How the Media Portrayal of Women in Advertising Affects Womens Dieting and Self-Image - Research Proposal Example

The main subject area of this study is media consumption and societal pressure to be thin (for women) for the purpose of conceptualising the sociocultural factors within media advertising, thereby bringing together sociological and psychological theories. This is an interdisciplinary study as advertisements are identified as a meaningful cultural commodity with the potential to influence self-identity, societal standards and culture. Studies in the field of media influence on self-identity have produced inconclusive findings as a majority of scholars have found no association between Body Metabolic Index and the degree of internalisation of societal perception of the thin ideal as a standard for beauty (Vartanian 2009:98). The most important works located within theories of these areas include-socio-comparison theory that was initially proposed by Festinger (1954). The selective exposure theory by Festinger 1954, along with other works including Wheeler and Suls (2013), Gill (2007) and Acosta (2008) provide the theoretical frameworks upon which to examine the link between media images and women’s attractiveness. Epistemology will be interpretivism against a postmodern setting thereby enabling me to utilize the grounded theory in a more flexible environment. This is because I will be investigating media influence within the frameworks of how people internalize and interpret media images. This approach will facilitate the exploration of ideological regulations that govern media advertising and how these practices successfully persuade the audience. Whereas postmodernity faces several limitations the approach is useful as it links society’s interest in material pursuits to factors such as self-identity and body image.