Non-stereotypical images of women in advertising - do they attract or repel consumers?

It's no secret that in recent years the approach to women's images in advertising has been changing toward naturalness - ad campaigns are beginning to feature unretouched images of women of different body types and ages.

With this move, brands want to move away from the idealization of the female body, which is commonly portrayed as young, slender, and without flaws.

But how do consumers themselves react to this?

A non-stereotypical image of a woman. Who is she?

Non-stereotypical images are those that contradict the classical perception of women in the media.

The conventional image of a woman in advertising is a young girl with model parameters and correct, pretty facial features, who radiates femininity and tenderness and has no cellulite, stretch marks, acne, wrinkles, scars, or body hair.

Obviously, this image runs counter to the real picture of the world, in which women of different physiques and ages are represented, not devoid of all kinds of flaws.

Representatives of the feminist movement argue that, historically, women in advertising have been objectified and portrayed as objects of male fantasy and desire. According to the write my essay website Writemyessay.nyc review, they are regularly portrayed as sexual objects and are more constrained by societal expectations than men. So let’s take a look on some of the data.

How do advertising campaigns affect us? One of the first studies on the topic.

In 2004, a series of studies were conducted in the United Kingdom to examine the impact of print ads featuring attractive models on women's perceptions of their bodies. The study showed that both thin models and models of the medium constitution were rated by the participants as equally attractive, but the images of thin girls caused significantly more anxiety among the respondents about their bodies than advertisements with models of the medium constitution.

Later, in 2008, a nationwide study was conducted in Australia. It turned out that the media (magazines, television, movies) actively promote the idea of female thinness as an ideal form, which should be aspired to by everyone without exception. At the same time, we can observe a growing discrepancy between the physiques of women in advertising and those of women in the general population, i.e. models become thinner, and average women become bulkier. Thus, the conclusion from the meta-analysis that images of idealized thin women in the media entail a great deal of anxiety for women about their bodies is to be expected.

U.S. Advertising Campaigns Study, 2019

A 2019 U.S. study evaluated the impact of various advertising campaigns on people's weight biases, self-esteem, and perceptions of their own bodies. The study randomly assigned 475 female participants into 5 groups.

The premise of the study

Discrimination related to stigma and prejudice about being overweight is known to be present in almost all areas of life, including professional employment, health care, education, and relationships. Social stereotypes contribute to the perception of overweight people as lazy, unreasonable, and lacking willpower. Depressed moods, negative body image, low self-esteem, poor mental health, and even suicidal thoughts are direct reactions to viewing content that stigmatizes being overweight. It is also known that women are twice as likely to experience weight discrimination and related stigma as men. In order to change negative perceptions about people whose body size and appearance deviate from social ideals, it was decided to expose female respondents to certain media clips.

What videos did the participants watch?

One group watched an Aerie Real campaign video called "The Share Your Spark Experience" (2 min 32 s). The video shows women in Aerie underwear looking happy and confident in their bodies, with upbeat music playing in the background. They talk about the importance of accepting yourself and your body.

The second group watched a two-minute Dove brand video titled "Beauty standards of weight are a form of bias," designed to raise awareness of the negative effects of weight stigma among women. In the video, women are interviewed on the street, asking questions such as: "Would you ever lose weight to make more money?" and discusses how beauty standards of weight negatively affect women in the workplace.

The members of the third HBO group watched a video titled "Stigma. Weight of the Nation" (2 min 42 s). This clip discusses the stigma of weight in the media, the negative portrayal of obese people, and the strict standards of female physical attractiveness in our culture.

The fourth group watched a Victoria's Secret media clip titled "Victoria's Secret Dream Angels Commercial 2018" (2 min 29 s), a stereotypical example of an ad campaign that promotes weight stigma by showing skinny women in Victoria's Secret lingerie with happy background music.

Participants in the control group watched the first 2 min 30 seconds of a neutral video, a documentary about Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, which was chosen to control for any emotion associated with simply watching the video.

All participants underwent examinations for overweight bias, self-esteem, and body perception the week before and immediately after watching the assigned video clip.

Study results

The women who watched the Aerie, Dove, and HBO commercials reported that the videos made them begin to accept bodies of different sizes and shapes more easily than participants who watched the Victoria's Secret ads or the control videos.

The Aerie commercial made the most positive impression on the participants because it contained upbeat music and the idea of body acceptance, which helped improve mood. The respondents also evaluated the Dove video extremely positively, but it evoked fewer positive emotions due to the difficult theme at the heart of the commercial.

The Victoria's Secret video evoked the most negative emotions, as it idealized thinness and made the participants feel bad about themselves.

Brands for female beauty diversity

In recent years, global brands have increasingly resorted to advertising campaigns promoting the idea of abandoning stereotypes regarding female beauty. Let's look at a few examples.

Back in 2014, the already mentioned American lingerie brand Aerie launched the "Aerie Real" campaign with unmodeled women and unretouched images. The ads expressed the idea that women should love themselves as they are and appreciate more than just their looks.

American brand of big-size clothing Lane Bryant presented an advertising campaign #ImNoAngel, which was opposed to Victoria's Secret Angels and in which plus-size models starred. The company's president Linda Heasley spoke out about the fact that plus-size women are still underrepresented in the media, and that her goal is to draw attention to women whose looks do not fit into strict frames.

It is worth noting that much attention is paid not only to the non-stereotypical constitution but also to the free acceptance of any varieties of non-stereotypical beauty: ethnic features, skin imperfections, age-related changes, and other things.

The flagship of these changes back in 2004 was a major skincare brand Dove, which launched the "Campaign for Real Beauty" advertising campaign, which involved the average ethnically diverse woman. As part of the campaign, Dove presented a series of videos highlighting discrimination against women based on age, weight, and other parameters.

To summarize.

The studies and advertising campaign cases we reviewed clearly show how the advertising world is beginning to move away from outdated stereotypes about the image of women toward acceptance of the diversity of female beauty. Whether we like it or not, artificial ideal images of girls and women are losing their relevance, and brands using them in their advertising are losing customers and potential audiences. Consumers do not want to see in advertising women who have nothing in common with the actual picture of the world - it causes them negative emotions and anxiety.

Thus, it is desirable for brands to use realistic images of women in advertising, thereby supporting female customers and increasing consumer loyalty to their company.

Cover photo by Angela Roma/Pexels