Robard Weight Loss

Are weight loss ads doing more harm than good?

Have you read a magazine or newspaper, watched television, or surfed the Internet lately? If so, chances are at some point you've come across an ad for a weight loss program or product that contained a plus sized model. A new study from ASU, the University of Cologne in Germany, and Erasmus University in the Netherlands has found that these ads can have a direct impact on your self esteem. They concluded that an overweight consumer "demonstrated lower self-esteem - and therefore...less enthusiasm about buying products - after exposure to any size models in ads (versus ads with no models)," and "normal-weight consumers experienced lower self-esteem after exposure to moderately heavy models." A big part of this shift in self-esteem comes from the perceived distance between your size and the models size.  Those individuals in the normal to high BMI ranges tend to have lower self-esteem when viewing plus sized models.

A big part of this shift in self-esteem comes from the perceived distance between the viewer's size and the model's size. Individuals with higher BMIs tend to see themselves as drastically different than thin models and identify themselves as similar to plus sized models; those with a BMI in the normal range tend to fear they are similar to plus sized models. It is the identification and/or disassociation of one's self with the models that causes the negative shift in self-esteem.

You can read more about this study at PhysOrg.com, but I'd really like to know what you think. Do you feel that ads containing plus sized models - even those with the best intentions like Dove's Real Women campaign - can be doing more harm to one's self esteem than good?