Thin Women and Advertising

A new study on thin models and eating habits of women discover what many of us already sensed to be true:

Villanova School of Business Marketing Professor Jeremy Kees and Karen Becker-Olsen of The College of New Jersey finds a definitive link between the use of thin models in advertising and women’s eating habits.

However, there is a more interesting discovery:

Despite the fact that women feel worse about their bodies after seeing images of thin models, the researchers found that women prefer ads with thin models to those with models of more “normal” physiques.

I prefer advertisements with good looking models to those with ugly models, as I imagine everyone else does as well. So it looks like we have a little chicken or egg scenario.* Are advertisements responding to standards of beauty that exist largely independent of the advertising industry or are advertisements key agents in creating those standards? Probably a little of both, right?

* Joke my friend Simon told me over the weekend: A chicken and egg are lying in bed after having sex. The chicken is smoking a cigarette. The egg looks over to the chicken and says, "I guess that answers that question."

Monday, August 11, 2008