• Corpus ID: 19249556

The Influence of the Media on Food Consumption and Body Image

@inproceedings{Belitz2010TheIO,
  title={The Influence of the Media on Food Consumption and Body Image},
  author={Katie Belitz and Anthony Frank and Bart Aaron VanVoorhis},
  year={2010}
}

• Katie Belitz, A. Frank, B. VanVoorhis
• Published 2010
• Medicine

The purpose of this study was to observe the effects of the media on food consumption and body image. One hundred and ten undergraduate students from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse viewed a thirty-minute video clip with an embedded commercial that advocated either healthy or unhealthy food. Prior to viewing the video clip, participants took a survey with questions about their body image included. Throughout the video clip, participants had access to either carrots or chocolate Chex Mix© depending on the trial. After the video clip, another survey including body image questions was administered. The procedure occurred in four different conditions. These conditions were a combination of healthy and unhealthy commercials and Chex Mix© and carrots. The study was conducted in a 2x2 factorial design. Z-tests performed on food consumption showed that people that watched the healthy commercial consumed more carrots than Chex Mix© (Z=6.16, p<.01) and people viewing the unhealthy commercial consumed more Chex Mix© than carrots (Z=2.44, p<.01). A 2x2 factorial ANOVA was performed on body image data, revealing no significant results.