New research into how women view their bodies aims to challenge the as yet untested belief that thin, glamorous, perfect female models in advertising are socially desirable and "sell" products to the consumer more successfully than other body types.
The research, to be carried out by Dr Helga Dittmar, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sussex, with Emma Halliwell, from the University of the West of England, will also look at precisely how - and why - ultra-thin media ideals used in advertising have a negative effect in making many women feel dissatisfied with their own bodies.
The study will involve 400 female students at each university. They will first be asked to give information about how they feel about their own bodies before their reactions to various images are studied at three different stages, then compared to their original self-image.
One of the aims of the study, which will take about a year to complete and starts this September, is to discover whether the use of ultra-thin models in advertising actually helps to sell products. Although unrealistically thin young women are often used in advertisements for everything from soft drinks to cars, there has been no previous research to show that using such images actually increases sales of any product.
In fact, argues Dr Dittmar, previous research has already shown that such advertising contributes to negative body images among young girls and women.