2010/10/01 by Brett Martin, Robina J. Xavier · 30 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Psychology · Mathematics · #Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification #Eating Disorders and Behaviors #Behavioral Health and Interventions #Product (mathematics) #Perception #Psychology #Feeling #Control (management) #Marketing #Factorial experiment #Social psychology #Advertising #Product type #Mathematics #Business #Computer science #Statistics #Geometry
paper · open access · doi:10.1080/0965254x.2010.525252
published in Journal of Strategic Marketing 18(6), 489-501 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2010/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The purpose of this article is to examine how a consumer's weight control beliefs (WCB), a female advertising model's body size (slim or large) and product type influence consumer evaluations and consumer body perceptions. The study uses an experiment of 371 consumers. The design of the experiment was a 2 (weight control belief: internal, external) X 2 (model size: larger sized, slim) X 2 (product type: weight controlling, non-weight controlling) between-participants factorial design. Results reveal two key contributions. First, larger sized models result in consumers feeling less pressure from society to be thin, viewing their actual shape as slimmer relative to viewing a slim model and wanting a thinner ideal body shape. Slim models result in the opposite effects. Second this research reveals a boundary condition for the extent to which endorser–product congruency theory can be generalized to endorsers of a larger body size. Results indicate that consumer WCB may be a useful variable to consider when marketers consider the use of larger models in advertising.