Ashikali, Eleni-Marina, Dittmar, Helga and Ayers, Susan (2017) The impact of cosmetic surgery advertising on Swiss women’s body image and attitudes toward cosmetic surgery. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 76 (1). pp. 13-21. ISSN 1421-0185

PDF - Accepted Version Download (444kB)

Abstract

International concern has been expressed about advertising for cosmetic surgery (British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons [BAAPS], 2005, 2008). A recent study showed that exposure to such advertising resulted in a more negative body image and attitudes toward surgery among women living in the UK (Ashikali, Dittmar, & Ayers, 2015). This study investigates the impact of cosmetic surgery advertising on women living in Switzerland, a country with relatively little advertising for cosmetic surgery. A group of 145 women (mean age 23.07) were exposed to advertising for cosmetic surgery containing either discount incentives, risk information, no additional information, or to the control condition. Exposure to advertising for cosmetic surgery resulted in increased dissatisfaction with both bodyweight and appearance. Highly materialistic women perceived such surgery as being less beneficial to their image when exposed to advertising for cosmetic surgery as well as when exposed to risk information rather than discount incentives. Moreover, appearance-dissatisfied women considered surgery to a lesser extent when exposed to risk information compared to discount incentives. Our findings highlight the need for research examining the impact of cosmetic surgery media, the content of advertising for cosmetic surgery as well as cultural variability.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Unmapped bibliographic data: LA - English [Field not mapped to EPrints] ST - The impact of cosmetic surgery advertising on Swiss women's body image and attitudes toward cosmetic surgery [Field not mapped to EPrints] AU - Ashikali, Eleni-Marina [Field not mapped to EPrints] AU - Dittmar, Helga [Field not mapped to EPrints] AU - Ayers, Susan [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom ; School of Health Sciences, City University of London, London, United Kingdom Susan.Ayers.1@city.ac.uk; Ayers, Susan,Northampton Square,London,United Kingdom,EC1V 0HB,School of Health Sciences, City University of London,Susan.Ayers.1@city.ac.uk [Field not mapped to EPrints] DB - PsycINFO [Field not mapped to EPrints] AN - 1853179863; 2016-61605-002 [Field not mapped to EPrints]
Schools and Departments:	School of Psychology > Psychology
Depositing User:	Helga Dittmar
Date Deposited:	13 Mar 2017 08:46
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2019 17:03
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/67056

View download statistics for this item

📧 Request an update