Abercrombie & Fitch Ad

Posted by Lori Henry Oct 11, 2006

Their current ad has a man shown without a head but a ripped torso, some say imitating Michelangelo’s David. It shows not one stray hair or imperfection and depersonalizes the model as they do in women’s ads.

"Body image is not just a concern for women," says Deborah Schooler, a research associate at Brown University who has studied the adverse affects media images can have on male self-esteem. "It affects men, too, and it demands attention."

She believes that when researching men and body image, the wrong questions are being asked. "Asking men about just weight or size misses the boat," Schooler. They care more about other “real body” factors like sweat, body hair and body odour.

A study done last spring at the San Francisco State University and recently published in Seed magazine, looked at 184 male college students. It reported that the more media these guys saw, especially music videos and prime-time TV, the worse they felt about the “real” aspects of their bodies they had mentioned before.

The study also revealed that these negative feelings impacted with sexual health and in some cases led to more aggressive and riskier sexual behaviour.

But David Zinczenko, editor of Men’s Health magazine, has a different view of the ad. “What's good about that image is that it's the picture of health… With diabetes rates skyrocketing over the past 70 years, a little more 'lean' wouldn't hurt us."

Hmmm...