To: M.

Andres, McDonalds President

From: J. Schofield, Advertising Research
Subject: Effects on Health and Body Image
Date: October 11, 2015
Purpose
The purpose of this memo is to present information about how food advertising effects our
societies overall health and body image. The goal of this project is to provide evidence on how
food advertising effects overall health and body image in todays society in order to regulate and
prevent negative body image associated with food product advertisements.
Summary
A research project done by James Schofield used a survey method to test the relationships
between food product advertising and health and wellbeing to provide evidence to better regulate
and prevent negative body image associated with food product advertisements. The survey
research method used two versions of an online survey (www.surveymonkey.com) was
administered on Facebook to willing men and women over the age of 18. The survey consisted of
22 questions and no personal identifiers were collected. 54 individuals participated in this
research (n=54), 31 (57.41%) of whom answered survey one and the remaining 23 participants
answered survey two. Findings from this research supports the idea that images used in food
product advertisements do impact dieting and exercise behaviors. Interestingly, however, it
appears that images of obese models have more of an impact on these behaviors than do images
of thin models, at least among this sample.
Introduction
Dieting and body image issues have been an increasing issue in the United States. For the last 30
years, for example, obesity has tripled among youth and adolescents in the U.S. (Harris, Bargh,
and Brownell, 2009). Similarly, eating disorders have also increased partially due to people not
being satisfied with their body image. Speaking to the severity of this public health issue, studies
show that over 11 million women and 1 million men in the United States suffer from an eating
disorder of some kind (Stephens, Hill, & Hanson, 1994). The current research study was
conducted at Washington State University in Spokane, Washington, to measure how food product
advertising relates to food purchasing and body image related issues like physical appearance
satisfaction, dieting, and exercising. This study highlights images of both thin and obese models
featured in food advertisements taken from television commercials, as some lines of evidence
indicates the American population spends more time watching television than any other activity
aside from sleep and work (Nestle & Jacobson, 2000).
This study is significant because food advertising has become a double-edged sword in the
American population. This is because individuals starting at young ages, for instance, view an
average of 15 food commercials per day which promote products high in sugar, fat, or sodium
(Harris, Bargh, and Brownell, 2009). One way that watching these advertisements on television
influences youth in America is by promoting unhealthy eating habits using messages that suggest
eating the product is fun, can increase happiness, and is cool (Harris, Bargh, and Brownell,
2009). During primetime television (8:00-11:00pm) when many Americans view television and

therefore food product advertisements, studies have shown that commercials featuring foods
typically consist of low nutritional value (Nestle & Johnson, 2000).
On the other edge of the sword, promoting unhealthy eating habits has not only driven an
increase in the obesity epidemic in the United States, but it also but has altered ideal body
images. For example, many food product advertisements feature models with body types that
emphasize thinness, which essentially represent another variation of unhealthy eating habits. In
the United States this means that in order for an individual to appear attractive, they must appear
thin. Supporting this idea, most eating disorder specialists agree that chronic dieting has a direct
consequence resulting from the social pressures on American females to achieve nearly
impossible thinness (Stephens, Hill, & Hanson, 1994). Advertising has been vilified in creating
the emaciated standard of beauty in America by which girls are taught from childhood to judge
the worth of their own body (Stephens, Hill, & Hanson, 1994), in addition to the worth of other
people. In relation to food product advertisements often viewed on television, it seems that both
men and women have become increasingly dissatisfied with their own body image because they
are comparing themselves with thin models in advertisements.
The outcome of this study will show if food advertisements featuring both low nutritional value
foods and either thin or obese models impact other aspects of wellbeing. This study uses an
online survey to collect data about weekly television viewing, opinions about eating disorders
and obesity, body mass index (BMI), physical appearance, diet, exercise, and food product
purchasing. Overall, results from data collection will help determine whether viewing food
product advertisements typically seen on television impact aspects of behavior related to health
and food product purchasing among a sample of American adults.
Methods
To test the relationships between food product advertising and health and wellbeing, two
versions of an online survey (www.surveymonkey.com) was administered on Facebook to
willing men and women over the age of 18. Participants with last names starting with letters AM were asked to click the link for the first survey and participants with last names beginning
with N-Z were asked to take the second survey. The survey consisted of 22 questions and no
personal identifiers were collected. Respondents were instructed that their participation was
completely anonymous to ensure their accurate responses.
While the questions on each of the surveys were the same, each survey included a different set of
images which were viewed after answering a majority of questions. Once images were viewed,
respondents were asked to answer a few questions in reference to the images. Survey one
included images of thin male and female models advertising a low nutritional quality food item
(See Appendix A), while survey two used images of obese male and female models (See
Appendix B). Many of the questions on this survey ask participants to rank their responses on a
Likert-scale ranging from 1 6 (very unlikely to very likely), and other questions used a yes or
no response method.
Data was collected over a one week period and then downloaded from Survey Monkey to a
spreadsheet in Excel, where they were coded for analysis. Coded values were then analyzed in

STATA v 11. Analysis of survey responses included both summary statistics like means, value
ranges, frequencies, and cumulative percentages.
Results
Descriptive Statistics of Respondents
54 individuals participated in this research (n=54), 31 (57.41%) of whom answered survey one
and the remaining 23 participants answered survey two. The average age of respondents in the
entire sample was 32, ranging from 21 to 58 years old as of their last birthday. There was a
female bias in the sample, such that women represented a large majority of willing participants
(n=40; 74.07%). Overall, nearly all respondents (96.30%) indicated that they regularly view
television or movies, and 53.70% of the total sample indicated that their television/movie
viewing service included commercial interruptions for food product advertising. Time spent
watching television and movies ranged from 0 to 45 hours per week, although the average
amount of time spent per week was 14.24 hours.
Health and Body Image Descriptive Statistics
Participants were asked to respond to multiple questions pertaining to their own health, physical
fitness routines, and about their opinions and experiences with eating disorders. Body mass
index of participants was calculated by a standard formula, which first divided body weight by
height-squared and then multiplied the result by 703. The calculated average body mass of
participants in the sample was 26.23. Most respondents reported their weight for height was
average (n=37; 68.50%) compared to other individuals of similar size and age. Results indicated
that individuals exercise for at least 30 minutes 2.44 times per week, although this average was
skewed because 29.63% (n=16) of the sample reported they never exercise. For those
individuals who did report exercising at least one day on a regular weekly basis (n=38), the
average number of days per week increased to 3.47. Most individuals in the sample indicated
they were not actively dieting to lose weight (n=46; 85.19%), although 14.81% of respondents
were currently dieting at the time of the survey (n=8).
In order to gauge how individuals in the sample viewed current eating disorder rates in relation
to commercial food advertisements, respondents were asked to indicate on a Likert-scale of 1 to
6 (strongly disagree to strongly agree) how strongly they agreed with the statement that food
advertisements viewed during commercials impact current eating disorder rates in the United
States. Less than 15% of responses indicated that they strongly disagreed, disagreed or
somewhat disagreed with this statement, which suggests that a majority of individuals at least
somewhat agree that viewing commercial food advertisements is costly to health and wellbeing
in the United States. In fact, 70.37% of the sample indicated that they knew at least one person
who had been diagnosed with an eating disorder.
On the same Likert-scale, respondents were asked to agree how strongly they agreed that food
advertisements commercials impact current obesity rates. Again, a majority of the sample
(88.89%) at least somewhat agreed that obesity rates are affected by viewing food
advertisements during commercials.
Comparison of Results between Survey One and Survey Two

Respondents were asked the following questions before and after viewing low nutritional food
product advertisements. Respondents for survey one were shown two images of thin models
advertising low nutritional food products while survey two featured obese models.
Before and after viewing advertisements, surveys asked respondents to report how satisfied they
are with their own physical appearance and how likely they are to purchase food products after
viewing advertisements using Likert-scales ranging from 1 to 6 (very unsatisfied/very unlikely to
very satisfied/very likely). Results can be viewed in Tables 1 and 2.
Table 1. Survey One Respondents: Thin Model Images (n=31)
Variable
Mean
Minimum
Physical
Before
3.61
1
Appearance
After
3.93
1
Food Product Before
1.97
1
Purchases
After
1.97
1

Maximum
5
6
5
5

While means and ranges of Likert-scale responses did not change regarding likelihood of
purchasing advertised food products after viewing advertisements featuring thin models, there
was a change in physical appearance responses. The mean value of respondent physical
appearance satisfaction increased from 3.61 to 3.93, indicating that individuals became more
satisfied with their own physical appearance after viewing advertisements with thin models.
Table 2. Survey Two Respondents: Obese Model Images (n=23)
Variable
Mean
Minimum
Physical
Before
3.52
1
Appearance
After
4
1
Food Product Before
1.82
1
Purchases
After
1.39
1

Maximum
6
6
4
4

Results for survey two respondents, however, did indicate changes in response averages. After
viewing low nutritional food advertisements featuring obese models, individuals indicated they
became on average more satisfied with their own physical appearance as mean response values
increased from 3.52 to 4. Results also showed individuals became less inclined to purchase low
nutritional advertised foods with advertisements featuring obese models as the mean response
decreased from 1.82 to 1.39.
Additional comparisons about desires to diet for weight loss and exercise were completed after
survey respondents viewed low nutritional food product advertisement images. Participants were
asked to indicate yes or no to whether they felt the need to diet or exercise after viewing the food
product advertisement images included in their survey. Results can be found in Table 3.
Table 3. Diet and Exercise Survey Comparison after Viewing Advertisements
Variable
Mean
Yes
No
Diet Desire
Survey 1
0
0
30
Survey 2
.30
7
16
Exercise
Survey 1
.30
9
21
Desire
Survey 2
.52
12
11

After viewing food product advertisement images, survey one respondents universally declined
feeling the need to diet, but survey two respondents indicated some desire to diet. This finding
indicates images of obese models may be more related to dieting behaviors than food product
advertisements featuring images of thin models. A similar result was found regarding exercising
desires such that while both survey respondents indicated some desire to exercise after viewing
the images, the effect was larger for the survey two sample. More than half of respondents in
survey two indicated they felt the need to exercise after viewing the obese model advertisement
images, while only one-third of survey one respondents indicated the desire to exercise.
Conclusion
Findings from this research supports the idea that images used in food product advertisements do
impact dieting and exercise behaviors. Interestingly, however, it appears that images of obese
models have more of an impact on these behaviors than do images of thin models, at least among
this sample. Respondents in survey two had 30% of responses which indicated that they felt the
desire to go on a diet after viewing food product advertisements featuring thin models. This
response is two times more than the respondents from the entire sample who claimed they were
currently on a diet when participating in the survey (14.81%). Therefore, by viewing the images
with obese models respondents may have felt guilty about recently purchasing the low nutritional
food product advertised, as the featured low nutritional food products advertised were common
food items which people have easy access to. Overall, 82% of respondents felt the desire to
exercise after viewing the images which contained low nutritional valued food products. 30% of
survey one respondents felt the desire to exercise while 52% of survey two participants felt they
needed to exercise after viewing the images. This is about a 12% increase when compared to
responses about how frequently they participate in physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day,
which was 70.37%. This finding helps indicate that any model, thin or obese, used in food
advertising increases a persons desire to exercise.
Respondents in both surveys felt slightly more satisfied about themselves after viewing the
images containing thin and obese models advertising low nutritional food products. This finding
was expected in survey two responses, however, not expected by responses in survey one.
Before the survey was conducted, it was expected that respondents in survey one were going to
feel less satisfied with their physical appearance after viewing the images using thin models.
The reason for this is because of the strongly relationships between body image and media,
which generally portray thin models as the ideal body type for women especially. Even though
this finding didnt support expected relationships, it did show that people do compare themselves
with models in food advertisements and ultimately that food product advertisements influence
our behaviors and perceptions of how we feel about our bodies.
The survey asked respondents if they believe food advertising commercials had an impact on
current eating disorders and obesity rates in the United States. About 85% of the respondents
agreed food advertising impacted the rate of eating disorders, while 70.37% of the respondents
knew at least one person with an eating disorder. This finding helps show the respondents
validity on their opinion on whether food advertisements during commercials impact the rates of
eating disorders. The respondents were also asked the same question but how food advertising
commercials impacted obesity rates. About 88.89% of respondents felt food advertising
commercials impacts obesity rates. About 96.30% of the respondents regularly watch 14.24
hours of television or movies a week, yet only 53.70% of the respondents watch television or

movies which have commercial interruptions for food product advertisements. These findings
show even though a little over half of the respondents regularly watch television or movies with
commercial food product advertisements, most of the respondents still feel food advertisements
in commercial interruptions have an impact on eating disorders and obesity rates in the United
States.
Recommendation
Food product advertisements have a powerful influence on many aspects of health and wellbeing
starting from early youth in America. The study showed how images with thin and obese models
promoting low nutritional food products, impacts how satisfied a person is about their
appearance. In survey two twice as many people felt the desire to go on a diet after looking at
an image with an obese model advertising a low nutritional food product, than people who were
currently on a diet when taking the surveys. Two-thirds of the participants in the study knew at
least one person with an eating disorder. And people overall felt food advertising commercials
impact the rate of eating disorders and obesity in the United States. Although this survey showed
how food advertisements impacted a persons health and wellbeing, it had a very high female
bias. About three-fourths of the participants in the study were female and there were more people
who took survey one. This means the results of the surveys were a little skewed due to the fact
that the survey didnt have a broad spectrum of male and female participants. This survey can be
more reliable if conducted again by having more of an even number of male and female
participants. Another factor which would make the results more reliable would be to use actual
video food commercials in the survey rather than using images of food product advertisements.
Future research could also use other statistical analyses to test whether the differences in values
found in the survey were significantly different from one another, as opposed to documenting
changes in values. Overall, this study did show that food product advertising can be doubleedged sword by documenting how people feel about the impacts of food advertising on both
eating disorders and obesity and further by analyzing changes in participant behaviors and
perceptions when shown food product imagery representing obesity and thinness. More research
is needed to provide reliable evidence on how food products advertisements increases obesity
within the American population to effectively increase food product advertisement restrictions
and to establish a stronger correlation between food product advertisement and the negative
effects these advertisements have on body image.
References
Harris, J. L., Bargh, J. A., & Brownell, K. D. (2009). Priming effects of television food
advertising on eating behavior. Health Psychology, 28(4), 404-413.
Nestle, M., & Jacobson, M. F. (2000). Halting the obesity epidemic: A public health policy
approach. Public Health Reports, 115(1), 12-24.
Stephens, D. L., Hill, R. P., & Hanson, C. (1994). The beauty myth and female consumers: The
controversial role of advertising. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 28(1), 137-153.