Abstract

The purpose of this study is to probe of the impact in beauty focused advertising on the consumer. To explore the differences in consumer's psychological responses to Appearance ads vs. Non-appearance ads, This study assumed that consumers compare the body image of themselves and that of models during they watched the advertising and the perceived discrepancy made them lower in their body-esteem. The results can be summarized as follows. First, consumers exposed to Appearance ads perceive more discrepancy between the body image of models and that of themselves and their body-esteem is lower than consumers exposed to Non-appearance Ads. Second, stout consumers perceive the discrepancy between their own body image and that of models bigger than slim consumers do. The more widely they think of the discrepancy and valued on they are thin body, the more their body-esteem get lowered. Third, a consumer who has lowered body-esteem after exposure to ads has a better attitude to the ads and a higher buying intention than a consumer who has improved their body-esteem after exposure to the ads. This tendency is more apparent in Appearance ads. From this result, it can be inferred that consumers' buying intentions are caused by self-improvement motivation to better for their own self image.