Remember Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi ad? You know, that trainwreck of a marketing campaign that attempted to piggyback on worldwide protest movements by suggesting that police brutality can be remedied by a reality TV star and a second-rate Cola?

Then there’s everything the Kardashians have done. And by everything, I mean, well, nothing. Yet they still have a worldwide following of people who freak out every time one of them posts a selfie.

We always suspected that keeping up with the Kardashians/ Jenners could potentially make you a bad person, but now we have proof!

According to a new study conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Science, watching shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians can make you less sympathetic to the poor.

Here’s the Huffington Post with more:

The researchers found that even 60 seconds of exposure to materialistic media ― content that “glamorizes fame, luxury, and wealth” ― was enough to significantly increase anti-welfare beliefs.

Lead researcher Rodolfo Leyva said that’s in part because humans are naturally materialistic and shows like “KUWTK” may simply draw out our more selfish sides.

“If there is more emphasis on materialism as a way to be happy, this makes us more inclined to be selfish and anti-social, and therefore unsympathetic to people less fortunate,” said Leyva, a fellow of media and communications at the school.

This study is said to explain the decrease in public support for welfare to aid the impoverished and unemployed.

Leyva studied two groups of 487 British adults, ages 18 to 49. Both groups believed they were participating in an experiment to test memory and attention.

While one group was shown ads for luxury goods, tabloid photos of celebrities and newspaper headlines featuring rags-to-riches stories, the other group was shown more neutral imagery: scenes of nature, ads for the London subway system and newspaper headlines about dinosaurs.

The groups were asked questions that measured their attitudes toward wealth and success, the less fortunate and government benefits.

In the end, the group exposed to the materialistic media were more prone to anti-welfare attitudes and supportive of anti-welfare policies (tax cuts, austerity measures and welfare reductions).

Participants were also asked about their television viewing and magazine reading habits. Once again, the results showed that those who watched shows or read tabloids that promoted the acquisition of wealth or luxurious lifestyles like The Kardashians, Made in Chelsea (below – British rich kids), The Apprentice and X-Factor, were more likely to hold “stronger materialistic and anti-welfare attitudes than lighter consumers of these shows”.

Leyva told HuffPost that the findings didn’t necessarily surprise him, given that a previous study showed that even a brief exposure to pictures of money and words like “buy” and “expensive” can trigger anti-social responses and inhibit humans’ more social and communal feelings.

“When considered together with my study, it suggests that exposure to the message in this materialistic media can inhibit peoples’ altruism, empathy and concern for the community and others,” he said.

Remember that story about how rich people are more likely to lie, cheat, and steal? I suppose it’s more of the same.

Not everyone who watches these shows is a true devotee, of course. For a lot of people, it’s a form of escapism after a tough day at work. That said, it could still make you an awful person. So what can you do to get your trashy TV fix and maintain some human decency?

Remind yourself to look down the mountain rather than up, said Laurel Steinberg, a New York therapist who is unaffiliated with the study and has a lot of millennial clients who struggle to keep up with the Joneses.

“Sure, there are a few superwealthy people at the tippy top, but most people of the world lie below,” she said. “If you think you’re being negatively impacted, tune out for a while ― or until you get reoriented to reality. Spend this time varying what you watch and pay careful attention how you interact with people when you go out into the world.”

You could also read a book, watch a documentary or listen to a podcast. There’s more to life than just pointless people with too much cash.

Be better.

[source:huffpost]