It's a thin world after all: the influence of media on body image and its cross cultural implications on international marketing

The influence of media on body image is an area of much social controversy. Eating disorders and depression have often been linked to body image dissatisfaction. Research from Australia, The Netherlands and Singapore showed that the cognitive and affective evaluations of media and advertising are far more important than the amount of exposure. Although it appears that reactions to internet media are most salient. Research suggested three models of the development of body image. In Australia this was demographics, media and personality based model, while in The Netherlands this was a largely media driven model. The Singapore results suggested a more traditional model of demographics and personality. The results also show a similarity in the level of body image satisfaction amongst two countries in the study (Australia and Singapore) even though they had differing different average body mass indices. This supports contentions in the literature that concern over physical self-concepts are becoming prevalent in Asia as the result of further globalisation. Suggestions for future research, particularly using an experimental design are also outlined.