Date of Award

1-1-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Heather Crandall

Abstract

Feminine standards of beauty are presented in almost all forms of popular media, bombarding women and young girls with images of “the perfect female body.” Considered part of the thin media phenomenon, the majority of these images normalize unrealistically thin female bodies that are biologically unattainable for most women. This study examines how women ages 15-45 are portrayed by the mass media, specifically in terms of weight, and how those depictions compare to the body size of the average American woman. This was accomplished by performing a content analysis of 20 randomly selected primetime television advertisements from each of the four major broadcast networks (for a total of 80 segments) that contain at least one central female character. The data collected by the study’s two coders shows that the average body ranking across all four networks was a 3.60, which represents a thin (1-3) to average (4-6) figure on Thompson and Gray's (1995) Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS). It also revealed that the majority of women portrayed in primetime television advertisements on ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX are significantly thinner than the average American woman. George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory (1998) and Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (1977) were also used to determine how and why these representations resonate with such a large percentage of female consumers, and the lengths to which they will go in order to achieve that ideal. Lastly, the study aimed to explain why increased media literacy education is needed in order to change current conceptions of female beauty, dissuade unhealthy behaviors, empower the buying public, and place increased value on reality, rather than fantasy.

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