Young women often encounter disclaimers for edited photos on Instagram—but do these disclaimers work how influencers intend?

It’s no secret that highly edited pictures flood social media feeds, particularly on Instagram. Photoshop can banish the arm flap or widen the thigh gap. Even a quick filter can change someone’s appearance—smoothing skin texture and enhancing eye color.

When these images fill social media feeds, humans tend to compare—everyone is guilty of it, but young women are particularly susceptible. Thoughts comparing hair texture, height, skin color, and every aspect of appearance plague doomscrolling users. These comparisons can ultimately harm us. So many people posting edited photos add a disclaimer in their caption, informing the viewer of the photo’s edited nature. Research has examined whether these self-disclaimers are actually effective at decreasing comparison.

THE RESEARCH

The article “The Effects of Self-Disclaimer Instagram Captions on Young Woman’s Mood and Body Image: The Moderating Effect of Participants’ Own Photo Manipulation Practices,” by Sarah E. McComb, Keisha C. Gobin, and Jennifer S. Mill, appeared in Body Image, an international research journal. The research focused on whether these photo disclaimers affect body image (satisfaction and comparison) among young women.

In the study 311 female undergraduate students at York University in Toronto were asked preliminary questions about their photo editing practices and likelihood to compare while on Instagram. They were assigned to one of three groups where participants viewed twelve images of women edited to look thinner. Each group’s photos were captioned with one of three disclaimers:

  • Generic: A disclaimer disclosing an image was edited, such as “I always try to be transparent with my followers so I just want everyone to know: this image has been digitally altered.” 
  • Specific: A disclaimer outlining what was altered in the image, like “This image has been digitally altered to trim fat off my stomach and arms.” 
  • Warning: A disclaimer warning about risk of harm from comparison, like “Because I care about my followers I just wanted to remind everyone: Viewing thin and unrealistic images of women can make you feel bad about yourself.”

After seeing these edited photos, participants were asked the following question: “In the coming weeks, how likely are you to compare your body weight/shape to other’s body weight/shape?” Based on the quantitative data collected, researchers found that “[participants high on photo manipulation] who saw the specific self-disclaimer reported less likelihood to compare their body weight and shape to another’s.” In other words, for participants who often manipulated their photos, seeing specific disclaimers did decrease their likelihood of comparing themselves.

“[Participants inclined to manipulate photos] who saw the specific self-disclaimer reported less likelihood to compare their body weight and shape to another’s.”

McComb, Gobin, Mills (2021).

THE IMPLICATIONS

The results of this study indicate that specific disclaimers aren’t effective for all viewers, but they are effective for viewers who edit their own photos. So what does that mean for the average Instagram user? 

Include a specific disclaimer in your caption for the viewers that edit their photos. If you’d prefer not to include a specific disclaimer like the one in this study, reword it to match your brand. Most importantly, recognize the negative effects that edited photos have on your viewers, and find ways to mitigate those effects. For example, additional research is needed to understand what will mitigate harm to other viewers, so try different methods such as posting natural, unedited images. Find out what works for your viewers to help cultivate a culture of self-confidence and respect on social media platforms. 

—Alayna Beck, Merlin Blanchard, Meagan Jeanneret, Netiquette 

FEATURE IMAGE BY MIKOTO.RAW

Find more research

To learn more about the effects (or lack thereof) of Instagram caption disclaimers read the original article: McComb, Sarah E., Keisha C. Gobin, and Jennifer S. Mills, “​​The Effects of Self-Disclaimer Instagram Captions on Young Woman’s Mood and Body Image: The Moderating Effect of Participants’ Own Photo Manipulation Practices.” Body Image 38 (September 2021): 251-261, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.04.011. 

Get an overview of how all social media text affects body image in Marika Tiggeman’s (2022) paper: “Digital Modification and Body Image on Social Media: Disclaimer Labels, Captions, Hashtags, and Comments.” Body Image 41 (June 2022): 172-180, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.02.012. 

Do body positive captions work? Learn more by checking out an additional piece: Tiggeman, Marika, Isabella Anderberg, and Zoe Brown,“#Loveyourbody: The Effect of Body Positive Instagram Captions on Women’s Body Image.” Body Image 38 (June 2020): 129–136, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.015.