The Match-Up Hypothesis Revisited: A Social Psychological Perspective

Authors

  • Eser Levi Istanbul Bilgi University
  • Kaan Varnali Istanbul Bilgi University
  • Nurhan Babur Tosun Marmara University

Keywords:

the match-up hypothesis, women, self-esteem, body esteem, advertising effectiveness

Abstract

Drawing on the social psychology literature, two studies are presented that examine the role of self-esteem and body-esteem in driving the effect of using highly attractive female imagery in ads targeting women. In two 2 × 2 experiments, model physical attractiveness and product category are manipulated. The results indicate that (1) while highly attractive female models perform better in the ads of attractiveness-related products, moderately attractive female models work better in the ads of non-attractiveness-related products and (2) self-esteem and body esteem play a significant role on how female imagery in ads relate to advertising effectiveness. We found rather consistent yet statistically insignificant evidence for the proposition that low self- and body esteem amplifies the reversal effect predicted by the “match-up hypothesis.”

Author Biographies

Eser Levi, Istanbul Bilgi University

Eser Levi, Ph.D., is a researcher and a lecturer in the Department of Communication Design and Management, Istanbul Bilgi University, where she teaches courses on advertising and brand management. She received her Ph.D. in 2014 from Marmara University.Phone: +90 212 311 7733

Kaan Varnali, Istanbul Bilgi University

Kaan Varnali, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Marketing and the Vice Dean at the Faculty of Communication, Istanbul Bilgi University, where he teaches courses on consumer psychology, brand management, and digital product development. He is also the founding director of the masters program in marketing communications (MA) in Istanbul Bilgi University, known as the brand school. His current research focuses on complaint management, brand communication in social media, and configural analysis. His prior research has appeared on several highly regarded scholarly journals including Journal of Business Research,International Journal of Information Management, Information, Communication & Society, Journal of Marketing Communications, Society, and Electronic Commerce Research and Applications. He also authored 3 books: "Mobile Marketing: Fundamentals and Strategy", published by McGraw-Hill, New York, and two others written in Turkish both published by MediaCat, Istanbul.Phone: +90 212 311 7536

Nurhan Babur Tosun, Marmara University

Nurhan Babur Tosun is a Professor of Advertising at Marmara University.Phone: +90 212 233 04 47

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Published

2017-01-01

Issue

Vol. 11 (2017)

Section

Articles

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