Post: What's the Skinny on the Media and Weight?
What's the Skinny on the Media and Weight?
Earlier this month, Spain’s top fashion show banned the use of ultra skinny models, prompting a worldwide debate about the influence of the fashion media on girls’ body image and eating disorder rates.
This week, the Federal Communications Commission and Congress announced the formation of a joint task force to examine the media’s contribution to America’s childhood obesity epidemic.
These trends might seem paradoxical, but studies have shown that the media can have a major impact on kids’ health, in terms of both eating disorders and obesity.
When you think about all of the time that kids spend with the media, and all of the food messages they see on TV and even through "advergames" on the Web, it’s not surprising that researchers say media use can be a big risk factor for obesity.
On the other hand, when you consider the unrealistic, ultrathin image of beauty that the fashion industry promotes, it makes sense that the media can contribute to eating disorders, especially among girls and young women.
What you see here are two extremes of the same issue: the media’s huge impact on kids. It’s really a matter of what kind of media messages the kids are exposed to, and how they process those messages.
For more on this topic:
- Click here for fact sets about the media and its relationship to obesity and eating disorders.
- Parents: get tips for keeping your kids healthy by reading Managing Media and Weight.
- And for even more expert insight, be sure to check out what our partners at Packaging Girlhood and Ypulse are saying on their blogs.