REEVALUATING REPRESENTATION: THE EFFECTS OF DIVERSITY ON SPORTSWEAR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Enaiya Clarke

The overarching research question investigated for this thesis is: How do the biological sex and race of the models in print advertisements for athletic wear products impact self-reported attention paid to an ad, attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intention? The biological sex and race of models used in advertising are important objective characteristics of advertisements because these features visually portray levels of diversity of models used in advertising. Levels of diversity are theorized to impact consumer responses to advertisements. Previous research shows that consumers respond more positively to advertisements featuring a diverse range of models compared to those with limited or non-diverse representation.(Henderson et al., 2023) This study will employ a 3 (Race of the Models: White, Non-White, Mixed) X2 (Biological Sex of the Models: Female, Male) x 3 (Advertisement) within-subjects design using repeated measures. The objective is to explore the psychological responses to advertisements that vary in racial and biological sex diversity. Participants (N=50) will be adults aged 18 to 50 who purchase athletic wear. They were recruited through a national survey respondent panel from Prolific. Each participant viewed 18 print advertisements presented in a randomized order. After viewing each advertisement, participants will respond to questions about their attention, attitudes toward the advertisement and brand, and their purchase intentions. This process will be repeated for all 18 ads. The main hypothesis being tested is that advertisements featuring diverse models—specifically, those showcasing more than one race—will receive more favorable responses compared to less diverse ads featuring only a single race. The results and their implications for advertising theory and practice will be discussed.

REEVALUATING REPRESENTATION: THE EFFECTS OF DIVERSITY ON SPORTSWEAR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

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