We don’t buy young, white and size zero! Women tell advertisers
An article by Sarah
Posted January 13, 2009 
The advertising world’s reliance on young, white and extremely thin models has long faced criticism from consumers, feminists and health campaigners.
New research has come to light at a leading UK business school suggesting it might be doing something else: harming companies’ balance sheets.
The first of its sort in research; a global survey of female consumers’ attitudes, says women respond more favourably to a brand if the models it uses somehow mirror their own identities.
“The women wanted models who looked like they were part of the fashion industry but also looked like them.”
Ben Barry, who is carrying out the research at Cambridge University’s Judge Business school states; “In general, people have a more favourable reaction to brands that show models who represent people’s age, size and background. It’s not necessarily enough to show one component which is similar – people really wanted to see someone who represents them in all three factors.”
This approach has been used by a selection of brands recently, Dove skincare range is a prime example of the deliberate use of older and larger models. This gave their latest campaign for Real Beauty, award winning status.
Elsewhere this has not been the case, particularly in the fashion and luxury goods industries; there still remains the traditional reliance on so-called aspirational advertising, despite high-profile campaigns against the encouragement of unhealthy female physiques within modelling.
The study, still to be completed, looks at the opinions of 2,000 women in the UK, US, China, India, Canada, Brazil, Kenya and Jordan.
Barry led the research by commissioning a number of advertising agencies to produce realistic print campaigns for products. Half of those made used “traditionally attractive models” – defined as aged 16 to 24, white and US size zero or UK size 4. The remaining, pictured “realistically attractive models” of a range of ages, races and shapes.
The results showed that women, aside from those under the age of 25 who were less likely to object to an abundance of white, slim models, actively preferred and felt more positively towards brands that used diverse models.
Earlier studies carried out by psychologists suggested that the excessive use of slim models can create a bad impression with female consumers. Barry’s work goes a step further: as well as looking at the issue from a business and marketing viewpoint, it additionally considers race and age.
The latter is a particular factor for companies to take note of given the relatively high spending power of older women.
The study quotes the reaction of one 50-plus participant to a mocked-up ad for a luxury product using a very youthful model: “It’s a slap in the face to show this young woman because she’d never have the money to shop there whereas I do.”
Another key finding was that while women preferred to see attainable images of beauty, this did not mean they were against glamour.
“The women wanted models who looked like they were part of the fashion industry but also looked like them,” Barry says.
“It made them feel that they, too, were included in the industry and were considered beautiful. It’s not just about taking a plain mug shot of a real woman.”
He also added: “I think that we will see a trend away from very, very skinny models, because there is a social trend against it.”
