The effect of a "real-world" media intervention on body image

The present research investigates whether a brief "real world" media intervention -- a short television advertisement -- can be an effective mitigator of the adverse effects of media portrayals of women on viewers' body satisfaction. Two hundred female university students (age 17 to 29, M = 19.54) were randomly assigned to one of two television conditions (music video or control), one to two commercial conditions ("intervention" or control), and completed self-report measures of television behavior, media influence, body satisfaction and mood. Participants who viewed music videos did not report significantly different levels of body dissatisfaction than participants who viewed control television, although results trended in the hypothesized direction. A significant interaction between program and commercial emerged assessing mood as the outcome variable. Participants who viewed the music videos and were not exposed to the intervention commercial reported significantly lower mood than participants in the other three conditions.