SOMETHING TO HOLD ONTO

For what it is worth, a couple of good follow up articles to the Intelligent Women blog.  Guess it might also prove men have more sense than we are given credit for. 

SKINNY MODELS ARE A 'TURN OFF' IN ADVERTISING CLAIM SCIENTISTS

It has been a golden rule of advertising from its inception - thin models sell more products to women. The only trouble is, it is not true, claims new research.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent; The Telegraph UK online

Researchers have found that skinny models are actually a turn off to consumers in TV commercials and other advertising.

They found that images of super-thin models carry no edge in encouraging young women to buy and for the majority of adult women ads showing skinny girls actually discouraged sales.

So-called plus-size models, on the other hand, actually encouraged them to

buy.

In the study psychologist Phillippa Diedrichs, of the University of Queensland, Australia, created a series of ads for underwear, shampoo and a party dress.

Each ad was made twice, once using a skinny size eight model and another featuring a size 12 woman.

When the ads were shown to 400 young women, they produced no difference in the likelihood for them to buy.

However, when women aged between 18 and 25 saw the adverts they felt better - and more likely to buy - after viewing the images of the larger models.

Miss Diedrichs said: "For anything to change, research has to be convincing, not just to government and health researchers, but also to people in advertising who actually make the decisions.

 

"Often people make the argument that thinness sells, and that's why they use slim models.

"But we can change the images we see and still sell products but also make people feel better about themselves."

The Unilever soap brand Dove has based its image on a campaign using "real women" and highlighting how much imagery in advertising is manipulated.

But critics point out that the same firm uses more traditional imagery to promote other brands, such as Lynx deodorant, which features skinny models.

There have been concerted campaigns against the ultra-thin "size zero" with fashion weeks in Madrid and Milan banning models from the catwalk who were of a weight deemed unhealthy by the Body Mass Index measure.

And another story from Australia:

WHAT MEN WANT: THIN'S NOT IN

by Caroline Marcus, Brisbane Times online

 

More Australian men will choose size 14 over size eight when it comes to the body shape of their ideal woman, igniting debate on what it means to be thin.

Men's magazine FHM conducted an online survey asking whether its readers found a size eight, size 12 or size 14 model most attractive.

The survey drew 60,000 responses. Four-fifths said they were more attracted to the size 12 and 14 models than the size eight model pictured.

Most votes went to the size 12 woman, with 41 per cent of respondents saying she had the body shape of their "ideal girlfriend".

The size 14 body was preferred by 39 per cent, while the size eight came a distant third with 20 per cent.

FHM editor Ben Smithurst said the findings were good news for women.

"A piddling 20 per cent of readers selected our size eight model pictured as their ideal girl physique, while the size 12 and 14 models easily outscored their skinnier rival," he said.