Adolescents’ advertising literacy and body self-perception in the face of influencer marketing

Beatriz Feijoo; Charo Sádaba

doi:10.7764/cdi.60.82134

Autores/as

Beatriz Feijoo Universidad Villanueva (España) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5287-3813
Charo Sádaba Universidad de Navarra (España) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2596-2794

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.60.82134

Palabras clave:

alfabetización publicitaria, preocupación por la imagen corporal, apariencia, adolescentes, marketing de influenciadores, contenidos patrocinados, España

Resumen

In today's society, people are increasingly conscious of their bodies, and marketers are well aware of this fact. As a result, influencers have started to include body-related content in their posts, especially when promoting fashion, food, cosmetics, beauty or fitness brands. This, and the influence that influencers' lifestyles have on users' body image, calls for a closer look at measures that can protect the public, especially young people, from the effects of these posts, which often blur the lines between organic and sponsored content. This study raises the possibility that one of these filters to protect this age group from sponsored content from influencers exploiting the image argument is their level of advertising literacy. Based on a survey applied to 1,055 adolescents aged 11 to 17 between April and June, 2022, living in Spain, a significant relationship was found between adolescents' concern about their body image and their level of advertising literacy in the face of these contents, especially in setting goals to achieve the perfect body and the importance of physical appearance in their self-perception. The gender, age and socioeconomic status of the respondents lead to nuances in the results. The discussion here is relevant for companies that include influencers in their marketing strategies, families, educators and public administrations.

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Biografía del autor/a

Beatriz Feijoo , Universidad Villanueva (España)

Beatriz Feijoo, doctora en Comunicación y licenciada en Publicidad y Relaciones Públicas y Comunicación Audiovisual por la Universidade de Vigo (España). Profesora titular en la Universidad Villanueva (España), previamente fue docente e investigadora en la Universidad de los Andes (Chile), la Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (España) y la Universidade de Vigo. Es autora de un centenar de publicaciones y artículos científicos, editora de libros sobre comunicación y menores e investigadora principal de proyectos de investigación financiados sobre ese tema.

Charo Sádaba, Universidad de Navarra (España)

Charo Sádaba, catedrática en la facultad de Comunicación de la Universidad de Navarra, de la que es decana desde junio de 2017. Durante más de 20 años ha centrado su investigación en la relación con la tecnología digital de niños, niñas y adolescentes. Recientemente se han enfocado en la alfabetización publicitaria en este grupo etario. Como investigadora del Iberifier+, el polo ibérico de EDMO contra la desinformación, trabaja también sobre la alfabetización mediática como estrategia de lucha contra la desinformación.

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