“The really interesting result we’re seeing across multiple studies is that these thin models make women feel bad, but they like it.” - Jeremy Kees, a business professor at Villanova, on a study about women’s reactions to thin models in advertisements, in Advertising Age. (The studies have found that the ads make women feel badly about their own bodies, but that they’re more likely to buy the products the thin models try to sell.)
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posted by guest
Aug 05, 2008 3:42PM
One might look to the famous doll test that was used to great effect in the Brown v. Board of Education system. In that psychological test, black children always picked white dolls over black dolls, even though doing so made them feel badly. They had been socialized into preferring white dolls, because white was "correct" and "good".
But oh right! We all like our models thin and only fat, insecure people worrying about things like promoting anorexia and insecurity!
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posted by catlovescoco
Aug 05, 2008 3:51PM
I agree with guest at 3.38, even though I'd like to see models who don't look like skeletons...
I wouldn't say women "like it", it's just a really big pressure to give in to it.
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posted by guest
Aug 05, 2008 4:41PM
I wonder how thin the models who were used as examples in these studies were. I would agree that models like Caroline Trentini, Raquel Zimmermann, and Catherine McNeil, while incredibly thin, make the clothing look good and certainly desirable. However, when I see Charlotte Di Calypso (post weight loss) walking down the runway, my only thought is, "get this girl to the hospital". I certainly don't think, "I want that outfit". In fact, when I watch girls like Olga Sherer and Charlotte Di Calypso walking down the runway, I rarely even notice the clothes. I'm always too focused on how unwomanly and emaciated they look to notice what they're wearing.
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posted by guest
Aug 05, 2008 6:03PM
Well, sure! There's a subconscious thought process that occurs where a woman sees a thinner woman wearing an item or advertising an item, or items, and thinks that they too will look thin and fabulous- if only they purchase this very product being advertised and contribute to our consumeristic culture! Simply advertising theory..people buy based on aesthetic image- if they like what they see and want it, they'll buy it. And what do overweight Americans want more than anything? Thinness. THAT is why such sickly thin models are so dangerous to our culture, they alter our subconscious mind into thinking we too must be that thin.
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posted by guest
Aug 05, 2008 7:09PM
I agree with #5 - What and who are they using in their photographs? Did they use fashion photographs or photos they created themselves using average thin people?
Is it that the women were thin or that they were beautiful, graceful, glamorized and had nice bodies?
Models, no matter their size, are trained to make everything look amazing and enviable, and certainly women want to buy into it, if only so they can have a piece of the glamour that they falsely assume comes with looking a particular way.
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posted by guest
Aug 06, 2008 11:06AM
I think the point of this study is not that incredibly thin models look good (see this ENTIRE site for proof of that), which seems to be the counterargument in the comments.
There are other studies that have shown that when women are shown sad and depressing images they are more willing to buy more and pay more for what they buy.
When people are sad and insecure they are more vulnerable. That's what these images do--make women feel insecure. And when a woman feels insecure she buys more--whether she was made to feel insecure by a skinny model, or something else.
This is just one nasty way to exploit that. But what can you say really, especially on a site like this. None of us are activists here for this issue. I love Kate, and so do you!
posted by guest
Aug 05, 2008 3:38PM
Well, no sh*t. Women feel bad about not being skinny and then try to be like the image presented to them by the media. Don't get me wrong, I love my models nice and thin, but this is an asinine comment on the study... it in no way implies that women LIKE to be masochistic, Professor Kees.