An Idiopathic Dalliance in Television, Para-social Relationships, and Consumption: A Study of Pop-Culture Television Nutrition and the Bandwagon Effect

Abstract

Although it has previously been established that television causes unhealthy eating habits, uncertainty remains as to how this occurs. This study researches the parameters of viewers forming an emotional investment with the characters in pop-culture television and subsequently becoming influenced by the negative nutritional habits that are promoted. This influence is a form of cognitive bias called bandwagon effect. In context, it can be described as a psychological phenomenon in which the viewer starts to eat unhealthy foods as a result of having formed a para-social bond with television characters and, regardless of previous knowledge and practices, the viewer begins to copy the television characters’ food intake regiment. In order to prove this argument, a correlational study was run. Participants, female adolescents and early adults (the most prominent demographic of the show), completed the required consent form preceding survey part one, then watched several episodes of the pop-culture television series Gilmore Girls, known for the aesthetically pleasing protagonists’ plentiful consumption of unhealthy food. The participants of the study had unhealthy and healthy food options displayed within grasp while viewing and at completion of the viewing filled out survey part two which asked about food choices. A week later, participants received survey part three to fill out and return to the researcher. Upon receiving the results, data analysis was performed, and the outcome was deemed statistically insignificant even though the hypothesis proved correct. It was found that participants had worse nutrition after watching the pop-culture television series.