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Positive Promotion: The Current State of Body Positivity in Women's Magazine Advertisements

Mutchler, Amanda C
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2765-7825
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1555441883374652

Abstract Details

2019, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Consumer Sciences.
Research regarding body image and the media has primarily been focused on negative body image or the negative impacts of the media on body image. Although negative in nature, this research has proven the existence of a relationship between the media and body image. In recent years, the concept of body positivity has become a more common topic of discussion, both in the real world and in the world of academia. The relationship between the media and body positivity has been yet to be understood. However, before this relationship can be explored, the presence of body positivity in the media must first be explored. The current study serves to discover the role of female body positivity in the present advertising landscape and to develop a system that can be used to classify advertisements as being body positive. For the purpose of this study, seven characteristics of body positivity were translated into visual characteristics. These characteristics were “broad conceptualization of beauty,” “body appreciation,” “body as process,” “advocates health behaviors,” “holistic self,” “unobjectifying pose,” and “filtering.” The study included two phases, (1) a pilot study conducted with 118 student participants, which validated the visual translation of these characteristics into quantifiable levels, and (2) a larger study of 100 advertisements from twelve popular women’s magazines that were content-analyzed according to these characteristics to determine the presence or absence of body positivity in the current advertising landscape. This study suggests that body positive characteristics are present in women’s magazine advertisements and that the presence of body positivity in these advertisements can be dissected based on product and magazine categories. There were two characteristics of body positivity, “body appreciation” and “unobjectifying pose,” that seemed to be more readily obvious to the coders as indicating body positivity. They were respectively given mean ratings of 4.12 and 4.23 out of 5.00. One characteristic, “filtering,” was consistently rated quite low on the five-point scale. The means of the other four characteristics fell in the mid-point of the scale, indicating that they were fairly indistinguishable throughout the advertisement sample as a whole. These were “broad conceptualization of beauty,” “body as process,” “advocates healthy behaviors,” and “filtering.” One magazine genre was found to be clearly more body positive than the other analyzed genres, as well. Health magazines were consistently more positive than women’s lifestyle or fashion and beauty magazines. A differentiation in body positivity levels was found between product categories, too. Advertisements that fell into the nutrition and health product category were rated most positive, while advertisements that fell into the cosmetics and fragrance category received the lowest body positivity ratings. Overall, it was concluded that certain characteristics of body positivity can indeed be observed and measured within the context of advertising images and that some advertisements are capable of being body positive. However, the current women’s advertising landscape cannot be considered body positive overall. The implications of this study suggest that there is justification to research the area of body positive advertising further. More practical implications include the implementation of media literacy education programs and the importance of teaching body positivity to young women. Future studies include analyzing different forms of media for body positive characteristics and studying advertisements that target different target populations. Most importantly, future studies could be conducted to discover if advertisements deemed body positive can be used as stimuli to understand the effects of body positive media on young women and also to grasp the concept of body positive advertising from a consumer perspective.
Nancy Rudd, Dr. (Advisor)
Julie Hillery, Dr. (Committee Member)
Jay Kandampully, Dr. (Committee Member)
271 p.
Social Psychology
body image, body positivity, advertising imagery

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Mutchler, A. C. (2019). Positive Promotion: The Current State of Body Positivity in Women's Magazine Advertisements [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1555441883374652

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Mutchler, Amanda. Positive Promotion: The Current State of Body Positivity in Women's Magazine Advertisements. 2019. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1555441883374652.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Mutchler, Amanda. "Positive Promotion: The Current State of Body Positivity in Women's Magazine Advertisements." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1555441883374652

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.