(Don't) look here!: the effect of different forms of label added to fashion advertisements on women's visual attention

Abstract

The present study used eye tracking technology to experimentally investigate the effect of different label formats on women’s visual attention to fashion magazine advertisements, and its relationship with body dissatisfaction and appearance comparison. Participants were 260 female undergraduate students whose eye movements were recorded while viewing three thin-ideal fashion advertisements with one of five different forms of label added: no label, disclaimer label (indicating image had been digitally altered), consequence label (indicating that viewing images might make women feel bad about themselves), informational label (indicating the model in the advertisement was underweight), or graphic label (picture of a paint brush). The informational label was found to direct visual attention specifically towards the model’s body. Visual attention to the body was related to state appearance comparison in general, and to increase in body dissatisfaction in the no label condition. These findings extend the existing body of research demonstrating potentially detrimental effects of labels attached to fashion magazine images.