“I know you are not real”: Salience of photo retouching reduces the negative effects of media exposure via internalization

Mass media are one of the most powerful conveyors of beauty ideals, promoting an unrealistic image of female beauty that is impossible for the majority of females to achieve. Internalization of such ideal standards leads to negative affect, body-focused anxiety, and dissatisfaction. Present study compared two different approaches aimed at reducing such negative outcomes, one based on awareness of the deceptive nature of media techniques (i.e., photo retouching), and the other based on the use of "real" women as models. One hundred and fifty-one female undergraduates participated in the study. Results showed that retouching salience can reduce the level of internalization of beauty ideals and thus the negative effects of media images exposure, such as negative mood and decrease in self-esteem. On the contrary, ideal images and "real" images play a similar role in fostering internalization of beauty ideals. Implications are discussed.