The digital surgeon's warning: Do disclaimers have a place in beauty and fashion advertising?

Abstract

PagesThe purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of disclaimers of photogenic manipulation, models' body types, and the interaction between the two through the theoretical lenses of social comparison theory and priming effects. In an online experiment, this study employs a 3 (no disclaimer, presence of digital enhancement disclaimer, absence of digital enhancement disclaimer) by 2 (thin model body type and average model body type) factorial analysis to tease apart the effects of disclaimers on consumers (social comparison, self-esteem, and wishful identification) and the organizations that are compelled or choose to employ them (brand attitudes and perceptions of credibility, perceived organizational morality, purchasing intention, and loyalty). The results of this study highlight the implications and considerations for advertisements in the beauty and fashion industries as well as any company that uses digital manipulation on physically attractive models in their advertisements.

Realistic skin vs. flawless skin : an investigation of the appeal of retouch-free advertising among Asian women

“…Furthermore, although scholars have explored the effects of retouch-free disclaimers on women's psychological reactions (e.g., Tiggemann et al, 2014), the extant findings on consumer behaviors are rather preliminary (e.g., Cornelis & Peter, 2017), and few have examined the influence of moral judgment (i.e., ad honesty in this study) on advertising effectiveness in the context of ethical advertising (Gabl, 2017).…”

“…Studies on employees' morality perceptions of the company have demonstrated that an individual's moral judgment elicits a sense of commitment and satisfaction (Ellemers et al, 2011). Later, a study extended this relationship to consumers and found that an ad containing a disclaimer significantly enhanced consumers' moral perceptions of the brand and led to higher purchase intentions (Gabl, 2017). More recently, researchers have provided evidence that ad honesty, which reflected consumers' moral judgment of the ad, fully mediated the interaction effect of the model image and disclaimer on attitudes toward the brand (Semaan et al, 2018).…”

“…Moral judgment is the consumers' perception and evaluation of the advertisement's information when they see an ad. It refers to consumers' reading and interpretation of the message, such as whether the ad/brand is honest, trustworthy, and sincere, instead of the consumers' internal value (Gabl, 2017). Empirical studies have demonstrated that investments in business ethics do pay off.…”

“…Recent studies have enriched the denotation of corporate moral responsibility. Gabl (2017) suggested that morality has a lot to do with consumers' perceptions of beauty norms (e.g., body image) and self-esteem. The discrepancy between people's self-image and the idealized beauty norm will cause adverse effects.…”