Appeal to Pride of Distinctive Consumers

In advertising products and services intended for plus-size women, should you show images of plus-size women?

      Some retailing consultants say no, you should not. Their argument goes like this: People buy things to help them become what they aspire to be. Most plus-size women aspire to be thinner, so when your target market is plus-size women, show models that are thinner than the members of your target market.

      There are consumer psychology findings supporting the “No, you should not.” Researchers at Tilburg University and Arizona State University found that when female study participants looked at moderately heavy models, the study participants began having unpleasant thoughts about their own weight. On the other hand, when the researchers showed images of moderately thin women, the viewers’ self-esteem improved. Better self-esteem generated by an ad makes people more likely to absorb and act on the advertising message.

      But maybe that conclusion is misguided. Consider that the study participants represented a cross-section of body builds. The conclusions might be different if we included just plus-size women. The argument here is that plus-size women are a distinctive underserved market. According to a New York Times article, about 65% of American women would be classified as overweight by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards, yet women’s plus-size clothing makes up less than 20% of the women’s apparel market.

      Also consider that the Tilburg/Arizona State data were gathered prior to major initiatives to have women accept their less-than-ideal bodies as beautiful. Perhaps the best known of these initiatives is the Dove soap Campaign for Real Beauty. Perhaps the most recent is in last week’s announcement that Debenhams—the UK department store chain—won’t be using software to improve the “natural beauty” of images of models in Debenhams swim suit ads.

      Showing images of well-groomed plus-size women in advertising targeted to plus-size women is analogous to including Spanish text in advertising, store signage, and ecommerce screens targeted to Hispanic populations. It’s like having special sales days for senior citizens. The recipient of your message thinks, “This retailer recognizes my distinctive characteristics. I like the pride in myself this gives me, so I’ll want to give them my business.”

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