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The Self-Deceived Consumer: Women’s Emotional and Attitudinal Reactions to the Airbrushed Thin Ideal in the Absence Versus Presence of Disclaimers

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Abstract

The use of airbrushed “thin ideal” models in advertising creates major ethical challenges: This practice deceives consumers and can be harmful to their emotional state. To inform consumers they are being deceived and reduce these negative adverse effects, disclaimers can state that the images have been digitally altered and are unrealistic. However, recent research shows that such disclaimers have very limited impact on viewers. This surprising result needs further investigation to understand how women who detect that images have been airbrushed are still harmed by them. Three studies reported in this article address this question. The authors identify a typology, based on a combination of three emotional reactions experienced by women who are exposed to the airbrushed thin ideal. In further analyses, they investigate how detection of airbrushing—whether spontaneous or with the help of a disclaimer—relates to these emotional reactions and women’s attitudes to altered images. Results show that detection of airbrushing does not systematically protect women from either wanting to look like airbrushed thin models or the negative emotions triggered by exposure to thin ideal images, nor does it always generate defensive reactions toward ads using such images. Women who detect that images have been airbrushed may still process these images as realistic. In addition to discussing this irrational process of self-deception, this article suggests policy interventions to prevent it.

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Notes

  1. For continuous variables, it is recommended to perform a hierarchical cluster analysis first, using Ward’s method, and then use the results generated from this as input for the k-means method (Janssens et al. 2008).

  2. Results of Study 2 indicate that Age and BMI are potential moderators. Because the pattern of results does not change when these two variables are controlled in Study 3, the analyses reported do not include age and BMI as control variables.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toulouse, Toulouse Business School, 20 Boulevard Lascrosses, 31068, Toulouse, France

    Sylvie Borau

  2. Department of Marketing, HEC Montréal, 3000, chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine Montréal, Montréal, QC, H3T 2A7, Canada

    Marcelo Vinhal Nepomuceno

Authors
  1. Sylvie Borau
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  2. Marcelo Vinhal Nepomuceno
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sylvie Borau.

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Conflict of interest

None.

Research Involving Human Participants and/or Animals

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

The self-deceived consumer: women’s emotional and attitudinal reactions to the airbrushed thin ideal in the absence versus presence of disclaimers.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Respondent Profiles (Study 1)

Name

Age

Description

Léa

25

Housewife, 1 child

Clara

25

Sales administrator

Corinne

29

Recruitment manager

Aurélie

29

Research analyst

Emma

31

Recruitment manager, 1 child

Stéphanie

32

Social worker, 1 child

Camille

32

Manager of an association, 1 child

Chloë

32

Unemployed, 1 child

Audrey

32

Senior manager

Coralie

32

Merchandiser

Tamara

33

Housewife, 2 children

Laetitia

34

Freelancer, 2 children

Emilie

34

Housewife, 2 children

Karine

35

Sound engineer, 1 child

Vanessa

35

Professor

Laurence

36

Artist

Isabelle

36

Unemployed

Florence

37

Nanny

Patricia

40

Secretary, 3 children

Brigitte

40

Analyst

Gislaine

43

Personal assistant, 2 children

Soraya

45

Switchboard operator

  1. To preserve respondents’ anonymity, first names have been modified

Appendix 2: Items Used for the Exploratory Factor Analysis in the Pre-test Phase—Emotions Toward the Airbrushed Thin Ideal Model

Pleasure

Aversion

Displeasure

Pleasant surprise

Unpleasant surprise

Sadnessa

Joy

Annoyancea

Concerna

Curiositya

Disgust

Stressa

Delight

Angera

Jealousy

Enthusiasm

 

Guilt

Funa

 

Discomforta

Well-being

 

Depression

Admirationa

 

Regret

Sympathya

 

Resignationa

Reliefa

 

Frustration

Interesta

 

Shame

  

Feara

Boredoma

  1. aItems excluded after factor analysis

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Borau, S., Nepomuceno, M.V. The Self-Deceived Consumer: Women’s Emotional and Attitudinal Reactions to the Airbrushed Thin Ideal in the Absence Versus Presence of Disclaimers. J Bus Ethics 154, 325–340 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3413-2

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