Highly Attractive Models in Advertising: Impact on Female Consumer Behavior

Introduction and Argument Overview

It is common knowledge in the advertising industry that publicity sells. To achieve high profit margins in the globalized market, the most interesting and eye-catching advertisements typically impact target audiences and achieve promotional and sales goals. However, an increasing number of consumers are becoming reluctant toward certain products precisely because of aggressive and sometimes offensive advertising. From this perspective, this paper argues that the perception of women's bodies and their comparison to HAMs (highly attractive models) negatively influences advertising effectiveness for particular products.

The paper's structure examines how HAMs and their conceptual meaning affect both the advertising world and society. Part I analyzes advertising perception across racial lines, focusing on how Black women and white women differently perceive advertising that features HAMs. Part II examines beauty as part of broader social identification processes, particularly in the workplace. Although beauty is often considered a matter of self-esteem, research indicates that women labeled as attractive are perceived as more productive. Part III analyzes consumer behavior, demonstrating that women tend to become less responsive to advertisements featuring highly attractive women due to comparison processes and decreased self-esteem. The concluding section restates the main argument: women's self-esteem and the aggressiveness of advertising determine consumers' reluctance to purchase products.

Racial and Cultural Differences in Advertising Perception

Numerous studies address this issue from various research perspectives. Murray Webster's Beauty as Status, published in the American Journal of Sociology, explores beauty's essential role in society and professional life regardless of race and gender. Additionally, Markus M. Mobius and Tanya S. Rosenblat's Why Beauty Matters? in the American Economic Review provides economic perspectives on beauty's workplace implications.

Amanda Bower's Highly Attractive Models in Advertising and the Women Who Loathe Them: The Implications of Negative Affect for Spokesperson Effectiveness, published in the Journal of Advertising, clarifies how spokespersons affect advertising campaign success among targeted consumers. The author emphasizes the psychological effects attractive women have on less attractive women and those with low self-esteem, and how this impacts advertising effectiveness.

White and Black women demonstrate different perspectives on aspects of life, including self-esteem and personal issues, likely resulting from different cultural backgrounds. Many famous fashion icons are white, ranging from Coco Chanel to supermodels such as Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer. Although Coco Chanel was not traditionally considered beautiful, Crawford and Schiffer inspired designers and remain symbols of fashion brands like Guess and Yves Saint Laurent years after retirement. By contrast, the African American community recognized Naomi Campbell as one of fashion history's most successful models. However, given her controversies, she may represent an exception confirming a pattern of white supremacy in fashion. While white women rarely experienced oppressive treatment based on appearance in media, Black women faced historical hardships creating different background experiences. Research suggests that self-esteem disorders such as anorexia and bulimia more frequently affect white women than Black women, indicating greater advertising susceptibility among white women.

This disparity extends across generations and racial lines. Dia Sekayi notes that commercialization affects all generations regardless of culture or age, yet children and teenagers are most vulnerable. Children naturally attract to visual and audio advertising as innovative communication. However, Black children show less susceptibility than white children, potentially explained by lower average incomes. Therefore, young Black people are less likely to experience commercial advertising's influence.

The discussion of how HAMs influence self-esteem through advertising is possible because extensive research confirms that women use HAMs as reference points for their own body image. This explains why fashion houses including Christian Dior and Victoria's Secret have recently incorporated models of different sizes. A demand for curvier fashion emerged after recognizing that constant comparison with thin models led to eating disorders or behavioral changes. As research notes, "unrealistic beauty standards are often implicated in low self-esteem and unhealthy behavior among adolescent girls. Scholars in fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, and public health have addressed this topic, placing teenage girls' perceptions of their bodies in the context of cause (impossibly thin and perfect media images of women) and effects (i.e., low self-esteem, rampant dieting, eating disorders)" (Casanova, 2004).

Despite advertising's general effects on self-esteem, racial differences are significant. Not all races respond identically. Different cultural and social backgrounds enable adolescent girls to adapt advertising influences to existing values. A study of Ecuadorian teenagers showed that advertising's influence mattered less than for white teenagers. These young women held beauty ideals similar to Caucasian prototypes while making less rigid beauty judgments in daily life and supporting peer interaction (Casanova, 2004).

Researchers widely agree that culture plays a major role. The predominance of white supermodels meant white women could compare themselves more readily to idealized Caucasian images in fashion catalogs than Black women could. This matters because model appearance perception influences body image perception. The prevalence of white models transformed isolated images into beauty standards for average white women, affecting self-esteem creation and advertisement response.

Perception differences follow cultural lines. Women and teenagers from different cultures or races create distinct female communities. The African American example is instructive: they value female figure uniqueness rather than measurements or size (White, 2004). This reflects different beauty concepts. Women of color, typically curvier, consider this a source of pride. By contrast, the ideal white woman is usually small. Therefore, racial lines enable Black women to resist certain HAMs and reject them as beauty standards.

The terms "beauty" and "attractive" are difficult to define, yet social and economic norms create clear distinctions between women, particularly regarding their social tagging. A widespread perception exists that "beautiful" or "attractive" attributes correlate with higher productivity rates.

Beauty as a Social and Economic Factor

Beautiful women are considered better organizational assets, and employers perceive them as more open-minded and better communicators (Mobius and Rosenblat, 2006). Some scholars argue that physical appearance discrimination parallels race and sex discrimination (Webster, 1983). Webster notes that "attractiveness effects usually derive from the structure of society. Beauty or its opposite often function as a status cue; that is, when it activates patterns of widely shared cultural beliefs it is a status characteristic just as race and sex are, meeting the same defining criteria and having most of the same sorts of effects as those other status characteristics" (Webster, 1983). Beauty thus clearly relates to society and community. Reactions by Black women versus white women differ in these contexts as well.

Beauty or attractiveness functions at the employer level. Attractive women are viewed as better communicators and more productive employees, largely due to self-esteem (Mobius and Rosenblat, 2006). Research shows employers perceive attractive women differently. This stems not from appearance alone but from the message it conveys. Mobius and Rosenblat's study demonstrates that given a choice between attractive and less attractive women for salary increases or employment, employers select the more attractive individual. The explanation again relates to self-esteem and the message employees project. Self-confident people are more communicative, open-minded, and collaborative. Low self-esteem individuals tend toward isolation, which is counterproductive.

Self-esteem is crucial for social relations and demonstrates confidence and availability. While job assignments reveal professional availability, societal context implies personal confidence. Advertising proves crucial in this context, as it projects product images to the world.

From a marketing perspective, using highly attractive models is justified. The strategy's core revolves around sales: attractive bodies more effectively sell lingerie or perfume than overweight individuals. This explains HAM prevalence in high fashion. However, research reveals downsides to this approach.

Effects of Attractive Models on Consumer Choice

As discussed above, self-esteem is crucial to individual performance in society and professional life. People are judged by their appearance, speech, and behavior, reflecting projected self-esteem. However, self-esteem in women particularly relates to physical appearance, creating sensitivity. Amanda Bower found that "young adult female respondents reported that they compared themselves frequently with models in clothing, personal care, and cosmetics ads, and approximately one-third reported that these ads made them feel dissatisfied with their appearance. One study found that approximately 90% of white junior high and high school girls feel some level of dissatisfaction with their weight, leading to more than 60% of white teenagers dieting at least once in the past year" (Bower, 2001).

As noted, comparison predominantly affects white populations and often results in eating disorders or dieting (Striegel-Moore, 2003). Self-esteem developed in childhood and early adulthood influences how women perceive themselves throughout life. Constant HAM comparison may alter their physical appearance perception, affecting beauty considerations, standards, and choices.

Beautiful models in advertising generate substantial results, and most advertising professionals will continue using them. However, consumer reactions can shift choices. Negative reactions to heavy commercial loads have reduced television channel ratings. Kenneth Wilbur's research illustrates this: reducing commercial quantity increased one channel's ratings by 20% (Wilbur, 2008). This demonstrates that regardless of commercial nature, people resist constant advertising exposure.

Constant model comparison creates altered comparison perspectives. This may result in rejecting the HAM spokesperson or, worse, denying the advertised product entirely. African American women often reject the ideal but still consider the product, while white women tend to deny the most visible object. Understanding HAMs' advertising efficiency impact becomes important from this standpoint.

Despite general beliefs and stated rejection, no clear evidence confirms that HAM advertising decreases sales (Bower, 2001). Studies indicate that HAM presence clearly causes women to undervalue their own characteristics. Some scholars conclude that sociological studies reveal women's tendency to reject products and commercials because HAM ads "deflated the self-image of potential customers when they compared themselves to models" (Chia-Ching Tsai, Chih-Hsiang Chang, 2007). However, major companies' marketing departments lack clear evidence supporting this.

Despite evidentiary gaps, it logically follows that one might refuse products associated with individuals provoking anxiety, disorders, or discontent. As stated, self-esteem is crucial to female performance. When constant comparisons with ideal figures shake this self-esteem, these women rarely believe advertisements or purchase items.

Offering additional perspective, though negative purchasing impacts lack obvious official figures, ongoing studies reveal some products may benefit from HAM association. Body-shaping products, for instance, show increased female responsiveness when associated with HAMs (Harrison et al., 2001). However, this is not universal. This may result from the same comparison and low self-esteem processes. However, fitness product purchases suggest intention to improve self-esteem. Thus, unlike product rejection, women embrace and purchase such items. While effective, the same low self-esteem process operates.

Given these pros and cons, advertising companies might seek alternatives. Beautiful models carry sociological risks. Using average, attractive females could represent more viable everyday-woman models. Bower suggests normally attractive models that women can relate to, discouraging comparison by making ideals more attainable (Bower, 2001). This would limit women's identification with unattainable ideals and protect products from negative consumer feelings.

Conclusion

Product denial based on advertisement or quality parallels women's physical appearance discrimination. Advertising, as communication, has senders and receivers. While employers perceive women based on self-esteem and communication skills, products are similarly perceived based on advertisements. Baker suggests that consumer reactions to products are completely legitimate and plausible. The rational consumer would surely reject elements failing to provide comfort and self-esteem.

Establishing precise figures for HAM advertising's negative impact proves difficult. Clear statistics remain scarce, given the extensive customer variety involved. However, from a sociological perspective, extensive studies confirm that HAM presence in ad campaigns highly affects women's self-esteem. The inevitable consumer reaction involves comparing oneself with the advertisement's ideal figure and excluding the actual product from purchasing choices. Some studies differentiate between HAM and normally attractive model use in campaigns. Consumer impact would be more limited and less aggressive with normally attractive models.