Social media is not real life: The effect of attaching disclaimer-type labels to idealized social media images on women’s body image and mood

This online experimental study examined the impact of viewing disclaimer comments attached to idealized social media images on 18- to 25-year-old American women’s (N = 164) body dissatisfaction, mood, and perceptions of the target. Furthermore, this study also tested whether thin ideal internalization or appearance comparison tendency moderated any effect. Viewing idealized images taken from social media had a negative influence on women’s body image, with or without the presence of disclaimers. Disclaimer comments also had no impact on women’s mood. They did, however, impact perceptions of the target, with women forming a less positive impression of the target if she attached disclaimer comments to her social media images. Thus, the results of this study suggest that the use of disclaimer comments or labels on social media may be ineffective at reducing women’s body dissatisfaction.

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