Plus-size models are unlikely to work on their intended customers

Plus-size models are unlikely to work on their intended customers. That’s according to a new study by researchers at ASU, the University of Cologne in Germany and Erasmus University in the Netherlands, which demonstrates a link between model sizes in advertisements and the self-esteem of consumers looking at the ads.

“We believe it is unlikely that many brands will gain market share by using heavy models in their ads,” said Naomi Mandel, marketing associate professor in the W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU. “We found that overweight consumers demonstrated lower self-esteem – and therefore probably less enthusiasm about buying products – after exposure to any size models in ads (versus ads with no models). Also, normal-weight consumers experienced lower self-esteem after exposure to moderately heavy models, such as those in Dove soap’s ‘Real Women’ campaign, than after exposure to moderately thin models.”

Mandel and her colleagues performed a series of experiments based on the popular idea that looking at extremely thin models can negatively affect consumers’ self-esteem and possibly even lead to eating disorders in young girls. That belief is why fashion show organizers in Milan, Italy and Madrid, Spain, recently banned super waif models from their catwalks.

In the new study, researchers took the link between model size and self-esteem even further by factoring in the consumers’ own body size and self-esteem before looking at the ads. Although they did confirm that exposure to extremely thin models can be damaging to most women’s self-esteem, they also found some surprising effects.

“We show it is not just the size of the models in the ads, but also the relative distance between the consumer’s size and the model’s size that affects self-esteem,” Mandel said.

In the study, hundreds of female students had their high body mass index (BMI) based on their heights and weights. They were then invited to a lab, but were not told the true nature of the study. They were shown a variety of ads and told to answer several questions, only some of which were truly related to the study. The questionnaires showed the participants’ self-esteem shifted based on the model sizes they saw in the ads and whether they considered themselves to be similar to or different from those sizes.

Low-BMI, thinner women tended to experience a boost in self-esteem when they viewed all models because they identified positively with the thinner models and saw themselves as different from the heavier models. Higher-BMI, heavier women dropped in self-esteem when looking at all models because they saw themselves as different from the thinner, idealized ones and similar to the overweight models.

Normal-BMI women had the most shifts in self-esteem, depending on what types of images they saw and could therefore be the most influenced by pictures in ads. For example, if they viewed a moderately thin model, they felt similar and good; if they saw a moderately heavy model, they worried they were similar and overweight.

These findings could be used to prompt changes in behavior. For example, if a normal-size woman sees moderately heavy images in ads for weight-loss products, she might feel overweight and be more inclined to buy a diet plan or gym membership. The same premise could apply to using heavy images in public service announcements aimed at fighting the obesity epidemic.

The study is published in April’s Journal of Consumer Researcho

Plus-size models are unlikely to work on their intended customers

The power of scent

Does scent enhance consumer product memories? It may seem odd to add scent to products like sewing thread, automobile tires, and tennis balls, as some companies have done. But a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says scent helps consumers remember product information.

“Product scent may be particularly effective at enhancing memory for product
information as a function of its ability to enhance a product’s distinctiveness within its surrounding context,” write authors Aradhna Krishna (University of Michigan), May Lwin (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), and Maureen Morrin (Rutgers University). Scent enhances a product’s distinctiveness, which helps consumers remember it down the line, the authors found. And while ambient(atmospheric) scents seem to boost memory for all the objects encountered in the scented environment (product, signs, lighting, salespeople), it doesn’t much help people remember particular products. In one study, the authors had 151 participants evaluate pencils that were unscented, scented with pine scent (common), or scented with tea tree scent (uncommon). “We found that the memory for the scented pencils was much greater than memory for the unscented pencils, and that this effect was especially pronounced after a time delay,” the authors write. They also found that participants’ memory of the uncommonly (tea tree) scented pencils was more resistant to decay.

In a second study, the authors compared the effectiveness of product scent to ambient scent. The researchers manipulated whether or not the target product (facial tissues) was scented and whether or not the room was scented. “We find again that when a product is scented, long-term memory for that product’s attributes increases, and further, that product scent is more effective than ambient scent at enhancing memory for product-related information,” the authors write.

“Our studies show that product scent significantly enhances recall of product information, and that this enhanced memory for product information persists over time—for at least two weeks after the time of exposure,” the authors write. Aradhna Krishna, May Lwin, and Maureen Morrin. “Product Scent and Memory.” Journal of Consumer Research: June 2010o

The power of scent

Less is more

Assortment cutbacks might be a good thing for sales, The Globe and Mail report. "Several months ago Wal-Mart Canada Corp. decided to overhaul one of the staples of its grocery business – the peanut butter aisle.

It dropped two of its five lines of peanut butter to free up scarce shelf space for cinnamon spreads. But the decision didn’t cost the retailer a single jar in sales. With fewer selections to browse, customers wound up purchasing more than before.

“Folks can get overwhelmed with too much variety,” said Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising officer at Wal-Mart in Mississauga. “With too many choices, they actually don’t buy."" Read the rest of the article here.

More articles on this subject:

Al Ries in Advertising Age.
When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing? by researchers Sheena S. Iyengar and Mark R. Lepper
Choices Sap Your Stamina, Self Control: Study by Randy Dotingao

Less is more

Free E-book on Optimization and Innovation

"Hardcore Retail" is all about creating results and survival tactics for retailers.

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If you want to download it click on the Slideshare logo in the bottom right hand corner and choose "Download" the meny, or else send me an email to magnus.ohlsson@morm.se. An English version is under translation, if you want a message once it is ready, please give me a mail.o

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Low prices makes customers loyal

In Loyalty Index 2010, a COLLOQUY’s latest study of U.S. retail consumer loyalty ratings and attitudes, there is a shift in driving factors for achieving loyalty from customer service to price.

"For years, small independent and mom-and-pop retailers have complained that when Walmart strode into their towns, their businesses crumbled due to competition they couldn’t overcome. Larger, established retailers have been battling Walmart for the past decade or so at the sales register, but have managed to hold on to customers loyal to their brands. However, with the recession acting like a second-stage booster rocket, Walmart has upended the status quo among its national retail peers by chewing into their last remaining frontier— customer-professed loyalty—at least for now." Read the whole report here.o

Low prices makes customers loyal

Brand Attitudes: How Companies Can Avoid the “Tiger Woods” Effect

When a company drafts a single celebrity to represent a brand, it can backfire—in the way Tiger Woods’ indiscretions affected Accenture. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research examines different ways to secure brand loyalty.

“A widely applied method for improving how people feel about a brand is to pair the brand with positive stimuli,” write authors Steven Sweldens (INSEAD), Stijn van Osselaer (Erasmus University), and Chris Janiszewski (University of Florida). “A brand can be advertised using attractive imagery, endorsements by a celebrity, or used in event sponsoring. Invariably, advertisers hope that the favorable feelings generated by the positive stimuli will attach to the brand.”

The pairing of a brand with positive stimuli is called evaluative conditioning, and the researchers found that evaluative conditioning can occur in two different ways: direct transfer and indirect transfer.

“In indirect transfer, the positive feelings toward the brand are dependent on creating a link in memory between the brand and a positive stimulus. For example, MasterCard uses the popular NFL player Peyton Manning to advertise its product, creating a link between MasterCard and Peyton Manning,” the authors write.

A second form of evaluative conditioning involves the direct transfer of feelings
to the brand. In this case, the positive feeling from the stimulus “rubs off” on the brand. For example, Nike sponsors 55 current NBA players, which associates the brand with a wide range of likeable athletes. “For these fans, the Nike brand becomes more liked as a consequence of the sponsorship of many athletes, not because of the sponsorship of any one athlete,” the authors write.

This difference is displayed in Woods’ association with Accenture. “If a brand has used Tiger Woods to create an indirect transfer of feelings, then Woods’ recent indiscretions are particularly damaging to the brand,” the authors write. “Advertising and product use can be structured to facilitate direct versus indirect affect transfer, which yields more robust brand attitudes than indirect affect transfer,” the authors conclude.o

Brand Attitudes: How Companies Can Avoid the “Tiger Woods” Effect

I Like It, but I Don’t Know Why: How Does Conditioning Affect Consumer Choice?

Even when they are exposed to conflicting information about products,
consumers are greatly affected by images attached to brands, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

“On any given day a consumer is repeatedly exposed to brands that are paired with various images in one form or another—from logos on the sides of buildings to televised commercials,” write authors Melanie Dempsey (Ryerson University) and Andrew A. Mitchell (University of Toronto). “Although the consumer may not be able to recall brand claims or even the brand name itself, the consumer might have been left with a positive feeling, one which he or she may not even be consciously aware.”

The authors set out to determine what would happen when consumers were conditioned to like or dislike brands and then exposed to conflicting product information. To create this effect, they used an evaluative conditioning task, where hundreds of images of several hypothetical brands, pictures, and words were randomly presented, individually and in pairs, on a computer screen. During the task, one target brand was paired with 20 negative images and words and the other target brand was paired with 20 positive images and words. “The participants were unable to recognize that a particular brand had been paired with either negative or positive images. Therefore, we were able to create an ‘I like it, but I don’t know why’ effect,” the authors write.

In a follow-up experiment, the researchers presented participants with product attribute information that contradicted their earlier impressions about pens. “We found that they selected the pen with the inferior attributes that was positively conditioned even though the product attribute information was available in memory,” the authors explain.

Further experiments found that even “highly motivated” participants were unable to overcome the conditioning. “Choice decisions of consumers are not only determined by evaluations of rational information (product attributes) but are also driven by forces that are generally outside of rational control,” the authors conclude.o

I Like It, but I Don’t Know Why: How Does Conditioning Affect Consumer Choice?