The effects of instructional frame on female adolescents' evaluations of larger sized female models in print advertising

Despite growing attention to problems associated with girls' and women's viewing unrealistic portrayals of women in advertising, little research has identified positive consequences of presenting larger sized females in advertisements. The present research examined these positive effects and found that instructions that support the use of larger sized females in ads (relative to a more traditional instructional frame) heightened adolescent girls' ratings of the larger sized models' attractiveness, self-attractiveness, and self-esteem without changing girls' ratings of thinner sized models. General and valenced self-referencing (positive and negative self-thoughts while viewing the ads) were examined as potential mediators of the instructional effects on self-attractiveness and self-esteem. The findings provide evidence that girls' perceptions can be altered in a positive manner through media images of women.