Comparison of media-literacy programs to strengthen college women's resistance to media images

This study examined whether, in comparison to no-intervention and video-only intervention control conditions, two distinct media literacy interventions could promote media skepticism and reduce negative body image in a sample of college women (N = 110). It was expected that an externally oriented (i.e., feminist sociocultural) media literacy intervention would have its greatest impact on measures related to media skepticism, while an internally oriented (i.e., cognitive) intervention would have its greatest impact on measures related to negative body image. Contrary to expectations, in comparison to the no-intervention condition, both media literacy interventions were similar in effectiveness to a video-only (Slim Hopes, Kilbourne, 1995) condition in increasing participants' skepticism about the realism, similarity, and desirability of media that depict a thin ideal of beauty There were no between-group differences on negative body image at posttest, suggesting that negative attitudes about one's body may require more extensive, longer-term interventions.