Friday, January 16, 2009

The Guardian UK: Young, white and super skinny? We don't buy it, women tell advertisers



According to a global survey of women's buying habits, women are more likely to respond favorably to a brand if they models used to advertise it reflect their own identities.

Not surprisingly, the fashion industry's reliance on using "aspirational" imagery has been slow to change. Below are a few quotes from the article which you can read in it's entirety here.

Another key finding was that while women preferred to see attainable images of beauty, this did not mean they were against glamour. "The women wanted models who looked like they were part of the fashion industry but also looked like them," Barry says.

"It made them feel that they, too, were included in the industry and were considered beautiful.

"If you're a big fashion retailer and you're going to hire 10 models, you should make sure that each one of them represents a different aspect of your consumers."

6 comments:

Shell said...

Isn't this a no-brainer. Of course, we want to see people who look like us.

We Shall Overcome.....In Couture! said...

The fashion industry should take note. Fashion week (or should I say Fashion Hour considering designers keep cancelling shows) is coming up and I'm really not looking forward to the emanciated figures masquerading as models. Not to mention the lack of color on the runway.

Leila Daily said...

it's about time... hope i start seeing some nappy-heads on the runway.

Anonymous said...

Omg alert the media!!
They're just now finding this out/publishing this?!

Anonymous said...

I just heard about a documentary on a similar topic. It's titled America the Beautiful. One thing that especially interested me was a young black model who currently has trouble finding work because she's an unimaginable size 4. Of course this is considered fat in the industry and designers claim that they don't create clothes that large. Crazy.

Let me get my HUGE size 8 on out of here.

Samsara said...

Using realistic size model would increase there sales it's amazing to me that they don't automatically do it..