TV Portrayals of Obese Characters Perpetuate Negative Stereotypes
Overweight and obese television characters have fewer romantic interactions, fewer interactions with friends and fewer leadership characteristics, Michigan State University research shows. Larger characters also were less likely to date and have sex.
Bradley Greenberg, university distinguished professor of communication and telecommunication, will present these and other findings today at the annual scientific meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity in Quebec City, Quebec. His talk: "How Commercial Television Treats Obesity and other Body Types." Co-researchers on the project are Linda Hofschire and Ken Lachlan, also at MSU, Matt Eastin of Ohio State University and Kelly Brownell of Yale University.
Greenberg's research examined portrayals of overweight characters in 275 episodes from 56 different series across six commercial broadcast networks. The study looked at the 10 primetime fictional series with the highest Nielsen ratings in the 1999-2000 television season on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, UPN and WB.
Findings compared the distribution of body types on primetime TV on a scale ranging from very underweight to very overweight, with the national distribution of body types using the official Body Mass Index of the National Institutes of Health.
"The female differences were staggering," Greenberg said. "Whereas one in four American women in reality is obese, the TV figure is three in 100. And whereas 5 percent of all women in reality are underweight, nearly one in three on television has that body type."
More generally, Greenberg added, half of all women in real life are average or underweight, yet on TV the number is almost nine out of every 10.
Males in real life are three times more likely to be obese than their television peers, and male TV characters are six times more likely to be underweight than their counterparts in real life, the study noted.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity increased 50 percent between 1991 and 1998 -- from 12 percent to 18 percent of the American population. Further, the prevalence of overweight and obese young people between the ages of 6 and 17 in the United States has more than doubled in the past 30 years.
Obese children and teens are more often excluded from peer groups, are discriminated against by adults, report psychological stress, and have a poor body image and low self esteem Greenberg noted.
"The extent to which the overweight individual is absent or minimized on television provides new evidence that warrants our attention," Greenberg said. "Generally, if the mass media omit or ignore a particular group, such groups are deemed of lesser value and importance.
In other findings, larger body types were more likely found among characters who were guests on the shows rather than recurring characters. Larger characters were less likely to be attractive. Larger females were almost twice as often the object of humor and more likely found on situation comedies.
Lager males were seen eating more often, Greenberg added.
The study was funded by the Rudd Foundation of Oakdale, Calif. The mission of the institute is to document, understand, and ameliorate the bias, stigma and discrimination associated with obesity.
The North American Association for the Study of Obesity is an interdisciplinary society whose purpose is to develop, extend and disseminate knowledge in the field of obesity.
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Contact:Russ WhiteMSU University Relations517-432-0923[email protected]
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