Fitfluencers

Fitness influencers or fitfluencers focus on promoting a fit and healthy lifestyle on social media. However, in doing so, they also depict their often idealized bodies. For males very muscular bodies are depicted, while females often portray thin and athletic bodies. These body ideals lead to upward appearance comparisons among adolescents viewing the content of fitfluencers, which in turn can give them the feeling that these bodies are unattainable for them. In turn, research has pointed towards negative effects of fitfluencer content on followers body image, self-esteem, body satisfaction etc. Hence making it important to investigate how these negative effects can be avoided. In addition, the World Health Organization states that adolescents do not perform enough physical activity. Physical activity is however very important for a healthy lifestyle and to avoid several diseases. Moreover, it is additionally important to investigate how fitfluencers can stimulate physical activity among adolescents. 

At CEPEC, we aim to explore how fitfluencers can be used to promote physical activity among adolescents, while simultaneously avoiding negative effects of those fitfluencers on adolescents' body satisfaction and self-esteem.