Positive and Negative Media Image Effects on the Self

Journal of Consumer Research · 2006 · Volume 32 · Issue 4

Abstract

We examine several factors that determine whether exposure to thin (or heavy) media images positively or negatively affects consumers' appearance self-esteem. We find that the effects of exposure to models in advertisements depend on two moderating factors: (1) the extremity of the model's thinness or heaviness, and (2) the method by which self-esteem is measured (free responses vs. rating scales). We also establish the underlying role of self-knowledge activation by examining response latencies in a lexical decision task.

Keywords

Advertising, Assimilation/Contrast, Self-concept, Social Cognition, Experimental Design and Analysis (ANOVA)

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