BOPO-PRIATION: Exploring the Effects Of
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BOPO-PRIATION: Exploring the Effects of The Corporate Adoption of the Body Positivity Movement and Audience Feedback on Women’s Perceptions of the Movement Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Kyla Noni Elizabeth Brathwaite Graduate Program in Communication The Ohio State University 2020 Thesis Committee Dr. David DeAndrea, Advisor Dr. Teresa Lynch Copyrighted by Kyla Brathwaite 2020 2 Abstract Our study examined two prominent factors that were thought to counteract the efficacy of body positive images on young women. First, we sought to understand the degree to which the nature of the source (user-generated content or corporate sponsored) of body positive images affected how viewers react to body positive content on Instagram. Second, natural to the social media environment, we examined the degree to which the valence of user generated comments related to the body positive movement can influence how viewers responded to body positive images on Instagram. Four hundred and five adult women were recruited using Cloud Research powered by Turkprime. The results indicate that although participants recognized the commercial intent of corporate sponsored posts, this recognition of commercial persuasion did not negatively affect how participants evaluated the posts or the body positivity movement. Further, the valence of health-related comments (positive or negative) did not substantively influence how participants reacted to the body positive posts on Instagram. The results have implications for the persuasion knowledge model and provide insight for emerging research that seeks to understand the effects of body positive imagery on social media. iii Vita M.A. The Ohio State University, Spring 2020 School of Communication Advisor: Dr. David C. DeAndrea Committee Member: Dr. Teresa Lynch B.S. Cornell University, Spring 2018 College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Major: Communication Advisor: Dr. Michael Shapiro Fields of Study Major Field: Communication iv Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Vita ..................................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Literature Review ................................................................................................................ 4 Mass Media Depictions of Women and Associated Problems ....................................... 4 Objectification Theory and Body Image ......................................................................... 6 New Media and Continued Body Image Concerns ......................................................... 8 Body Positivity Movement ........................................................................................... 11 Native Advertising ........................................................................................................ 16 Persuasion Knowledge Model ...................................................................................... 17 Comment Valence ......................................................................................................... 23 Method .............................................................................................................................. 28 Research Design Overview ........................................................................................... 28 Participants .................................................................................................................... 28 Procedure ...................................................................................................................... 28 Stimuli ........................................................................................................................... 29 Measures ....................................................................................................................... 32 Results ............................................................................................................................... 34 Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 38 References ......................................................................................................................... 46 Appendix A ....................................................................................................................... 58 Tables ............................................................................................................................ 58 Appendix B ....................................................................................................................... 64 v Stimulus materials ......................................................................................................... 64 Appendix C ....................................................................................................................... 70 Sample Captions and Comments .................................................................................. 70 Appendix D ....................................................................................................................... 75 Survey Instruments ....................................................................................................... 75 Attention Checks ........................................................................................................... 78 Demographic Items ....................................................................................................... 79 vi List of Tables Table 1: Zero-Order Correlations between all variables ................................................... 58 Table 2: Summary of Descriptive Statistics for Message Source Condition .................... 58 Table 3: Summary of Descriptive Statistics for Comment Valence Condition ................ 59 Table 4: Summary of Descriptive Statistics for Message Source x Comment Valence . 60 Table 5: One-Way ANOVAs for Message Source Condition .......................................... 61 Table 6: One-Way ANOVAs for Comment Valence Condition ...................................... 62 Table 7: Two Way ANOVA for Message Source x Comment Valence ......................... 63 vii List of Figures Figure 1: Pulvers et al., (2013) establishes approximate size to BMI classification. ....... 64 Figure 2: Sample image of a Black female fitting obese criteria ...................................... 65 Figure 3: Sample image of Black females fitting overweight criteria. ............................. 66 Figure 4: Sample image of a White female fitting average weight criteria. ..................... 67 Figure 5: Sample image of a White female fitting obese criteria. .................................... 68 viii Introduction Media content is often not representative of all female bodies. In fact, media depictions of women are incredibly homogenous. Western beauty ideals are Eurocentric in nature; the more closely an individual’s features align with features White women predominantly have, the more attractive they are considered by societal standards (Bryant, 2013). Features desired include light skin, straight hair, thin facial features (e.g., nose and lips), and light eyes (Bryant, 2013). In addition, beauty ideals extend to body norms, or physical body characteristics such as able-bodiedness, thinness, shape, and age (Dhruvarajan, 2002; Harrison, 2003; Malkin, Wornian, & Chrisler, 1994). Women featured in the media are typically young and slim in terms of physique (Malkin et al., 1994). In addition, with respect to physique, Western beauty standards tend to put emphasis on women being curvaceously thin (e.g., small waist and an average or large bust; Harrison, 2003). Due to repeated exposure to young, thin, and able-bodied depictions of women in the media, female viewers can develop difficult to obtain beauty ideals (e.g., the thin-ideal). Research has illustrated how narrow beauty standards perpetuated by mass media content can contribute to body image disturbance in women, including increased body dissatisfaction, negative mood, and restrictive eating behavior (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008). 1 Compounding problems associated with mass media depictions of women, concern exists that female users of newer media such as Instagram are regularly sharing and viewing images that cohere to the same narrow beauty standards (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). However, some social media users are employing online platforms to further a more inclusive view of feminine beauty. The body positivity (BoPo) movement, organized primarily through social media, seeks to challenge narrow appearance ideals by encouraging acceptance of bodies of any age, shape, size, color, sexuality or ability (Cohen, Fardouly, Newton-John, Toby, & Slater, 2019a; Cwynar-Horta, 2016). Members of the body positivity movement have used social media to amass a community