Conflicting Messages: Eye Tracking Participant Experiences of Empowerment and Objectification in Contemporary Advertising

• In Event: Problem Solving/Networking/Research Escalator

Abstract

While extensive research has established the harmful impact of mass media messages of objectification, little work has examined media messages of empowerment. Contemporary beauty advertisements frequently pair textual messages of empowerment with objectifying images that may limit the potential for these advertisements to successfully empower women. This experiment uses eye tracking methods to investigate the independent and interactive effects of textual and visual messages on outcomes such as post-viewing levels of empowerment and self-objectification. A sample of 60 female participants aged 18-34 viewed empowering photos paired with empowering captions, objectifying captions, or no captions while researchers recorded participant eye movements using eye tracking equipment. Dependent variables included attention to: text versus image, the model’s face versus body, and how these eye tracking variables related to reported feelings of self-objectification and empowerment taken in a post-viewing survey. Preliminary results indicate that self-objectification is higher after viewing advertisements with an objectifying caption.

Authors

• Amelia Couture, U of Michigan

• Kristen Harrison, U of Michigan