The Role Of Advertising In The Development Of Psychopathology

Advertising can have one effect or another depending on the channel through which it is made. This fact has radically transformed marketing in recent years. The substance, the essence, has remained, but the packaging is very different. That is why it is interesting to study the impact of advertising messages and images on different populations, as well as the role of advertising in the development of psychopathology.

We are talking about a branch that does not stop transforming, adapting to the demands of new products and potential buyers / users. In fact, according to Statista, in 2018, 132,304 million dollars were invested in advertising on mobile devices.

Could this be related to the appearance, for example, of eating disorder symptoms at a younger age? (Favaro et al., 2009) or with the increased prevalence of anorexia in women aged 15 to 24?

Advertising and anorexia, depression and anxiety

The scientific literature that relates advertising and psychological problems is extensive. Above all, those studies that focus on alterations in body image, which occurs in conduct disorders, body dysmorphia and vigorexia.

Jiménez and Silva (2010) studied the relationship that could exist between exposure to advertising images and changes in mood, anxiety and depression. In addition, they wanted to see if this could be a risk factor for developing an eating disorder (ED).

The results of their research, although with methodological limitations, suggest that women exposed to advertising images of thin women tended to accept their bodies less. Those exposed to larger women presented greater body satisfaction in the post-evaluation.

The theory of social comparison and the impact of advertising

To understand the role of advertising in the development of psychopathology, it is interesting to observe how this study, and others, such as that of Dittmar and Howard (2004), seem to show that the theory of social comparison (Festinger, 1954) can have the answer.

In it, the comparison with the others is presented as an explanation of the enormous impact of advertising on the people who watch it. This comparison stems, according to Festinger, from high levels of need for self-assessment. We need the comparison because it is what marks if we are doing it well or badly; we need, as Bandura would say, a model.

The absence of diversity in terms of body models in the media, especially in the context of advertising (those that “sell” dreams and aspirations), makes what is acceptable or desirable is within a very narrow range.

Thus, the presence of thinness as the only body attribute related to beauty, femininity and desirability, makes women only compare themselves with a single body type. This body is not the one that most of them have, which  can be a determining factor in the development of an ED.

Advertising at the base of the ATT?

Cabrera and Fanjul (2012) study the role of advertising in the development of psychopathology in female adolescents. It must be remembered that this population is the most at risk of developing ED.

They conclude their research by ensuring that advertising models enhance an ectomorphic model (with a fast metabolism, long limbs and low weight). This model of extreme thinness is what generates in the adolescent:

• Rejection by the body itself.

• Aspiration to a canon of beauty that is often unattainable (and shouldn’t want to be achieved in the first place).
• Implementation of restrictive behaviors. Sometimes these behaviors are subtle, and do not indicate the presence of an ED because they are isolated behaviors; however, they are there.

The researchers also highlight how dangerous models who represent these canons of beauty are. We are talking about people who can be admired by a vulnerable population group for what they represent: the questionable association between thinness and success.

As early as 1994, Stice et al. they concluded that advertising does influence the development of eating disorders. Specifically, they saw that the presence of thin women was a risk factor. In 1996, 69% of women who appeared on television had a slim body and only 5% did not meet the standards of beauty of the moment.

Advertising and the eating pathology of man

The role of advertising in the development of psychopathology is not only relevant in eating disorders in women. In fact, men seem to be affected too.

Fanjul (2008) finds the existence of a male beauty canon almost as explicit as that of women. Therefore, the desirability is only found in the young, white, mesomorphic (large bone structure and defined muscles and athletic body) and without fat.

This author concludes that there is also a pressure to achieve the masculine ideal and that it is the representation of a single beauty or body that is at the base of the development of vigorexia among men. Of the twenty thousand people in Spain who suffer from vigorexia, the vast majority (80%) are men between 18 and 35 years old.

Teen magazines

A medium of communication with great diffusion among adolescents are magazines. In fact, of the 55.7% of female magazine readers, 13.7% are adolescents between the ages of fourteen and nineteen (Carrillo, 2005).

Martínez Mallén (1993) studied this phenomenon. The results obtained show that at least 65% of the adolescent sample was interested in reports on diets, weight loss and beauty. 42% were interested in the calories in food and to know this information before eating.

Is everything the fault of the publicity?

Although the role of advertising in the development of psychopathology is a hypothesis with empirical evidence, the truth is that some studies show results that are not very consistent with each other. Although in some cases, exposure to advertising images does not change body perception in women, we must take into account possible unknown variables, such as the research context.

Fay and Price (1994) argue that the lack of long-term studies makes it difficult to determine the relationship between advertising and TCA. He gives as an example the relationship between tobacco and lung cancer that, although it cannot be established as a direct cause, it is logical to think that it influences its development. They argue that the same thing happens with advertising and psychopathology.

However, Carrillo (2005) warns that, as a rule, the development of an eating disorder is not given by a single factor. There are many who can influence or converge to precipitate or settle the disorder and the representation of thinness in the media, taking into account the data and studies that we have, it would be one.