The effectiveness of idealised advertising images : a congruity analysis
Authors
Date
1996
Type
Thesis
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Abstract
Advertisements featuring ideally beautiful women have been criticised for creating a "cult of unrealisable beauty" and consequently have been linked to eating disorders and invasive plastic surgery (Freedman, 1984; Lakoff and Scher, 1984; Silberstein and Rodin, 1986). From a marketing perspective, ads featuring ideally beautiful women are often used to enhance product appeal by connoting an association with the self Past research has, however, failed to examine the effectiveness of idealised beauty images as identification devices. Indeed, little research has investigated the circumstances in which advertising images, in general, are effective identification devices (Hong and Zinkhan, 1995). A key issue in assessing the effectiveness of any advertising image is whether viewers compare their actual and/or ideal selves with advertisements. However, research investigating this issue has generally been a theoretical and consequently largely unsuccessful in substantiating a general explanation of these differential effects.
This research addresses the lack of understanding about the differential effects of actual and
ideal self-image in consumer behaviour. Grubb and Grathwohl's (1967) self-image congruity framework is used as a conceptual basis, focusing on how individual differences in self-esteem affect the salience and strength of viewers' actual and ideal self-images. The theoretical model developed in this research is also extended to derive propositions about
the comparative effectiveness of idealised and non-idealised ads as identification devices.
A hybrid repertory grid/experimental design was implemented, directed at a quota sample of women of varying self-esteem. Major findings show that consumer identification with advertising images enhances product appeal and that the salience of actual and ideal self image depends on an individual's level of self-esteem. As predicted, product appeal was positively related to ideal self-image for low self-esteem individuals. In contrast, actual and ideal self-image had, as hypothesised, a positive impact on product appeal for high self-esteem individuals. Within this context, idealised beauty images were found to be effective identification devices for low self-esteem women but ineffective identification devices for high self-esteem women. These results suggest that companies may be wasting their money when they use idealised beauty images to sell products to women of high self-esteem.
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