Love Island ads giving young people body image issues, says head of NHS
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Love Island adverts and social media websites are putting "pressure" on young people over their body image, the head of the NHS has warned.
Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, raised concerns that cosmetic surgery adverts are being broadcast during breaks on the popular ITV2 show, in which attractive young contestants compete to win one another’s affections.
He also said Facebook and other social media websites are “in danger of ending up on the wrong side of history” by failing to protect young people.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, Mr Stevens said it is not just the NHS’ job to tackle eating disorders and mental illness in young people, and that social media sites and television shows should take more responsibility.
“Take a show like Love Island,” Mr Stevens said. “Look at the adverts being shown alongside Love Island. You've got explicit ads being aimed at young women around breast cosmetic surgery. That is all playing into a set of pressures around body image that are showing up.”
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A number of Love Island’s contestants have had extensive plastic surgery, and critics have said it is creating “unrealistic” standards for young people.
“We have to change that whole environment which children are being exposed to,” Mr Stevens said.
“The time has come to think long and hard as to whether we should be exposing young people to those kind of pressures, and social media and advertising have got to look very carefully at the kind of impact they are having.”
“We are seeing on TV at the moment a bunch of Facebook ads describing how they are seeking to become more responsible. So I think they are others are beginning to recognise they are in danger of ending up on the wrong side of history.”
Last month, Mr Stevens said the NHS is “picking up the pieces” of an epidemic of mental illness among children, which is being fuelled by social media, and urged companies like Google and Facebook to take more responsibility for the pressures they place on children.
His comments follow calls for social media and online gaming firms to have a statutory “duty of care” to protect children from mental ill health, abuse and addictive behaviour.
