Research

Our bodies, our buying behavior: Should real ads have curves?

The "Dove girls" advertising campaign has caught the attention of media consumers, and no wonder. In a world where the marketing of thin and flawless Victoria's Secret "Angels" dominate the prime-time landscape, suddenly there is a top-tier national campaign featuring curvy, real-world women parading proudly across the pages of People magazine in plain white underwear. But can the Dove girls' obviously healthy body image and — refreshing though it may be — actually boost women's self-esteem, not to mention product sales? Marketing professors from the W. P. Carey School of Business say the research isn't conclusive.

2005-10-12

It's one thing for an ad agency's creations to churn headlines in Advertising Age, but when a campaign inspires a cover photo and two-page spread in People, it's clear some copywriter has struck a marketing nerve. That's what has happened with the "Dove girls," a team of ordinary-women-turned-models with real-world waistlines, saddlebags and cellulite.

Dressed in nothing more than skivvies and bras, they are plugging Dove-brand firming and nourishing cream. The campaign is grabbing plenty of attention, but do heavier models also grab market share? Naomi Mandel, professor of marketing at the W. P. Carey School of Business, has doubts.

A consumer's self-esteem doesn't necessarily rise when she views heavier models, Mandel has found. Mandel's research and insights could make marketers think twice about using super-size pitch-people. Granted, the Dove girls are an advertising phenomenon, but when it comes to purchasing behavior, do curvy models make buyers "just do it?" Or will consumers "just say no?"

The skinny on body-image studies

Working with Dirk Smeesters, assistant professor of marketing at Tilburg University in Tilburg, the Netherlands, Mandel investigated whether exposure to thin or heavy models enhanced or diminished women's self-esteem. Prior research had been inconclusive: "A number of other researchers have confirmed that exposure to thin media images can negatively impact body-image perception and assessment of one's own attractiveness," Mandel and Smeesters write in their recently completed paper titled "Positive and Negative Media Image Effects on the Self."

On the other hand, the paper also points out that other researchers have found "exposure to thin models in magazines can lead to self-enhancement and thinner self-ratings than exposure to larger-sized body images." In other words, thin models may make consumers feel bad about themselves in comparison, but "there is also some research that shows that when a woman looks at a thin model, she enjoys a thin fantasy and can, in fact, eat more cookies — at least in a laboratory setting," Mandel says, referencing a study conducted with women who claimed to be on diets.

Because of the ambiguity in past research findings, Mandel and Smeesters looked at how research methodologies may have affected women's reactions to what they see in advertising. One factor was the reply mechanism offered to study participants. Free response mechanisms, one methodology Mandel and Smeesters used, carried less negative self-judgment than a methodology requiring study participants to make ratings on a numeric scale.

Mandel notes that most of the prior research has measured self-esteem using the latter, called a Likert scale, where a study participant might rate her own attractiveness on a scale of one to seven. "When you use a scale like that, participants rate the model a seven and, in comparison, they figure they must be a one or a two," Mandel says.

With the free-response study methodology, women filled in the blank following the words, "I am." The research showed that given an opportunity to answer freely, the women in the study identified with the models and often filled in the blank with comments reflecting positive self-esteem, such as "I am attractive" or "I am thin." "If they're doing a free response, participants experience an assimilation effect, where they identify with the model." Mandel explains. "You don't get that with a Likert scale, because the scale builds in an inherent comparison and judgment."

Mirror, mirror

The model's degree of thinness or heaviness also affected subject response. Mandel and Smeester found that when study participants looked at an extremely thin model, they tended to think of all the dissimilarities between themselves and the model, and self-esteem dropped. Looking at moderately thin models wasn't nearly as deflating. In fact, Mandel says participants tended to identify with the moderately thin models and be uplifted by that unconscious kinship.

Unfortunately, study participants also identified with the moderately heavy models. "The participants would see all the similarities between themselves and the model, and it would lower self-esteem. Extremely heavy models, however, were an "upper" for the study participants. They noticed the differences and rated themselves "thin" in comparison.

Mandel and Smeester performed these studies with college students, most of whom had a medically healthy weight level. According the U.S. Center for Disease Control, 64.5 percent of people in the U.S. are overweight. More than 30 percent of them are clinically obese. Would the results have been the same if more participants fit in with the pudgy national profile? "We did split the sample between participants with a lower than average body mass index and those with a higher BMI," Mandel says. "We found no differences between those two groups," she adds.

Weighty decisions

If most American women are overweight, and if viewing moderately heavy models affects women's self-esteem negatively, should advertisers use or shun zaftig models? It depends. "Mandel's research shows that women may feel badly about themselves when they look at a heavy woman and they relate to her, but if the product being advertised can solve some issue the consumer has with her own body image, the advertising may improve purchase intent," says Andrea Morales, professor of marketing at the W. P. Carey School of Business.

Morales points out that problem-creation fuels effective advertising. "People don't buy things when they feel that there's no problem to fix," she says, giving an example of someone who feels unfashionable and, therefore, buys new clothes. Therein lies a potential weakness for the Dove girls, who are being used to sell firming cream despite the fact that at least one of these women has visible folds of extra flesh around her middle.

"If people are looking at these models and saying, 'Hey, I'm not so bad,' then they're not going to feel they need the product," Mandel says. Worse, Mandel notes that women may be looking at the Dove girls and thinking the team fails to present a credible solution to cellulite and sagging skin.

Then again, Morales points out that models like the Dove girls may be just what consumers want to see. "A lot of people are very excited that Dove is promoting real women instead of an anorexic model's look," she says. Dove's own research would lead one to believe that such a move is welcome. To probe women's thoughts on beauty and self-esteem, the company hired Harvard University professor Nancy Etcoff, author of "Survival of the Prettiest," and Susie Orbach, a professor from the London School of Economics and author of "Fat is a Feminist Issue."

In "The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report," the Dove team reports that 68 percent of survey respondents strongly agree that "the media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty that most women can't ever achieve." They'll probably try, though, since about 60 percent of respondents also strongly agree that "society expects women to enhance their physical attractiveness." Dove's marketing director, Philippe Harousseau, has been interviewed by both People and The New York Times Magazine. Neither publication could get him to disclose sales figures, although he did tell People, "We've exceeded all our expectations."

"Because Dove is getting so much free publicity with this campaign, I'm sure they're enjoying increased sales," Mandel says, but she adds, "I would not advise that other companies move in this direction." The next step in Mandel's research will be to investigate how variously sized models ultimately affect consumer purchasing behavior.

Does she think her findings will lead to increased use of non-idealized women in advertising? Sadly, she says, probably not. "I believe there's a reason companies use extremely thin models," Mandel explains. "It's because we have to feel bad about ourselves before we'll want to buy some company's product to solve our problems."

Marketing Faculty