Does Size Matter? The Impact of Model's Body Size on Women's Body-Focused Anxiety and Advertising Effectiveness

TLDR

Exposure to thin ideal bodies in media negatively affects young women's body image, yet prior research has conflated thinness with attractiveness and ignored alternative images that might preserve body esteem. The study investigates how thin, average‑size, or model‑free ads influence adult women's body‑focused anxiety and advertising effectiveness. Thin‑model ads heightened body‑focused anxiety in thin‑ideal internalizers, but all ad types were equally effective, suggesting larger attractive models can maintain effectiveness while reducing anxiety for many women.

Abstract

An increasing number of studies shows that exposure to thin ideal bodies in the media has negative effects on young women's body images, at least in the short-term. However, this research has (a) consistently confounded the effects of thinness and attractiveness, and (b) not investigated the potential use of alternative images in advertising that do not decrease women's body esteem. This study examines the impact of three types of advertisements—featuring thin models, average-size models, or no models—on adult women's body-focused anxiety, and on advertising effectiveness. As expected, exposure to thin models resulted in greater body-focused anxiety among women who internalize the thin ideal than exposure to average-size models or no models. Yet, advertisements were equally effective, regardless of the model's size. This implies that advertisers can successfully use larger, but attractive, models and perhaps avoid increasing body-focused anxiety in a large proportion of women.