Welcome to the 2025 AAA Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, PA! We are so glad you are joining us. Be sure to share your time at the conference using #AAA2025!
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Given the growing trend of plus-size models and their graphic sexual appeals in advertising, this research aims to gain a deeper understanding of how consumers process and evaluate such appeals in their minds. To do so, we employed and compared two explanatory frameworks of emotional arousal and congruity theory. Through two experimental studies, we found that although sexual appeal had a positive impact on ad evaluations via increased emotional arousal across model's body size, this was prevalently pronounced among male consumers. However, for female consumers, the primary customer segment for plus-size products, their perceived functional congruity had a greater impact on ad attitudes than either emotional arousal or self-congruity. These empirical findings theoretically advance the advertising literature on plus-size models, and also provide several practical implications for advertising practitioners.
Please note: Speakers are automatically alphabetized by last name in SCHED. The speaker order here does not necessarily reflect the true authorship order of the presentation.
