Doctoral Student, School of Nutrition and Health Promotion
Arizona State University
As the world becomes more reliant on the internet for communication and information, there has been a significant increase in cyber bullying in the form of skinny and fat shaming. The most recent events pertain to Lady Gaga being fat shammed for her body during her Super Bowl halftime performance [1]. Despite the internet trolls that ridiculed her body, Lady Gaga responded by saying, “I’m proud of my body and you should be proud of yours too. No matter who you are or what you do” [1].
Furthermore, Giuliana Rancic has been continuously criticized for her small frame. In 2015, she finally responded by saying, “It’s really hurtful. I am sorry that people think I am disgustingly skinny, but there is nothing I can do” [2]. Rancic went on to explain that she is on a cancer suppressing medication that can cause weight loss [2]. This is a prime example that we have no idea what another person might be going through and maybe instead of turning to judgment, we should encourage communication. These incidences, as well as, many others sparked my interest in how the media helps shape our beliefs.
With the outpouring of bloggers and advocacy groups taking a stance through opinionated articles and controversial interviews, the topics of fat and skinny shaming result in heated conversations (or dare I say debates). What can we make of all these conversations surrounding our bodies; do we just agree to disagree? That’s easier said than done. The constant coverage of celebrity weight loss and gain continues to put these topics at the forefront of the news. Extremes, both skinny and fat, should be the last topic we discuss. Health should be the first. But why have we strayed so off topic from healthy and fit to skinny, emaciated, or fat? More importantly, how has this impacted our health? Is the body positivity movement really positive? Are fat and skinny shaming really that different? As I thought more and more about these three topics – fat shaming, body positivity, and skinny shaming – my mind kept wandering back to the looming question, where are the studies and what is the science telling us?
There have been a surplus of studies on the body positivity movement – a byproduct of fat shaming –reporting higher body esteem and self-acceptance [3], as well as numerous changes implemented in the fashion industry, but how have these marketing campaigns impacted overall health? A recent and somewhat controversial study by Lin & McFerran reported that marketing cues for acceptance of a larger body type resulted in consumption of more food and reduced motivation to be in shape [4]. This conclusion resulted from six experiments evaluating different campaign messages. Let’s take a closer look at each study in the preceding paragraphs.
The first study showed that female participants who were shown pictures of mannequins varying in body size (larger-bodied vs. thin-bodied vs. control) were more inclined to accept being overweight or obese as socially permissible.4 Okay, what’s so bad about that? That is the premise of the body positivity movement, we should be accepting of everyone. However, the second study incorporated readily available chocolates and an advertisement of a larger-bodied woman with varying taglines (For Normal Women vs. For Plus-Size Women vs. For Women) [4]. The female participants viewing the ‘For Normal Women’ tagline consumed more chocolates (4.59±2.71) than those that viewed the ‘For Plus-Sized Women’ (3.05±3.26) and ‘For Women’ (2.03±2.27) taglines [4]. So, is the label “normal” actually doing more harm than good? What is normal anyways? Does this label really lead to higher consumption of unhealthy foods? The above study would say yes, but what happens if you modify the experiment to reflect the message of a large and widely accepted marketing campaign, like the Dove’s Real Body campaign.
The authors’ next study did just that. They had participants (males and females) view an advertisement with either a tagline of ‘For Plus-Size Women’, ‘For Real Women’ or no tagline. They then had them select their “ideal” meal from a list of food items with caloric information. The people who viewed the ‘For Real Women’ tagline created meals with significantly higher caloric counts (622.7±435.70) and were less motivated to be in better shape (1.53±1.64) compared to those who viewed ‘For Plus-Size Women’ (448.21±183.57) or no tagline (503.36±278.23) [4]. So if acceptance of larger bodies encourages higher caloric intake and demotivates the general public, this is not a good outcome for what is supposed to be a positive campaign. However, if the message is changed, does that lead to motivation or stigmatization? Research has shown that exposure to larger bodies compared to thin bodies led to consumers eating less [5]. But what happens if those images are accompanied with a value judgment (‘For Real Women’ or ‘Time to Slim Down’), do people really eat less?
That was the focus of the next two studies. The authors evaluated the impact of images with value judgments on motivation, social permissibility and fat phobia. When evaluating motivation, no relationship between advertisement and size of model was found; however, when assessed separately, it was determined that acceptance of larger bodies decreased motivation, but acceptance of a thinner body did not increase motivation [4]. So neither ad successfully motivated people to be more active. However, the larger-bodied ad increased social permissibility but not positivity towards larger-bodied people and did not change the perspective of individual physical appearance [4].
These findings are interesting and somewhat controversial. The authors are not saying that stigmatization is the key to motivation. They are saying that acceptance of larger-bodies leads to a decrease in short term motivation. They also showed that acceptance of larger bodies increased social permissibility which ultimately decreases allocation of tax dollars to overweight and obesity prevention programs (i.e. the fifth experiment) [4]. For me, this outcome is more detrimental than decreases in motivation or increases in caloric intake, because regardless of how socially permissible larger-bodies become, overweight and obesity are a national public health problem.
More than one-third of adults [7] and 17% of children and adolescents [6] in the U.S. are obese. Individuals that are obese are at increased risk for heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Healthcare costs for an obese adult are $1,429 higher when compared to a normal weight adult [7]/
Obesity is a problem.
As a society we constantly engage in discussions around weight, and as humans we consistently judge ourselves and others. But if body positivity campaign results suggest increased acceptance, decreased motivation, increased consumption, and decreases in funding, then perhaps they are contributing more to the problem than the solution. Funding – federal, industry, and private – is at an all-time low. No effective and successful program should need to have their funding cut but that is a normal occurrence. Even before the money is distributed, it is expected to be cut by at least 12-20%.
Marketing campaigns might be encouraging acceptance, but they also might be minimizing the obesity problem our society continues to face. As a result, this leads to less money being allocated towards necessary, effective prevention programs. So, instead of continuously labeling each other, why don’t we encourage each other to be the healthiest people we can be.
Healthy isn’t acceptance. Healthy isn’t easy.
It is less about the shape and size, and more about the trials and tribulations that we all experience day-in and day-out. “Real” should not depend on a person’s physical appearance based on a predetermined list of characteristics. A “real” person is someone who is a good and honest person but still has their own sets of faults that not only make them unique but human. We all have those days where we slip up and eat a whole pint of ice cream, or when we feel less than stellar but still have to get out of bed. Acceptance is that everyone is different and everyone has good and bad days.
Let’s motivate people to have more good days than bad.
References
- CNN Entertainment. (2017, February). Lady Gaga responds to Super Bowl body shaming. Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/08/entertainment/lady-gaga-body-shamed/
- People Bodies. (2015, April). Giuliana Rancic: I know I am Too Thin. Retrieved from http://people.com/bodies/giuliana-rancic-speaks-out-on-weight-i-know-im-too-thin/
- McKinley NM1. Resisting body dissatisfaction: fat women who endorse fat acceptance. Body Image. 2004 May;1(2):213-9.
- Lin L & McFerran B. The (Ironic) Dove Effect: Use of Acceptance Cues for Larger Body Types Increases Unhealthy Behaviors. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. 2015. 35(1):76-90.
- Campbell M.C. & Mohr G.S. Seeing Is Eating: How and When Activation of a Negative Stereotype Increases Stereotype-Conducive Behavior. J Consum Res. 2011. 38(3):431-444.
- Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2016, December). Childhood Obesity Facts. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html
- Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2016, September). Adult Obesity Facts. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html