Help us encourage responsible media messages regarding body image issues.
The Media Watchdog program was created to improve media messages about size, weight and beauty. The program brings students, educators, health professionals, parents, eating disorders sufferers, and concerned consumers together to encourage companies and advertisers to send healthy media messages regarding body size and shape.
Bearing the responsibility of changing the media means recognizing and celebrating advertisements that send healthy body image messages, as well as taking the time to express our concerns about advertisements that send negative body image messages.
How the Media Watchdog program works.
Media Watchdogs are volunteers across the country who choose to closely monitor various forms of media, commending or critiquing advertisements or programs that positively or negatively impact body image and self-concept. Watchdogs monitor TV, radio, newspaper, magazine and internet ads or programs and send notices of ads or programs worthy of praise or protest to the National Eating Disorders Association office:
E-mail: watchdog@NationalEatingDisorders.org
Fax: 206.829.8501
You submit, NEDA staff and volunteer Watchdogs review the submissions and decide on the best course of action! It is NEDA’s hope that by reaching out to the leaders of corporations we can educate, inform and build relationships that will lead to lasting changes in advertising. When we write a letter it will be on behalf of all Media Watchdogs which may include an opportunity for you to sign on! Your name and signature may be necessary to express our praise or protest, depending on the submission selected.
In the case of protest letters, NEDA staff continues corresponding with advertisers until they respond to our request to change their advertising strategies and messages.
The Media Watchdog program includes participation from the National Eating Disorders Association staff, the Board of Directors, and over 1,000 volunteer Media Watchdogs – just like you – who have joined this interactive program e-campaign through the internet.
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What to look for in the media.
Aspects of positive ads worthy of praise:
- Ads that display a variety of natural body shapes and sizes.
- Ads that attribute similar positive characteristics to heavy and thin people.
- Ads that incorporate images of people eating balanced meals, including desserts, to fuel one’s body as part of a healthy lifestyle.
- Ads that include women in situations which imply equal social power and an understanding that women are more than objects of beauty.
Aspects of negative ads worthy of protest:
- Ads that include an emaciated model or a model whose features have been computer-enhanced.
- Ads that include a large person whose attributes or character are portrayed negatively.
- Ads that glamorize images of people on diets, or ads that present people relying on food as a way to respond to stress, frustration, or loneliness.
Steps to critique ads and other media messages:
- What is the product being sold?
- What is the image shown?
- What words are being used?
- What is the overall message of the advertisement?
The answers to these questions can lay the foundation for the protest of a negative ad or the praise of a positive ad. Once your ideas are outlined, decide which points will be most effective in explaining your ideas to the target organization. Explain how you feel about the ad and why, in clear, rational, and civil language. Invite them to think in an alternative way!
Since the start of the Media Watchdog program in 1997, over half of the protested advertisements have been discontinued. The power to change our culture’s acceptance of diverse images of beauty and health through the National Eating Disorders Association’s Media Watchdog Program is both empowering and rewarding.
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Facebook Group
To help you connect with other Media Watchdogs across the nation, we have created a Facebook group. You can chat with Media Watchdogs, post the media happenings going on in your area, discuss topics related to the media, and more.
Facebook Group.
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