No Skinny Chicks!

For a long time, the ad industry's formula for success regarding marketing to women was skinny+attractive=sales. Whether advertising for clothing, makeup, perfume; or pretty much anything else targeted toward the ladies, the likelihood of seeing a petite model in the spot was nearly 100%. Hell, even tampon ads feature slim attractive women.

^Totally Normal and Gorgeous^

^Crazy Skinny and Intense^

This philosophy never really made sense to me. I mean, why would regular women want to see ads featuring models that looked nothing like them? It's kind of crazy. If anything, it seems to me like unrealistic advertising would make women not want to use a product. On the other hand, the marketing business seems to be full of these kinds of logical fallacies, so who am I to argue with the experts, right?

According to a new study from the University of Queensland, however, my opinion might actually have some validity. The study, which measured the responses of 400 women to a series of ads for underwear, shampoo and a dress, showed that women in coveted 18-25 age group where mildly repelled by ads featuring skinny models and attracted or neutral toward ads with "regular" sized models.

Pretty interesting stuff if you ask me. The question, however, is whether or not this study is indicative of a trend in the industry or not. My guess is the latter, but I'd love to see the widespread adoption of positive advertising like the kind for which Dove has become such an industry darling.

From the article:

In the study psychologist Phillippa Diedrichs, of the University of Queensland, Australia, created a series of ads for underwear, shampoo and a party dress.

Each ad was made twice, once using a skinny size eight model and another featuring a size 12 woman.

When the ads were shown to 400 young women, they produced no difference in the likelihood for them to buy.

However, when women aged between 18 and 25 saw the adverts they felt better - and more likely to buy - after viewing the images of the larger models.

Miss Diedrichs said: "For anything to change, research has to be convincing, not just to government and health researchers, but also to people in advertising who actually make the decisions.

"Often people make the argument that thinness sells, and that's why they use slim models.

"But we can change the images we see and still sell products but also make people feel better about themselves."