Thinness still has upper hand in advertising

Following up on the Looking Glass Foundation ads from Canada, Jeremy Kees of Villanova University has published a study that suggests that seeing skinny women in ads makes women feel worse about their personal body image but better about the brands advertised. When "regular-sized" models were used, the participants didn't feel any differently about their personal body image, but they gave those brands lower marks. Seeing the skinny models also resulted in at least short-term behavioral alteration, making the women 42 percent more likely to opt out of the "thank you" Oreos given away at the end of the study. The study, conducted jointly by Villanova and the College of New Jersey, stops short of making the link between a one-time cookie opt-out and advertising's role in full-blown eating disorders. Still, it poses excellent ethical questions for us in the biz. Although it would clearly not be a good idea if you're selling Oreos, assuming you think the study's findings are correct, would you use anorexics in your ads if testing showed it sold the product better?

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

August 11, 2008 in Cullers | Permalink