This online experimental study examined the impact of viewing disclaimer comments attached to idealized social media images on 18- to 25-year-old American women’s (N = 164) body dissatisfaction, mood, and perceptions of the target. Furthermore, this study also tested whether thin ideal internalization or appearance comparison tendency moderated any effect. Viewing idealized images taken from social media had a negative influence on women’s body image, with or without the presence of disclaimers. Disclaimer comments also had no impact on women’s mood. They did, however, impact perceptions of the target, with women forming a less positive impression of the target if she attached disclaimer comments to her social media images. Thus, the results of this study suggest that the use of disclaimer comments or labels on social media may be ineffective at reducing women’s body dissatisfaction.
AtaRNThompsonJKSmallBJ (2013) Effects of exposure to thin-ideal media images on body dissatisfaction: testing the inclusion of a disclaimer versus warning label. Body Image10: 472–480.
2.
BearmanSKPresnellKMartinezEet al. (2006) The skinny on body dissatisfaction: a longitudinal study of adolescent girls and boys. Journal of Youth and Adolescence35: 229–241.
3.
BrownZTiggemannM (2016) Attractive celebrity and peer images on Instagram: effect on women’s mood and body image. Body Image19: 37–43.
4.
BuryBTiggemannMSlaterA (2016) The effect of digital alteration disclaimer labels on social comparison and body image: instructions and individual differences. Body Image17: 136–142.
5.
BuryBTiggemannMSlaterA (2017) Disclaimer labels on fashion magazine advertisements: does timing of digital alteration information matter?Eating Behaviors25: 18–22.
6.
CafriGYamamiyaYBrannickMet al. (2005) The influence of sociocultural factors on body image: a meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice12: 421–433.
7.
CohenRBlaszczynskiA (2015) Comparative effects of Facebook and conventional media on body image dissatisfaction. Journal of Eating Disorders3: 23.
8.
DiedrichsPCLeeC (2011) Waif goodbye! Average-size female models promote positive body image and appeal to consumers. Psychology & Health26: 1273–1291.
9.
EllisonNHeinoRGibbsJ (2006) Managing impressions online: self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication11: 415–441.
10.
FardoulyJVartanianLR (2016) Social media and body image concerns: current research and future directions. Current Opinion in Psychology9: 1–5.
11.
FardoulyJDiedrichsPCVartanianLRet al. (2015) Social comparisons on social media: the impact of Facebook on young women’s body image concerns and mood. Body Image13: 38–45.
12.
FardoulyJPinkusRTVartanianLR (2017) The impact of appearance comparisons made through social media, traditional media, and in person in women’s everyday lives. Body Image20: 31–39.
13.
FestingerL (1954) A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations7: 117–140.
14.
FlorinTAShultsJStettlerN (2011) Perception of overweight is associated with poor academic performance in US adolescents. Journal of School Health81: 663–670.
15.
FrederickDASandhuGMorsePJet al. (2016) Correlates of appearance and weight satisfaction in a U.S. national sample: personality, attachment style, television viewing, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Body Image17: 191–203.
GoslingSDGaddisSVazireS (2007) Personality impressions based on Facebook profiles. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, Boulder, CO, March 2007.
19.
GrabeSWardLMHydeJS (2008) The role of the media in body image concerns among women: a meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies. Psychological Bulletin134: 460–476.
GroeszLMLevineMPMurnenSK (2002) The effect of experimental presentation of thin media images on body satisfaction: a meta-analytic review. International Journal of Eating Disorders31: 1–16.
22.
HaferkampNKramerNC (2011) Social comparison 2.0: examining the effects of online profiles on social-networking sites. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking14: 309–314.
23.
HarrisonKHefnerV (2014) Virtually perfect: image retouching and adolescent body Image. Media Psychology17: 134–153.
24.
HeinbergLJThompsonJK (1995) Body image and televised images of thinness and attractiveness: a controlled laboratory investigation. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology14: 325–338.
25.
HollandGTiggemannM (2016) A systematic review of the impact of the use of social networking sites on body image and disordered eating outcomes. Body Image17: 100–110.
KimMParkW (2016) Who is at risk on Facebook? The effects of Facebook news feed photographs on female college students’ appearance satisfaction. Social Science Journal53: 427–434.
28.
KrawitzM (2014) Beauty is only photoshop deep: legislating models’ BMIs and photoshopping images. Journal of Law and Medicine21: 859–874.
McKinleyNMHydeJS (1996) The objectified body consciousness scale. Psychology of Women Quarterly20: 181–215.
31.
McLeanSAPaxtonSJWertheimEHet al. (2015) Photoshopping the selfie: self photo editing and photo investment are associated with body dissatisfaction in adolescent girls. International Journal of Eating Disorders48: 1132–1140.
MyersTACrowtherJH (2009) Social comparison as a predictor of body dissatisfaction: a meta-analytic review. Journal of Abnormal Psychology118: 683–698.
34.
ParaskevaNLewis-SmithHDiedrichsPC (2017) Consumer opinion on social policy approaches to promoting positive body image: airbrushed media images and disclaimer labels. Journal of Health Psychology22: 164–175.
35.
PaxtonSJEisenbergMENeumark-SztainerD (2006a) Prospective predictors of body dissatisfaction in adolescent girls and boys: a five-year longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology42: 888–899.
36.
PaxtonSJNeumark-SztainerDHannanPJet al. (2006b) Body dissatisfaction prospectively predicts depressive mood and low self-esteem in adolescent girls and boys. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology35: 539–549.
37.
PerloffRM (2014) Social media effects on young women’s body image concerns: theoretical perspectives and an agenda for research. Sex Roles71: 363–377.
38.
ReavesSHitchonJBParkSYet al. (2004) If looks could kill: digital manipulation of fashion models. Journal of Mass Media Ethics19: 56–71.
SarwerDBCashTFMageeLet al. (2005) Female college students and cosmetic surgery: an investigation of experiences, attitudes, and body Image. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery115: 931–938.
42.
SchaeferLMThompsonJK (2014) The development and validation of the physical appearance comparison scale-revised (PACS-R). Eating Behaviors15: 209–217.
43.
SchaeferLMBurkeNLThompsonJKet al. (2015) Development and validation of the sociocultural attitudes towards appearance questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4). Psychological Assessment27: 54–67.
SlaterATiggemannMFirthBet al. (2012) Reality check: an experimental investigation of the addition of warning labels to fashion magazine images on women’s mood and body dissatisfaction. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology31: 105–122.
46.
SticeE (2002) Risk and maintenance factors for eating pathology: a meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin128: 825–848.
47.
SticeEShawHE (2002) Role of body dissatisfaction in the onset and maintenance of eating pathology: a synthesis of research findings. Journal of Psychosomatic Research53: 985–993.
48.
SwamiVFrederickDAAavikTet al. (2010) The attractive female body weight and female body dissatisfaction in 26 countries across 10 world regions: results of the international body project I. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin36: 309–325.
49.
ThompsonJKHeinbergLJAltabeMet al. (1999) Exacting Beauty: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment of Body Image Disturbance. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
50.
TiggemannMSlaterA (2004) Thin ideals in music television: a source of social comparison and body dissatisfaction. International Journal of Eating Disorders35: 48–58.
51.
TiggemannMZaccardoM (2015) “Exercise to be fit, not skinny”: the effect of fitspiration imagery on women’s body image. Body Image15: 61–67.
52.
TiggemannMBrownZZaccardoMet al. (2017) “Warning: this image has been digitally altered”: the effect of disclaimer labels added to fashion magazine shoots on women’s body dissatisfaction. Body Image21: 107–113.
53.
TiggemannMSlaterASmythV (2014) ‘Retouch free’: the effect of labelling media images as not digitally altered on women’s body dissatisfaction. Body Image11: 85–88.
54.
TiggemannMSlaterABuryBet al. (2013) Disclaimer labels on fashion magazine advertisements: effects on social comparison and body dissatisfaction. Body Image10: 45–53.
55.
van den BergPThompsonJKObremski-BrandonKet al. (2002) The tripartite influence model of body image and eating disturbance: a covariance structure modeling investigation testing the mediational role of appearance comparison. Journal of Psychosomatic Research53: 1007–1020.
56.
XieBChouCPSpruijt-MetzDet al. (2006) Weight perception, academic performance, and psychological factors in Chinese adolescents. American Journal of Health Behavior30: 115–124.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
