The perception of values in food commercials on the part of young people with and without eating disorders

Lluís Mas-Manchón; Ángel Rodríguez-Bravo; Norminanda Montoya-Vilar; Fernando Morales-Morante; Elaine Lopes; Elena Añaños; Rafaella Peres; María Eugenia Martínez; Antoni Grau

doi:10.18294/sc.2015.729

The perception of values in food commercials on the part of young people with and without eating disorders

Lluís Mas-Manchón PhD in Communication Sciences. Visiting Professor, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain , Ángel Rodríguez-Bravo PhD in Communication Sciences. Full Professor, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain , Norminanda Montoya-Vilar PhD in Communication Sciences. Full Professor, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain , Fernando Morales-Morante PhD in Communication Sciences. Postdoctoral Researcher, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain , Elaine Lopes PhD in Communication Sciences. Associate Professor, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain , Elena Añaños PhD in Psychology. Full Professor, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain , Rafaella Peres PhD Student in Communication. Visiting Researcher, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brazil , María Eugenia Martínez PhD Student in Communication, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain , Antoni Grau Undergraduate Degree in Psychology, Institut de Trastorns Alimentaris, Spain

Published: 4 September 2015

https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2015.729

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Abstract

Advertising uses stereotyped body images to promote physical ideals and unhealthy eating habits related to food products which are targeted especially at young people. The purpose of this is study, carried out in Barcelona (Spain) in May 2013, was to test the perception of 139 young people of university age – with and without eating disorders – regarding 25 values in seven food commercials that did and did not use body image strategies. Results show that only the group of young people with eating disorders considered commercials using body image strategies to have a very negative influence on values such as health, well-being, family and effort. In contrast, the assessment of the two groups regarding the rest of the commercials greatly coincided. These results show that today’s university youth have accepted as normal a beauty canon based on the prevailing social and economic order, while young people in treatment for eating disorders have learned to denaturalize such messages.

Keywords: Eating Disorders, Food Publicity, Reference Values, Communications Media, Spain

Categories: Feeding

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