What is the Media Magnifying Glass project?
A few statistics
What are items to look at in order to analyse an advertisement?
Procedures for sending an advertisement and critique to ANEB Quebec

With the Media Magnifying Glass project, ANEB Quebec wishes to help the general public develop a more critical view of the media and the messages that it sends regarding beauty standards, weight loss, body image and food.  This is why we invite you to submit advertisements you would like to nominate for an ANEB Positive Message Prize or an ANEB Negative Message Prize along with a short text explaining why you have chosen to nominate this advertisement.  If selected, the advertisement along with the text will be part of our ANEB Positive Message Slideshow or ANEB Negative Message Slideshow on our website.  In addition, some of the advertisements chosen as an ANEB Positive Message Prize could be included in one of our conference.  Therefore by submitting an advertisement for an ANEB Positive Message Prize you could be contributing to our conferences. 
Media Magnifying Glass is :

• An opportunity to develop a critical view of the media and the messages they send.
• An opportunity to share points of view about advertisement and their effect on body obsession, self-esteem and eating disorders
• An opportunity to view our ANEB Positive Message Slideshow and ANEB Negative Message Prize Slideshow.

Why this initiative ?  In honour of May 6th 2008 which is International No Diet Day, ANEB Quebec has decided to launch this new project on our website.  The direct and indirect messages about food and diet, weight and body shape as well as beauty standards that are sent by advertisements in the media are more and more a part of our daily life. Therefore it is important to reflect upon what the repercussions of these messages may be.  Some of these repercussions may include preoccupation or obsession with weight and body shape, the use of diets or restriction of food intake in order to lose weight, feelings of guilt and shame in relation to food and one’s body and, when other elements are present, the development of eating disorders. 
The advertisements selected for an ANEB Positive Message Prize represent what ANEB encourages such as :

Good self-esteem and self-confidence. A positive body image as well as a healthy and harmonious relationship with one’s body. A healthy and harmonious relationship with food.

The advertisements selected for an ANEB Negative Message Prize represent what ANEB sees as possibly :

Having a negative effect on self-esteem, self-confidence and body image. Contributing to preoccupation or obsession with weight and body shape. Creating eating habits such as restriction of food intake, diets, high consumption of light or fat--free foods. Creating feelings of guilt regarding food. Be one of the many causes of eating disorders.

A few statistics
Here are a few statistics related to eating disorders, the media, body image as well as diets and fear of fat. The source of the statistics are indicated and we wish to mention that in order to fully understand a statistic and how it was created, it is important to look at the research from which it has come and ask certain questions such as :
What types of questions were asked during the research ?
How was the information compiled ?
Who are the individuals who participated in the research ?
Did the individuals who conducted the research have a bias ?
Are there other possible explanations for the results obtained ?

Eating disorders

- In Quebec, 75 000 girls and women suffer from anorexia nervosa and bulimia. (1)

- The American Psychiatric Association Work Group on Eating Disorders estimates that some 8% of women suffer from either anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. (2)

- Eating disorders are now the third most common chronic illness in adolescent girls. (3)

- Among female athletes, the prevalence of eating disorders is reported to be between 15% and 62%. (4)

Medias

- Seeing only three minutes of images of very thin models enhances feelings of depression, shame, guilt, insecurity, stress and dissatisfaction. (5)

- The more women read fashion magazines, the more this is reflected in their eating habits. (6)

Body image

- 71% of adolescent girls want to be thinner despite only a small proportion being over a healthy weight. (7)

- 80%-90% of women dislike the size and shape of their bodies. (8)

- 45% of men are dissatisfied with their muscle mass. (9)

Diets and fear of fat

- The diet industry produces 50 billion dollars a year. (10)

- The most common behavior that will lead to an eating disorder is dieting. (11)

- 52% of girls begin dieting before age 14. (12)

- 95% of all dieters regain their lost weight within one to five years. (13)

- The fear of being fat is so overwhelming that young girls indicated in surveys that they are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of cancer nuclear war or losing their parents. (14)

- More than half of women between 18 and 25 would rather be hit by a car than be overweight and 2 3 would rather be mean or stupid than overweight. (15)

What are items to look at in order to analyse an advertisement?

What objects and/or individuals are presented in the advertisement ?
What is the object , service or idea being sold or promoted ?
Whom is this advertisement aimed at, what is the population it wants to appeal to ?
What is the main message of this advertisement  ?
What are the other messages sent by this advertisement, what is implied by this advertisement ?
What are the values presented and implied by this advertisement ?
What are the possible impacts of this advertisement on the general population in terms of perception, values, ways of thinking, preoccupations ?

What are the criterias for an ANEB Positive Message Prize and an ANEB Negative Message Prize ?

In order to nominate an advertisement for an ANEB Positive Message Prize it must meet one or many of the following criterias :

The advertisement promotes a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
The advertisement contains one or many individuals who reflect diversity in terms of body type, weight, beauty standards, age, and ethnicity.
The advertisement contains one of many individuals who seem to be in good health and that seem to be at what is a healthy weight for that person.
The advertisement promotes variety in terms of beauty standards.
The advertisement encourages body acceptance as well as a positive and healthy relation with one’s body.
The advertisement encourages good self-esteem and self-confidence.
The advertisement grants importance to well-being on various levels (physical, psychological, social, and emotional)
The advertisement presents the human being as being a whole composed of physical, psychological, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual parts.  
The advertisement promotes the pleasure of eating as well as a healthy and harmonious relationship with food.  
The advertisement encourages diversity in terms of food consumption.
The advertisement presents physical activity as being beneficial for one’s well-being on various levels.
Other criteria that you think makes this advertisement an ANEB Positive Message Prize.

In order to nominate an advertisement for an ANEB Negative Message Prize it must meet one or many of the following criterias :

The advertisement promotes diets, miracles solutions for weight loss, light or fat-free foods.
The advertisement presents the notion of good and bad foods and encourages limitation of food intake.
The advertisement sends messages that can create feelings of guilt and shame regarding food.
The advertisement encourages weight loss as well as preoccupation with weight, body shape or thinness.
The advertisement glorifies weight loss and thinness and associates them with happiness, success and achievement.
The advertisement promotes notions of control, will-power and discipline in regards to food as well as body weight or shape.
The advertisement promotes very specific beauty standards and does not present diversity in terms of body type.
The advertisement contains numbers that are presented as being an ideal to reach (weight, size, body measurements etc.).
The advertisement contains one or many individuals that are at a weight that does not seem healthy or natural for these individuals.
This advertisement contains one or many individuals that are of a younger age that the population at which the advertisement is aimed. (for example an advertisement presents a teenager when the product being sold is aimed at adult women).
The advertisement uses the female body to sell a product.
The advertisement contains objects associated with weight loss such as a scale.
The advertisement promotes a product that has as a main goal to transform the body, hide or enhance certain body parts. 
The advertisement presents the main benefit of physical activity as being esthetical or weight loss or control.
Other criteria that you think makes this advertisement an ANEB Negative Message Prize.

Procedures for sending an advertisement and critique to ANEB Quebec.

In order to submit images, texts and comments, please follow these procedures:

Indications for the submission of images:
To send us images as an electronic document, please scan the images at 100% (150 to 300 ppi) and save the document in a jpg format in maximal quality.  Send the images to : medias@anebquebec.com. Please do not send documents that are over 2 mo.

- OR -

If you do not have a scanner, send us the printed advertisement by mail to the following address and please include the details of the publication (name of the magazine or newspaper, date, number and page) :

Médias sous la loupe / Media Magnifying Glass
ANEB Québec
114, avenue Donegani
Pointe-Claire, Québec H9R 2W3

If you are referring to the content of a website, please send us the website address at : medias@anebquebec.com
If you are sending us a digital picture of an advertisement billboard, please respect the indications given above for images and include if possible, the location of the billboard.

Indications for the submission of texts:
Please include the text explaining why you have chosen to nominate this advertisement for an ANEB Positive Message Prize or an ANEB Negative Message Prize in your email message and not as an attached document. In order to do so, you can consult the following sections: What are items to look at in order to analyse an advertisement? and What are the criterias for an ANEB Positive Message Prize and an ANEB Negative Message Prize ?

Please send the text to: medias@anebquebec.com.

We would like to include the name and city of residence of the person that has provided the advertisement and critique.  If you wish for your name and city of residence to be posted on our website if your advertisement is selected, please include this information in your email.

ANEB Quebec thanks you for participating in this new project.

References

(1) Nationale Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC)
(2) American Psychiatric Association Work Group on Eating Disorder (2000). Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with eating disorders (revision). American Journal of Psychiatry, 157 (1), 1-39.
(3) Adolescent Medicine Committee, Canadian Pediatric Society (1998). Eating Disorders in adolescents: principles of diagnosis and treatment. Pediatrics and Child Health, 3(3) 189-92.
(4) Costin, C. (1999). The eating disorder source book : A comprehensive guide to the causes, treatment, and prevention of eating disorders. 2nd edition. Lowell House : Los Angeles.
(5) Stice, E. et Shaw, H. E. (1994). Adverse effects of media portrayed thin-ideal on woman and linkages to bulimic symptomatology. Journal of social and clinical psychology, 13, 288-308.
(6) Harrison, K. et Cantor, J. (1997). The relationship between media consumption and eating disorders. Journal of communication, 47, 40-67.
(7) Paxton, S., Wertheim, E., Gibbons, K., Szmukler, G., Hillier, L. et Petrovich, J. (1991). Body image satisfaction, dieting, beliefs and weight loss behaviours in adolescent girls and boys. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 20, 361-379.
(8) Hutchison, M. G. (1985). Transforming body image: Learning to love the body you have. The Crossing Press, New York.
(9) Cohane, G. H. et Pope, H. G. (2001). Body image in boys : A review of the literature. International journal of eating disorders, 29, 373-379.
(10) Maine, M. (2000). Body wars : Making peace with women’s bodies. Carlsbad, CA : Gurze books.
(11) Zunino, N. (2000). Risk factors in the development of eating disorders. American Anorexia and Bulimia Association, Inc.
(12) Johnson, C., Lewis, C., Love, S., Lewis, L. et Stuckey, M. (1984). Incidence and correlates of bulimic behaviour in a female high school population. Journal of youth and adolescence, 1, 15-26.
(13) Grodstein, F., Levine, R., Troy, L., Spencer, T., Colditz, G. A. et Stampfer, M. J. (1996). Three-year follow-up of participants in a commercial weight loss program. Can you keep it off? Archives of Internal Medecine, 156, 1302-1306.
(14) Lisa Berzins, Dying to be thin: the prevention of eating disorders and the role of federal policy. APA co-sponsored congressional briefing. USA. 1997.
(15) Gaesser, G. (1996). Big fat lies: The truth about your weight and your health. New York: Fawcett Columbine.