Casting shows: candidates face depression

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MunichA music casting show can be a bad experience for the participants. The candidates are under high pressure to perform, are often presented and exposed to ridicule. A study by the International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television (IZI) shows that this can even trigger depression, especially among younger participants.

Half of the candidates are in crisis

A total of 59 former candidates from music casting shows such as “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” (DSDS), “Popstars” or “The Voice of Germany” between the ages of 16 and 34 were surveyed for the study. Only about half rated the casting experience as positive, for the rest it had a high potential for crisis. About a fifth found the participation extremely negative. "We really have cases in which psychological damage has occurred," says study director Maya Götz to A former "DSDS" candidate reports: "I was only 16 years old at the time and couldn't deal with it." Later, she got depression. "To this day I haven't got my life under control."

Young women particularly at risk

Participation was particularly hard for young women between 16 and 18 years of age. A candidate who took part in a music casting show at the age of 18 says: “I would never have applied there if I had known what they were doing with people. Just to portray them as stupid, just so that people have something to laugh about. "

"Popstars" has the highest potential for crisis

However, the crisis potential for different casting formats is different. While 66 to 70 percent of the candidates found their participation in “DSDS” and “Popstars” as negative, for “XFactor” and “The Voice of Germany” it was only 36 to 42 percent.

82 percent of the participants in the casting format “Our Star for…”, to select the participants in the Eurovision Song Contest, booked the show as a sense of achievement. Only 18 percent plunged them into a crisis. The reason is likely that factors that affect the candidate psychologically are differently pronounced in different formats.

Psychological support for the candidates

Based on the results of their study, Götz and her co-authors are demanding psychological support from the candidates during and after the show, as is already practiced in the “The Voice of Germany” format. In addition, sensitization on the part of the makers of the shows is necessary. "It is important that the candidates leave the selection process with the least possible embarrassment and that they are not stylized as freaks," says Götz. Promoting media literacy among young television viewers could also help. Especially those who watch casting shows frequently consider them to be documentary formats and believe that the participants will be better off afterwards than before. That is also the reason why half of them would like to take part themselves.

Stylized as a freak and then thrown out

The most important crisis triggers at casting shows are:

The typing of the candidates: Because a casting show is not a documentation. It is very likely that the participants will be presented differently than they see themselves. It becomes particularly stressful when the media makers stylize participants as freaks and portray them as clowns, for example, who seemingly unrestrainedly undermine the required performance.

The expulsion: For more than 99 percent of the participants, the casting show ends with an expulsion. "Especially if participants wish to work full-time as musicians later, a rejection by media professionals can lead to a self-crisis," explains Götz. The emotional injury increases if the cancellation is accompanied by a personal devaluation. These can be sentences like: “I am disappointed in you as a person and as a woman” or “This is musical incontinence”.

Celebrities: The casting show brings the participants into the public eye. Since people are judged in the shows, everyone from their environment feels called upon to give them their opinion.

The end: from one day to the next, all the publicity is over. "It is an enormous challenge for the psyche to process this change," said Götz. (away)

Source: Götz M. et al .: Springboard or Crisis? The casting show experience. A survey of former participants in music casting shows, LfM Documentation 2013, Volume 48 (online from April 30, 2013)

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