SelfhelpMagazine

by Michele Foster, BA

Many parents of today’s teenagers are uncertain about what social networking websites, such as Facebook, involve. One mother I interviewed guessed that adolescents and young adults use Facebook primarily to “chat online and share pictures”. She is certainly correct about these features being part of Facebook’s ever-expanding activity list. However, Facebook is also a place where young women can access dieting tips, search for “thinspiration”, join pro-anorexia discussion boards, and take part in competitions for the thinnest bodies.

This article provides parents with information about the negative influence that Facebook internet marketing can have on young, impressionable teens and on women who are suffering from body image concerns or disordered eating. There are also many practical tips for immediate action to counteract negative effects of online marketing in Facebook and other social networking website advertising.

Facebook, Advertising, and Body Image

Facebook is the world’s largest social networking website (Holahan, 2008), and it is also the most popular site amongst 17 to 25 year olds. Ironically, this is the most common age range for the development of eating disorders such as Bulimia Nervosa and Anorexia Nervosa in women (Cavanaugh & Lemberg, 1999). Facebook seems to recognize that many of its female users suffer from body image concerns, and it uses this information to appeal to advertisers.

For example, it is no secret that exposing women to images of thin celebrities causes them to feel dissatisfied with their own appearance (Grabe, Ward & Hyde, 2008). By featuring advertisements with pictures of actresses boasting “The Supermodel Diet”, Facebook’s advertisers hope that viewers will feel badly enough about their own physiques to click on the ad for a solution.

Facebook capitalizes on the psychological research findings by allowing advertisers to select their audiences based on the demographics and information written in the user profiles. As such, all female users are bombarded by weight-loss ads featuring celebrities and promoting diets, and women who are listed as engaged see an ad that says “Do you want to be a fat bride?”

Many of Facebook’s users have complained about the increasing number of dieting ads featured on the site. With disordered eating plaguing more and more of North American females, the last thing women seem to want is a reminder of their perceived imperfections. In fact, there are several Facebook groups dedicated to stopping dieting ads on the popular social networking site. In July 2008, Facebook responded to public pressure and decided that advertisements would no longer portray specific body types in a “negative light”.

Although users no longer see advertisements featuring large bellies that say “DISGUSTING”, users are still exposed to messages informing them that they could be (and apparently should be) thinner. More recently, Facebook also embraced an application that allows users to rate advertisements, which makes it easier for individuals to edit those to which they are subjected. Nonetheless, Facebook has ensured that each “Supermodel Diet” ad features a different celebrity image to prevent the advertisement from completely disappearing from the pages of vulnerable female users.

As such, if, for example, viewers deem Miley Cyrus’ image offensive, they will then be shown an ad promoting the “Supermodel Diet” with another celebrity image instead. It seems that abandoning dieting advertisements all together would cost Facebook too much revenue. This is just one of many examples of how Facebook preys on the vulnerability of its female users, placing their business before the well being of their subscribers.

Wiki’d World

The term “Wiki’d” describes websites which allow consumers to control content with little or no limitations. This term originated as a descriptor for the popular website Wikipedia, which permits anyone to submit word definitions and information for public consumption. Of course, one can argue that Facebook has also been “wiki’d”.

Unlike mainstream film and television media, which screens messages sent to the public for appropriateness, Facebook is reluctant to censor content, including that which supports eating disorders. Facebook spokeswoman Caely Cusick argued that “Many Facebook groups relate to controversial topics; this alone is not a reason to disable a group.

Facebook supports the free flow of information”. Nonetheless, many user groups continue to glorify disordered eating despite violating Facebook’s terms of use, which suggest that the administration can remove groups or pages “which might...harm, or threaten the safety of users or others”.

Fortunately, Facebook has slowly begun to reply to pleas from doctors and eating disorder specialists who have suggested that pro-eating disorder pages are encouraging women to refrain from seeking treatment. Although Facebook has begun to more willingly crack down on groups that disobey the website’s terms of use, there still remain an abundant number focused on glorifying disordered eating and extreme dieting, as well as groups which argue that average-sized or heavier women are unattractive and unfavourable as partners. Despite Facebook’s new willingness to shut down some of these groups, they seem to be popping up much faster than they can be eradicated.

This is a testament to the fact that many of Facebook’s users suffer from eating disorders and are committed to resurrecting groups that have been shut down, and to starting new ones as quickly as possible. And although Facebook is asserting that groups adhere more appropriately to their terms of use, Facebook seems to be ignoring these terms by publishing dieting ads to users they know are suffering from body image concerns, and by therefore acting in a way that might harm people.

So What Can Parents Do?

It is my hope that those who read this article will not simply ban their children from using Facebook or enforce rigid rules for use. Instead, it is important for parents to have open conversations with their children about how they can protect themselves from Facebook’s negativity. There are several actions that parents can take to help safeguard their children and teenagers:

• Direct your children to websites that encourage the growth of positive body image and self-esteem, such as the National Eating Disorder Information Centre’s Real Me Experience, created with the support of Dove (www.realme.ca).
• Keep computers in high-traffic areas when your children first begin experimenting with the internet. For example, by placing the computer in the kitchen or family room, children are less likely to visit controversial pages, and you can keep a watchful eye on the sites they view.
• Teach your children how to use the “thumbs down” icon located underneath ads on Facebook to report them as offensive, misleading, or repetitive.
• Offer your children compliments not only about their appearance, but also about their character to help strengthen their self-esteem and to inoculate them against potentially damaging information.
• Encourage media literacy in your home by helping your children understand that images portrayed on the internet and in advertisements are air brushed.
• Prevent passive media viewing by asking questions and encouraging critical thinking (deep thought.)
• Spend more time together as a family so that you can have the dominant role in teaching and supporting your children.
• Check your own biases and try to regard all body types (including your own) as beautiful and acceptable.
• Speak with your children about the dangers of dieting.

References:

Cavanaugh, C. J., & Lemberg, R. (1999). What We Know About Eating Disorders: Facts and Statistics. In R. Lemberg & L. Cohn (Eds.), Eating Disorders: A reference sourcebook (pp. 7-12). Phoenix, AZ: The Oryx Press.

Grabe, S., Ward, L. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2008). The Role of the Media in Body Image Concerns Among Women: A meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 460-476.

Holahan, C. (2008, August 13). Facebook: No. 1 Globally. Business Weekly. Link

About the Author:

Michele Foster is completing a Master's degree in Counselling Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. She has worked as a clinician and researcher in the field of disordered eating for the past three years. She plans to pursue a Doctoral degree, and will continue to focus on issues pertaining to body image.