following And Resisting Body Image Ideals In Advertising: The Moderating Role Of Extrinsic Contingency Focus." Self & Identity 13.4 (2014): 398-418. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
In this article Todd Williams, Jeff Schimel, Joseph Hayes, and Murat Usta investigate people’s tendency to develop differing levels of self-esteem due to the desire to meet socially, not personally, defined standards. Such standards are often found in media advertising and the researchers' data supported the hypothesis that advertisements with idealized, thin body images led women to “engage in behaviors directed toward the attainment of the ideal.” They found that the tendency to rely on social pressures rather than personal pressures is an extrinsic contingency focus and is reliant on one’s level of immersion in media and advertising. In one part of the experiment, Williams et al. discovered that self-affirmation in advertisements reduced the viewer’s desire to conform to societal and social norms because they were told to value and accept who they were. The researchers called for more research to be conducted on the topic of social versus personally defined standards of beauty and body size and shape before definitive conclusions can be drawn.