plus size

Increasingly common ads and catalogues featuring plus-size models are unlikely to work on their intended customers. That’s according to a new study by researchers at Arizona State University, the University of Cologne in Germany and Erasmus University in the Netherlands, which demonstrates a link between model sizes in advertisements and the self-esteem of consumers looking at the ads. “We believe it is unlikely that many brands will gain market share by using heavy models in their ads,” said Naomi Mandel, marketing associate professor in the W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU. “We found that overweight consumers demonstrated lower self-esteem  and therefore probably less enthusiasm about buying products – after exposure to any size models in ads (versus ads with no models). Also, normal-weight consumers experienced lower self-esteem after exposure to moderately heavy models, such as those in Dove soap’s ‘Real Women’ campaign, than after exposure to moderately thin models.”

Take THAT Dove!  That’s some serious science being dropped on you there.  Researchers in three different countries proving conclusively that no one wants to see some chunk soaping herself up in your ads.  It lowers our self-esteem and makes us go rushing off to buy Dial or Irish Spring instead.  The unsightly image of large, chubby women frightens and confuses us and quite frankly is demeaning to the ham-asses you depict in your ads.  If you really want to do some good in this world, help others AND your bottom line, you’ll stick to putting thin, healthy, attractive chicks in your ads.  And preferably porn stars, the way it used to be done.