Black or white? The effects of a larger-bodied model’s race on evaluations of body-sensitive products

ABSTRACT

Studies show mixed results for the effectiveness of larger-bodied models in marketing campaigns. This paper examines the spillover effects of larger-bodied models on brand and product evaluations while accounting for the model’s race. In two experiments, results show that a larger bodied white model produces inferior evaluations compared to her thin counterpart. No differences surface for the black model. These outcomes are theorized to represent racially derived category norms. This study challenges previously discovered benefits of using larger bodied models, but suggests a method for adopting the strategy successfully.

KEYWORDS:

• Advertising
• body image
• race
• weight bias
• anti-fat attitude
• model sizes
• spillover
• brand attitude

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Notes

1. As noted by Tiggeman (2014), most studies on body ideals of Western women comprise of white participants. Therefore, we generalize the dominant findings as feelings of white women rather than black women.

2. To prevent MTurkers from completing more than one of the studies and/or pre-tests, they were first routed through a participation check using a subject management system (www.Turkitron.com). This determined their eligibility using their unique MTurk user ID. Only those who had not filtered through a previous pretest or study were given permission to access the materials.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bridget Satinover Nichols

Bridget Satinover Nichols, PhD (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), is an associate professor of marketing and sports business at Northern Kentucky University. Her research interests include consumer emotions in retail settings, food choice behaviour, cause-related marketing in sports, and advertising.

David Raska

David Raska, PhD (Washington State University), is an associate professor of marketing at Northern Kentucky University. His research interests include food choice, self-indulgent consumption, green marketing, and innovative classroom pedagogies