Good Afternoon Everyone
I hope all is well
Newest post on the blog is the first
guest post of 2019.
By a fellow Teesside University
student, Alisia Evci. She is studying BSc in Physical Activity, Exercise and
Health
This post is all about the recent trends of social media using
celebrities who are paid to promote products.
Remember to like, share and follow the blog and the post :)
Enjoy!
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Social media. An amazing place for all to have a platform. But what
happens when those with the most influence on us, their audience, use their
platform for the wrong reasons.
Multitudes of online celebrities, or better known as influencers use
their reach to charge thousands to promote brands. These celebrities taking a
promotion for an item of clothing in the same hand as promoting a diet
alternative. Without any additional scientific information, which if they do
have is not promoted in their #ad. Some examples of these can be seen
below:
1)
Kim Kardashian promoting appetite suppressant lollipops to her 129 million
Instagram followers:
Image obtained from: Susane Heller. (2018). Instagram apologized to
Kim Kardashian for 'mistakenly' deleting her posts promoting 'appetite
suppressant' lollipops. Available:
https://www.thisisinsider.com/kim-karadshian-appetite-suppressant-lollipop-instagram-apology-2018-5
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2)
Kylie Jenner promoting fit tea wraps in order to get a ‘toned tummy’ to her 128
million Instagram followers:
Image obtained from: https://www.instagram.com/kyliejenner/
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Endorsements like this can be found with a simple scroll through many
Instagram explore pages. It is indeed a sad truth that these endorsements are
facilitating a certain ideal of thinness for women. Social media ideals however
are not specific to women only with there being a large platform of muscular
male ideals out there promoting supplements to achieve a physique that has most
likely been enhanced through anabolic steroid use or photoshop. However, for
the purpose of this post we will only be exploring female influencers.
For my dissertation I have been investigating this sector of celebrity
culture much deeper and have found masses of research confirming lowered
self-esteem from viewing images of ideals online. However, influencers online
are not only using their platform to promote diet alternatives, that will not
provide sustainable results, they are also promoting a false sense of hope that
these products will help others achieve their body; When their bodies are
unachievable from a natural and realistic viewpoint. It’s not hard to see many
of these individuals will have had undisclosed cosmetic procedures, which can
clearly be seen from comparisons and/or regularly edit Instagram posts.
Example of possible cosmetic procedures:
Image obtained from: Nina Gabriel. (2017). Kylie Jenner's Before
And After Fame Bikini Pictures Become A Meme. Available:
http://www.viralitytoday.com/kylie-jenners-before-and-after-fame-bikini-pictures-become-a-meme
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Examples of altered images online compared to candid captures:
All images obtained from: https://www.instagram.com/beauty.false/
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All images obtained from: https://www.instagram.com/beauty.false/
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All images obtained from: https://www.instagram.com/beauty.false/
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It shouldn’t have to be stated that the natural images of these
individuals are beautiful, yet they and society deem it necessary to alter
themselves or their images prior to publishing online. All the while not
letting their audience know they don’t look like their images. Social media
platforms such as Instagram are constantly re-enforcing not only beauty
standards but unrealistic beauty standards for women, which is indeed
leading to confidence issues, body dysmorphia and even disordered eating in
many women and young girls (Holland and Tiggemann, 2016).
There is hope. Many pages are emerging in order to debunk the false
beauty spread online, which may aid some individuals’ perceptions of themselves
and the online world if followed instead of your regular influencer (amazing
women’s Instagram’s will be posted at the end). A prime example of this was
when Jameele Jamil who’s Instagram currently sits at 1.2 million followers
posted a video mocking those endorsing diet teas. Branding them as diarrhoea juice,
she is also petitioning for this kind of advertisement to be banned from social
media.
Image obtained from: https://www.instagram.com/p/BtjT-p6Bpx-/
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Individuals creating platforms to go against beauty standards set via
social media are rising rapidly and people are becoming more educated towards
the prevalent issues. However, it cannot be ignored that there are suffers of
mental health issues due to being subject to ideals online. I believe this to
be a very pressing and important issue when investigating young women and their
mental health.
Amazing pages on Instagram for a fresher more positive feed:
· I_weigh: https://www.instagram.com/i_weigh/
· Jameela Jamil: https://www.instagram.com/jameelajamilofficial/
· Karinairby: https://www.instagram.com/karinairby/
· _kellyu: https://www.instagram.com/_kellyu/
· Beauty.false: https://www.instagram.com/beauty.false/
· Bodyposipanda: https://www.instagram.com/bodyposipanda/
· Stephanie_buttermore (for science-based diet information): https://www.instagram.com/stephanie_buttermore/
· Chessiekingg: https://www.instagram.com/chessiekingg/
· Recommended YouTube video to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhFpaEDBzI4
*this blog post is in no way meant to bash anyone but is more so for
educational purposes.
Thank you for reading
If you with to contact Alisia more
about her work and her dissertation which goes into this area into far greater
detail.
Her Linkedin profile
is; https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisia-evci-899226168
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Andrew Richardson, Founder of Strength is Never a Weakness Blog
I have a BSc (Hons) in Applied Sport Science and a Merit in my MSc in Sport and Exercise Science and I passed my PGCE at Teesside University.
Now I will be commencing my PhD into "Investigating Sedentary Lifestyles of the Tees Valley" this October 2019.
I am employed by Teesside University Sport and WellBeing Department as a PT/Fitness Instructor.
My long term goal is to become a Sport Science and/or Sport and Exercise Lecturer. I am also keen to contribute to academia via continued research in a quest for new knowledge.
My most recent publications:
My passion is for Sport Science which has led to additional interests incorporating Sports Psychology, Body Dysmorphia, AAS, Doping and Strength and Conditioning.
Within these respective fields, I have a passion for Strength Training, Fitness Testing, Periodisation and Tapering.
I write for numerous websites across the UK and Ireland including my own blog Strength is Never a Weakness.
I had my own business for providing training plans for teams and athletes.
I was one of the Irish National Coaches for Powerlifting, and have attained two 3rd places at the first World University Championships,
in Belarus in July 2016.Feel free to email me or call me as I am always looking for the next challenge.
Contact details below;
Facebook: Andrew Richardson (search for)
Facebook Page: @StrengthisNeveraWeakness
Twitter: @arichie17
Instagram: @arichiepowerlifting
Snapchat: @andypowerlifter
Email: a.s.richardson@tees.ac.uk
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-richardson-b0039278
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew_Richardson7
