Received: 6 September 2022 Revised: 30 August 2023 Accepted: 9 October 2023

DOI: 10.1002/cb.2274

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Female advertising models and their body mass index (BMI):

How does BMI similarity affect perceived product quality?

Erik Ernesto Vazquez 1 | Reto Felix 2 | Lorena Siliceo 3

1
Léonard De Vinci Pôle Universitaire, Research
Center, Paris La Défense, France
2
Robert C. Vackar College of Business and
Entrepreneurship, University of Texas Rio
Grande Valley, Edinburg, Texas, USA
3
Universidad Anáhuac México, Facultad de
Economía y Negocios, Huixquilucan, Estado de
México, Mexico
Correspondence
Erik Ernesto Vazquez, Léonard De Vinci Pôle
Universitaire, Research Center, Paris La
Défense 92916, France.
Email: erik.vazquez@devinci.fr
Abstract
Recent research has pointed out the importance of appearance similarity as a special
instance of homophily. The current paper introduces body mass index (BMI) similarity
as a convenient and powerful proxy of perceived appearance homophily in the con-
text of female advertising models by showing process evidence and boundary condi-
tions for the effect of BMI similarity on marketing-relevant downstream variables.
Study 1 tests how BMI similarity relates to a traditional measure of appearance
homophily and perceived reliability of a female advertising model. Study 2 shows that
BMI similarity influences perceived product quality and purchase intention. Website
vividness negatively moderates the relationship between BMI similarity and product
quality. Study 3 tests for alternative explanations and provides support for the medi-
ating effect of appearance homophily for the relationship between BMI similarity and
perceived product quality. The findings provide marketing managers with important
insights on how to increase their marketing effectiveness by integrating BMI similar-
ity into their marketing communications. Additionally, using BMI similarity serves as
an alternative way to promote diversity and inclusion of models with plus-size body
type often sought by societal brands.

1 | I N T RO DU CT I O N which refers to a general assessment of appearance and which may

Similarity is a powerful construct for human relationships. People tend
to be homophilous—that is, they usually develop stronger ties with
other people who are similar to them (Borgatti & Halgin, 2011). Previ-
ous research suggests that similarity between two persons increases
attraction (Rodrigues et al., 2017), communication effectiveness
(Thakor et al., 2008), perceived trust (Leonhardt et al., 2020), per-
ceived credibility (Sokolova & Kefi, 2020), and influence (Balabanis &
Chatzopoulou, 2019). In a consumption context, messages from con-
sumers who are perceived to be similar increase message persuasive-
ness and purchase intention (Prendergast et al., 2010). In online
support groups, dissimilarity among group members impedes self-
disclosure, which in turn weakens the social ties of such groups
(Pechman et al., 2021; Vazquez, 2021). To summarize, the extant liter-
ature finds important effects of similarity in demographics, values, and
beliefs for marketing-relevant downstream variables. However, recent
research has pointed out the importance of appearance similarity,
include different criteria such as facial features and properties of the
body (Bekk et al., 2017; Ladhari et al., 2020). It has been suggested
that appearance similarity tends to be powerful in human relationships
because it allows people to infer socially relevant information about
others (Bjornsdottir et al., 2021). For example, Ladhari et al. (2020)
find that appearance homophily (defined as the extent to which a per-
son perceives that another person looks similar to them) between a
video blogger (vlogger) and a viewer increases the vlogger's perceived
popularity, which in turn increases purchase intention. In a similar
vein, Bekk et al. (2017) show that similarity in perceived attractiveness
moderates the influence of endorser attractiveness on consumer
responses to advertising.
Despite the importance that appearance homophily has in a mar-
keting context, a major drawback for providing managerially relevant
opportunities for intervention is that appearance homophily implies a
subjective assessment of another person and hence depends on mea-
surement scales to capture consumers' perceptions. For example,

J Consumer Behav. 2023;1–19. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cb © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1

2 VAZQUEZ ET AL.
based on McCroskey et al.'s (2006) measure of homophily, Ladhari
et al. (2020) use a 16-item scale to measure consumers' perceived
similarity with a vlogger in terms of attitudes, general background,
values, and appearance. Applying such scales is indeed feasible for
market research purposes, but marketers are usually not able to
receive appearance-related homophily information in a comprehen-
sive way from all customers as long as this information is based on
subjective measurement scales.
The current research addresses this issue in a novel way by dem-
onstrating that body mass index (BMI) functions satisfactorily as a
proxy for perceived appearance homophily in a fashion retail setting.
Situating our research in the context of comparably thin female adver-
tising models allows us to avoid confounds related to the body size
(e.g., thin, average, plus-size) of the model and to explore the phenom-
enon under a theoretical perspective that builds on the prevalence of
thin models in contemporary advertising (Cohen et al., 2017;
Volonté, 2019). Hence, our work complements research about female
portrayals of diverse body sizes and the positive effects of inclusive
advertising of plus-size models (e.g., Åkestam et al., 2017; Cinelli &
Yang, 2016; Janssen & Paas, 2014; Joo & Wu, 2021; Pounders, 2018).
Furthermore, focusing on advertising models in combination with
same-gender (i.e., women) participants in the present studies
averts gender confounds (compare previous studies, e.g., Felix &
Garza, 2012; Lv et al., 2022, who use female samples in their research
on body appearance).
Using BMI rather than subjective measurement scales as a proxy
for appearance homophily has several advantages. First, it is relatively
easy to obtain BMI data because they are based on consumers' height
and weight—two metrics that marketers may already have in their
customer databases. Further, advances in face recognition software
and artificial intelligence now allow for a relatively reliable calculation
of BMI based on just a facial image (Dantcheva et al., 2018; Wen &
Guo, 2013). Hence, we argue that using BMI rather than traditional
measurement scales provides marketers with important opportunities
to predict managerially relevant outcome variables, such as perceived
product quality and purchase intention.
We also include an important boundary condition, website vivid-
ness, for the effect of BMI on quality perception and purchase inten-
tion in our research. Specifically, we observe that many marketers use
elements such as animations, dynamic website objects, sound, and
action buttons to enhance the vividness of their websites and thereby
capture consumers' attention. Drawing on cognitive depletion theory
(e.g., Hildebrand et al., 2021; Sokolova & Krishna, 2016), we expect
that the use of such elements may decrease the salience of
appearance-related information and attenuate the relationship
between BMI similarity and perceived product quality.
Our paper is structured as follows: We first provide the theoreti-
cal background for our studies and comment on our hypotheses. Next,
Study 1 tests our assumption that BMI similarity is positively related
with appearance homophily, which in turn is positively associated with
the perceived reliability toward a fashion model. In addition, Study
1 excludes perceived originality as an alternative explanation for this
effect. Study 2 demonstrates the predicted association between BMI
similarity and perceived product quality/purchase intention.
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Furthermore, the present research introduces perceived website viv-
idness as a moderator for the relationship between BMI similarity on
perceived product quality in a retailing context for fashion apparel.
Study 3 explores alternative explanations for our findings by testing
the mediating effects of appearance homophily, trustworthiness,
expertise, familiarity, and likability on the relationship between BMI
similarity and perceived product quality. A supplementary study
(reported in the Web Appendix) on group similarity provides addi-
tional evidence for the importance of similarity measures for per-
ceived product quality in the context of an existing fashion clothing
company (boohoo.com). Finally, we provide a general discussion of
our findings, including implications for academia and marketing man-
agers, and suggest avenues for future research.
2 | THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 | BMI similarity, appearance homophily,
and perceived reliability of the advertising model
Homophily is a specific type of social contagion, that is, people's reli-
ance on information from others (Bilgicer et al., 2015). Early conceptu-
alizations of homophily distinguished between status homophily and
value homophily (Lazarsfeld & Merton, 1954). Whereas status homo-
phily refers to formal, informal, or ascribed status (which includes
sociodemographic characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, and age),
value homophily alludes to similarity based on values, beliefs, and atti-
tudes (McPherson et al., 2001). More recent research suggests that
apart from status and values, similarity of appearance is an important
factor when predicting attitudes toward influencers and salespersons
(Bjornsdottir et al., 2021; Ladhari et al., 2020). However, the disadvan-
tage of appearance similarity is that it is a subjective rather than
objective measure of similarity, and hence it depends on psycho-
graphic measurement scales to capture how similar a customer feels
in comparison to a salesperson or brand endorser. Table 1 provides an
overview of selected studies on homophily and source similarity in
marketing and consumer research. As can be seen from the table, pre-
vious studies on homophily relating to personality traits, values, or
appearance depend on subjective measures of homophily, except for
demographic similarity based on variables such as age or gender.
Importantly, similarity in appearance is commonly measured through
self-reported scales (Ladhari et al., 2020; Torres, 2007). Addressing
this issue, the current research suggests that similarity based on BMI
may act as a parsimonious alternative for appearance homophily.
Traditionally, marketers have postulated that extremely thin
models with a very low BMI convey ideals of beauty and aesthetics
(Venkatesh et al., 2010) and draw consumer purchases through aspira-
tional values (Barry, 2014). The rationale for promoting an extremely
thin body image that is unattainable for most women is grounded in
the expectation that unfulfilled aspirations secure continued pur-
chases from customers hunting their appearance-based ideals
(Borland & Akram, 2007). Thus, it is not surprising that women with
high BMI are typically less satisfied with their body image and desire
to be thinner (D'Alessandro & Bill Chitty, 2011). The complexity of
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VAZQUEZ ET AL. 3

TABLE 1 Selective literature overview of homophily measures in marketing and consumer research.

Measurement of
homophily
(subjective vs.
Authors Journal Homophily definition Homophily domain objective) Operationalization
Balabanis and Psychology & Communication Similarity in social Subjective Four items of perceived subjective
Chatzopoulou Marketing volume is higher class, background, similarity to a blogger.
(2019) when the source and status
and the recipient
are similar.
Bekk et al. (2017) Marketing The notion that Similarity in physical Subjective Comparison of subjectively
Letters similarity leads to attractiveness measured physical
liking and attractiveness for an advertising
attraction, whereas endorser and one's own
dissimilarity leads attractiveness.
to repulsion.
Bilgicer et al. Journal of The principle that a Similarity based on Objective Clustering approach based on
(2015) Retailing contact between demographic demographic variables.
similar people variables, such as
occurs at a higher income and
rate than among education
dissimilar people.
Campbell et al. Journal of The idea that the Similarity based on Subjective Comparison of subjectively
(1988) Marketing more similar the self-esteem, values, measured self-esteem, values,
parties in a dyad and and interorganizational contact
are, the more likely interorganizational between buyers and sellers.
is a favorable contact
outcome.
De Bruyn and International Perceptual homophily Perceptual homophily Subjective Respondents' perceptions of
Lilien (2008) Journal of is defined as values, likes and dislikes and
Research in similarities experiences regarding an
Marketing between two acquaintance.
people's values,
likes, dislikes, and
experience.
Fu et al. (2019) Journal of External similarity External and internal Objective and External similarity: Respondents'
Strategic refers to similarity subjective information on name, age,
Marketing characteristics that birthday, and place of residence
can be obtained of other people in an online
without deep community. Internal similarity:
interaction. Internal Respondents' perception
similarity refers to regarding values, interests,
characteristics that attitudes, and preferences of
can only be other people in an online
obtained through community
deep interaction.
Ladhari et al. Journal of The degree to which Similarity in attitudes, Subjective Sixteen-item scale measuring
(2020) Retailing and people who background, value, perceived similarity to a vlogger
Consumer interact are similar and appearance based on attitude, background,
Services in beliefs, value, and appearance.
education, social
status and the like.
Leonhardt et al. Journal of Extent to which Similarity in attitudes Subjective Four items referring to similar
(2020) Business individuals are and behaviors attitudes and behaviors as
Research similar to others. compared to a member of a
Facebook group.
Pechman et al. Journal of The tendency of Demographic Objective Dyadic dissimilarity index based
(2021) Consumer interpersonal similarity on observed demographics
Psychology similarities to breed (gender, age, marital status,
social connection. employment status) between
two people in a support group.

(Continues)
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4 VAZQUEZ ET AL.

TABLE 1 (Continued)

Measurement of
homophily
(subjective vs.
Authors Journal Homophily definition Homophily domain objective) Operationalization
Prendergast et al. International The degree to which Similarity in interests Subjective Four items measuring similarity of
(2010) Journal of individuals are interests between respondent
Advertising similar in terms of and an online forum.
certain shared
social
characteristics
Risselada et al. Journal of The principle that a Demographic Objective Similarity score between
(2014) Marketing contact between similarity customers based on age,
similar people gender, education level, and
occurs at a higher income for the adoption of an
rate than among innovative product.
dissimilar people.
Rodrigues et al. Computers in The degree of Attitude homophily Subjective Three items referring to similar
(2017) Human perceived (rather ideas, attitudes, and beliefs as
Behavior than actual) compared to unfamiliar people.
similarity with
another person.
Sokolova and Kefi Journal of The degree to which Attitude homophily Subjective Two items referring to similar
(2020) Retailing and people tend to thinking and values as
Consumer bond with similar compared to an influencer.
Services others.
Streukens and Psychology & Preference of people Similarity in Subjective Comparison of subjectively
Andreassen Marketing who are similar to conscientiousness, measured personality traits for
(2013) oneself, leading to extraversion, customers and frontline
attraction. agreeableness, and employees.
stability
Thakor et al. Journal of Common meanings, Age similarity as a Subjective Estimation of reference
(2008) Retailing attitudes, or beliefs proxy for consumers' age in a service
lead to increased stereotyping encounter.
and more effective
interaction.
Torres (2007) Journal of The degree to which Multi-dimensional Subjective Twenty-seven items measuring
Business pairs of individuals perceived perceived similarity to
Research are similar with homophily advertising models based on
respect to attitudes, beliefs, personality,
attributes such as and appearance.
beliefs, values,
education, and
socials status.
van Esch et al. Marketing A tendency for Perceived general Subjective Three items measuring perceived
(2018) Intelligence & consumers to similarity general similarity to a blogger.
Planning gravitate toward
and form
relationships with
those who are
similar to them in
values, lifestyle,
gender, education
and other
attributes.
Von Wangenheim European The degree to which Similarity in Subjective Two items measuring

n
and Bayo Journal of individuals are preferences and respondents' perceived
(2004) Marketing similar in terms of values. similarity in terms of
certain attributes. preferences and values to a
consumer providing word-
of-mouth communication.

VAZQUEZ ET AL.
BMI effects on marketing-relevant downstream variables is further
demonstrated by findings which suggest that average advertising
models, as compared to thin models, may attenuate consumers' body
anxiety, but at the same time may have negative effects on brand atti-
tudes and purchase intention through a competing path that triggers
repulsion of natural models (Borau & Bonnefon, 2017).
The current research reconciles the inconclusive and in part con-
flicting results from previous studies on BMI by suggesting that BMI
difference between a customer and an endorser, rather than the abso-
lute BMI of the endorser, provides meaningful insights for marketing
theory and practice. For example, rather than arguing that “moder-
ately thin advertising models are optimal, most of the time”
(Janssen & Paas, 2014, p. 167), we posit that smaller differences
between the customer's and the advertising model's BMI lead to more
positive marketing outcomes, such as attitudes toward the advertising
model and purchase intention. We test this proposition in the context
of thin female advertising models, which allows us to avoid confounds
based on the size (e.g., thin, average, or plus-size) and gender of the
advertising model. Furthermore, we intentionally focus on thin female
advertising models because even though average and plus-size models
have become more popular in recent years (Cinelli & Yang, 2016;
Pounders, 2018), the female thin-ideal still prevails in contemporary
advertising (Cohen et al., 2017; Volonté, 2019). Hence, we hypothe-
size and empirically test in Study 1 that BMI similarity toward thin
advertising models is positively associated with a conventional mea-
sure of appearance-based homophily.
Hypothesis 1. BMI similarity is positively associated
with perceived appearance homophily.
We further posit that appearance homophily relates positively to
how reliable the advertising model is perceived.1 Similar to the reliabil-
ity of influencers (Filieri et al., 2023) and salespersons (Homburg &
Stock, 2005), we argue that the perceived reliability of advertising
models is crucial for marketers because it is an important component
of source credibility and trust (Soh et al., 2009). Our hypothesis draws
on the source attractiveness model (McGuire, 1985), which identifies
familiarity, likability, and similarity to the source of a message as the
three main predictors of message effectiveness (McCracken, 1989).
This positive effect of similarity between the source and the receiver
of a message on attraction has also been emphasized by Byrne (1971)
in his similarity-attraction theory. The underlying psychological mech-
anism for the similarity-attraction effect contends that individuals
favor stimuli that reinforce the logic and consistency of their world,
and that people who are similar to us generate such a reinforcement
(Montoya & Horton, 2013). Hence, similarity between a source and
receiver of a message results in higher levels of attractiveness, with
positive effects on trust (Kim & Kim, 2021; Racherla et al., 2012) and
a variety of other outcome variables, such as message effectiveness,
credibility, and product perceptions (Ertug et al., 2022). Given that
1
Congruent with prior literature (Bekk et al., 2017; Bjornsdottir et al., 2021; Ladhari
et al., 2020), we conceptualize appearance homophily as one form of similarity between a
reference person and a consumer.
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5
perceived reliability of a message source is an important component
of trust (Soh et al., 2009), we hypothesize the following:
Hypothesis 2. Perceived appearance homophily is posi-
tively associated with perceived reliability of the adver-
tising model.
2.2 | BMI similarity, perceived product quality,
and purchase intention
H1 in Study 1 establishes our baseline assumption of a positive rela-
tionship between BMI similarity and appearance homophily. Further-
more, H2 predicts a positive indirect relationship between BMI
similarity and perceived reliability of the advertising model. The out-
come variable of perceived reliability of the advertising model is rele-
vant for marketers but does not necessarily translate into higher
performance for the brand. Building on this limitation from H2,
hypotheses H3 and H4 in this section posit a more immediate associa-
tion between BMI similarity and two performance-based marketing
metrics: perceived product quality and purchase intention.
We focus on perceived product quality in Studies 2 and 3 since
the main purpose of employing an advertising model in the context of
fashion apparel is indeed the promotion of the product the company
is trying to sell, and perceived product quality is one of the main
drivers of purchase intention (Bagozzi & Khoshnevis, 2022). For con-
sumer behavior and decision making in marketing, understanding per-
ceptions customers have regarding the quality of products is usually
more relevant than (a) manufacturers' claims about product quality or
(b) objective measures of product quality based on engineering stan-
dards (Stone-Romero et al., 1997). Following Golder et al. (2012), we
conceptualize perceived product quality as a conversion of perceived
attributes into an aggregated evaluation of quality. Drawing on
insights from source attractiveness model (McCracken, 1989;
McGuire, 1985; Montoya & Horton, 2013), we predict that a high sim-
ilarity between the BMI of the customer and the advertising model
will not only affect perceived traits of the endorser, but also extend to
the products that are promoted by the advertising model. This predic-
tion is based on the observation that consumers take peripheral cues
(such as the attractiveness of the source triggered by the similarity to
the advertising model) as indicators for product quality (Petty &
Cacioppo, 1986). Similar spillover effects have been shown in the con-
text of traditional homophily measures for attitudes toward the prod-
uct (Bekk et al., 2017; Thakor et al., 2008), as well as for purchase
intention (Ismagilova et al., 2020; Lou et al., 2019).
Hypothesis 3. BMI similarity is positively associated
with perceived product quality of the apparel promoted
by the advertising model.
In addition, Study 2 also tests whether the association between
BMI similarity and perceived product quality extends to purchase
intention for the apparel product promoted by the advertising model.

6 VAZQUEZ ET AL.
Including purchase intention into our framework allows us to test the
association of BMI similarity with a variable that is of direct economic
relevance to managers. The positive relationship between perceived
product quality and purchase intention has been demonstrated in the
extant literature (Bagozzi & Khoshnevis, 2022; Das Guru &
Paulssen, 2020). Hence,
Hypothesis 4. Perceived product quality of the apparel
promoted by the advertising model is positively associ-
ated with purchase intention.
Based on the hypothesized associations between BMI similarity,
perceived appearance homophily, and perceived product quality, we
further postulate that perceived appearance homophily mediates the
relationship between BMI similarity and perceived product quality.
Specifically, we posit that BMI similarity has a positive relationship
with perceived appearance homophily (as stated in H1), and we
expect that perceived appearance homophily is positively associated
with perceived product quality. We investigate this mediating effect
of perceived appearance homophily in Study 3, where we also test for
alternative explanations. Hence,
Hypothesis 5. Perceived appearance homophily posi-
tively mediates the relationship between BMI similarity
and perceived product quality.
2.3 | Website vividness
Vividness has been defined as the “ability of a technology to produce
a sensorially rich mediated environment” (Steuer, 1992, p. 80). The
effect of a vivid (as opposed to a less vivid) communication message
on downstream variables such as persuasion and message liking typi-
cally depends on whether the vivid message is more (vs. less) resource
demanding than the less vivid message (Keller & Block, 1997;
Vazquez, 2020). For example, Coyle and Thorson (2001) manipulate
vividness of a commercial website through the addition of audio
effects and animation, and they report higher levels of telepresence
and more positive and enduring attitudes for consumers in the high
vividness condition. In a similar vein, Fortin and Dholakia (2005) show
that for a web-based advertisement, higher levels of vividness
increase social presence and involvement, which in turn positively
influence attitudes toward the ad, attitudes toward the brand, and
purchase intention. Yousaf et al. (2020) report that greater message
vividness (manipulated through interactive/audio-visual content) on
social media platforms leads to higher customer engagement. In sum-
mary, these studies find that vividness facilitates consumer informa-
tion processing. However, if a vivid communication message requires
additional cognitive resources and attention, the effect of the vivid
elements in the message will most likely be distracting and have a
negative effect on marketing-relevant downstream variables. For
example, Frey and Eagly (1993) find that vivid elements, such as color-
ful language or picturesque examples, can undermine the persuasive
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effect of a message because these elements distract the viewer. Thus,
vividness in communication can backfire and distract from other ele-
ments of a communication message (Guadagno et al., 2011). Hence, in
the context of the current research, we expect that vivid elements on
a website (e.g., animations and additional sounds) will distract the
viewer's attention and interfere with the processing of other informa-
tion, such as the comparison of the viewer's own with the advertising
model's BMI. We posit that cognitive depletion theory (Sokolova &
Krishna, 2016) can explain this effect. Specifically, cognitive depletion
theory suggests that tasks that draw consumers' attention will require
them to assign cognitive resources to this task, which in turn
decreases their propensity to assign cognitive resources to other tasks
(Hildebrand et al., 2021). Consequently, when viewers' attention is
drawn toward vivid message elements, such as animations, sounds,
flashing fonts, etc., more cognitive capacity is assigned to the proces-
sing of the vivid message elements and less cognitive capacity is
assigned to other message elements. Hence,
Hypothesis 6. Website vividness negatively moderates
the relationship between BMI similarity and perceived
product quality.
3 | ST UDY 1
Study 1 explores the effects of BMI similarity on consumers' percep-
tions of appearance homophily and their subsequent perceptions of reli-
ability toward a human advertising model (H1 and H2) in the context of
an online apparel retail store. To address a potential alternative explana-
tion for our hypothesized effect of BMI similarity, we include con-
sumers' perceptions of originality as a second mediator in our model.
3.1 | Method
3.1.1 | Participants and procedure
Two-hundred and three women (Mage = 38.6, SDage = 12.8) were
recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to take part in an
online study in exchange for a small cash incentive following recent
related studies (e.g., Vazquez, 2021). The majority of the participants
(59.4%) had an annual household income of $50,000 or above. Further,
66.7% of the sample had an associate degree or higher level of educa-
tion. Participants first saw an image of a human advertising model
(21 years of age, height 50 600 , 110.2 lbs, BMI of 17.8) (Appendix A,
Figure A1). Hence, our advertising model had a substantially lower BMI
than the average US female population which is around 28.42 (Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). Our use of a comparably
skinny advertising model is consistent with the predominant tendency
in the industry to use skinny advertising models since they are fre-
quently deemed to be culturally more attractive (Lin et al., 2018;
Semaan et al., 2018). We acknowledge that using only one (comparably
skinny) advertising model does not allow us to claim that the effects of

VAZQUEZ ET AL.
BMI similarity on downstream variables will also hold with a regular
or overweight advertising model. However, showing the same ad-
vertising model to all participants allows us to exclude confounds
(e.g., differences in perceived attractiveness) that would occur when
using different advertising models. Next, participants were asked to
respond to items relating to their perceptions of the advertising model.
These items measured the latent constructs of interest which were ran-
domly shown to participants to avoid priming effects.
3.1.2 | Measures
The dependent variable—perceived reliability of the advertising model—
was measured with an adapted version of the advertisement trust-
reliability scale from Soh et al. (2009). This nine-item Likert scale mea-
sures the degree to which a person believes that an advertisement is
truthful and accurate. The mediator variable—perceived appearance
homophily—was measured with the scale originally developed by
McCroskey et al. (1975). This four-item bipolar scale measures the
degree to which a person perceives appearance homophily and interper-
sonal similarity in human communication. It has been widely used in pre-
vious research in marketing and apparel contexts (Hudders & De
Jans, 2022; Ladhari et al., 2020) as well as health and human communica-
tion research (Navarro et al., 2022; van der Land et al., 2015). The inde-
pendent variable—BMI similarity—was calculated by comparing the BMI
of the advertising model with the BMI of each participant. Specifically,
participants indicated their height and weight, which in turn allowed us
to determine each participants' BMI (Appendix A, Figure A2 shows a dis-
tribution of BMI of each participant). To ensure that higher values on our
BMI-based similarity measure indicated higher (as opposed to smaller)
levels of similarity, we constructed an index of BMI similarity by subtract-
ing the absolute difference between the BMI of the advertising model
and the BMI of the participant from 100. For example, for a participant
with a BMI of 24.5, the absolute BMI difference would be
24.5  17.8 = 6.7, and the resulting BMI similarity index would be
100  6.7 = 93.3. This procedure resulted in a maximum value of
100 for the BMI similarity index when participants' BMI was identical to
the BMI of 17.8 for the advertising model appearing in the online store.
3.1.3 | Controlling for alternative explanations
To address a potential alternative explanation for the relationship
between BMI similarity and perceived reliability of the advertising
model, we included perceived originality of the advertising model as a
second mediator into our model. Originality has been defined as the
degree of newness, innovation, sophistication, and differentiation of a

et al., 2020). Because a source that
source, action, or product (Casalo
is closer to oneself should be perceived as more elaborated, sophisti-
cated, and unique, we posit that consumers will feel that a source or
stimulus is more original if the source is more similar to how they are
or perceive themselves. Preliminary evidence for a positive relation-
ship between similarity and perceived originality can be found in the
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7
extant literature. For example, Li and Peng (2021) report a positive
relationship of r = .37 (p < .001) between homophily (i.e., the degree
of similarity between a consumer and a social media influencer) and
perceived originality of the influencer. Furthermore, prior research
suggests that perceived originality conveys an aspirational desire in
apparel markets (Fratto et al., 2006; Zebal & Jackson, 2019) that may
translate into positive attitudes toward the advertising model. We
measured perceived originality with a five-item semantic differential
originally developed by O'Quin and Besemer (1989). This scale mea-
sures the degree to which an advertisement, sales presentation, sales
promotion, or event marketing communication is viewed as being
original (Heiser et al., 2008; White & Smith, 2001). Since the human
model used in our study also portrayed a specific age and ethnicity
(21 years, white), we included the similarity between participants' eth-
nicity (Torres, 2007) and age (Dwyer et al., 1998) as control variables.
Specifically, we calculated the following two similarity indexes. For
age, we subtracted the absolute age difference between the human
model and each participant's age from 100. Hence, smaller age differ-
ences result in a higher number on the index, which represents higher
levels of age similarity. For ethnicity, we generated a dummy variable
that was coded 1 when the human model and participant had the
same ethnicity or 0 otherwise. Appendix A, Table A1, shows the mea-
surement items and reliability assessment for Study 1. The psycho-
metric properties of our measurement scales were satisfying.
Specifically, the factor loadings exceeded the recommended threshold
of 0.6 for each item and the composite reliability scores for each
latent construct were beyond the recommended minimum value of
0.7, confirming the reliability of the measures (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988).
Each latent construct had an AVE above the minimum recommended
value of 0.5 (MacKenzie et al., 2011) Furthermore, all AVE values
were larger than the highest squared correlation between different
latent constructs, thus confirming the discriminant validity of the mea-
sures (Fornell & Larcker, 1981; Voorhees et al., 2016). The descriptive
statistics and correlation matrix for Study 1 are shown in Table 2.
3.2 | Results
To test H1 and H2, we used a parallel mediation model which evalu-
ates the relationship between BMI similarity and perceived reliability
of the advertising model mediated by (1) perceived appearance
homophily and (2) perceived originality. Tests for significance and the
estimation of confidence intervals at 95% followed the 10,000 bias-
corrected bootstrap samples procedure as recommended by Hayes
(2022). All analyses were conducted using the processR package of
the statistical software R (Moon & Hong, 2021). Figure 1 shows the
standardized path coefficients for this model.
Most importantly, BMI similarity was significantly and positively
related with perceived appearance homophily (0.373, p < .001). Further,
perceived appearance homophily had a positive association with per-
ceived reliability of the advertising model (0.250, p < .001). These find-
ings support H1 and H2. On the other hand, the relationship between
BMI similarity and perceived originality was not statistically significant
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8 VAZQUEZ ET AL.

TABLE 2 Descriptive statistics and correlations for Study 1.

Variable M SD 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
1. Perceived reliability 4.31 1.24 -
2. Perceived appearance homophily 3.25 1.64 0.30*** -
3. BMI similarity 91.82 5.34 0.17* 0.36*** -
4. Perceived originality 3.56 1.44 0.38*** 0.14* 0.12 -
5. Age similarity 82.33 12.50 0.07 0.13 0.09 0.06 -

Note: Ethnicity: White = 140, Asian = 21, Afro-American = 14, Other = 27, Native = 1.
***p < .001; *p < .05.

F I G U R E 1 Path coefficients for Study

1—BMI similarity, perceived appearance
homophily, originality, and perceived
reliability of advertising model.
Standardized coefficients. Significance
level: ***p < .001.

(.128, ns). Hence, our findings indicate that perceived originality should
be excluded as an alternative explanation for the relationship between
BMI similarity and perceived reliability of the model. In addition, we
were able to exclude similarity based on ethnicity or age as confounding
variables in our model because we included these variables as controls
in our model (ethnicity similarity: 0.021, ns; age similarity: 0.102, ns).
Table 3 shows the regression coefficients and variance explained for
the different paths and stages of the model in more detail.
In addition, formal mediation tests (Table 4) based on boot-
strapping (Hayes, 2022) revealed that the mediating path from BMI
similarity to perceived reliability via perceived appearance homophily
was statistically significant (.093, 95% CI 0.032 to 0.154). Furthermore,
the alternative mediation path through perceived originality was not
statistically significant (.043, 95% CI 0.006 to 0.092). As shown in
Figure 1, the direct effect of BMI similarity on perceived reliability was
not significant (.051, ns), which indicates full (rather than partial) media-
tion (Pieters, 2017). Overall, the empirical results support our prediction
that perceived appearance homophily serves as a mediator between
similarity based on BMI and perceived reliability toward a human adver-
tising model. This evidence suggests that in the context of thin adver-
tising models, women with BMIs similar to those of the advertising
model perceive the advertising model to be more reliable.
appearance homophily in the context of thin advertising models. This
finding is important for marketing managers because recent advance-
ments in face recognition software facilitate a relatively accurate calcu-
lation of customers' BMI based on facial characteristics (Dantcheva
et al., 2018; Wen & Guo, 2013). In addition, Study 1 shows that BMI
similarity relates to how consumers rate the perceived reliability of the
advertising model. Thus, Study 1 provides initial evidence that BMI sim-
ilarity is associated with managerially relevant outcome variables.
4 | ST UDY 2
Study 2 extends the initial findings from Study 1 in several important
ways. First, it explores the relationship between BMI similarity for a thin,
female advertising model and women's perceived quality and purchase
intention for the apparel (a dress) endorsed by the advertising model (H3
and H4). To increase the external validity of our study, we emulated the
real conditions in which this phenomenon occurs by situating our study
in an online retail store and within a social media context. Furthermore,
we included perceived vividness of the website as a moderator for the
relationship between BMI similarity and perceived product quality (H6).

4.1 | Method
3.3 | Discussion
4.1.1 | Participants and procedure
Study 1 demonstrates a positive relationship between BMI similarity
and appearance homophily for a human advertising model. Hence, the Three-hundred and thirty-one women (Mage = 38.8, SDage = 12.2)
results from Study 1 suggest that BMI similarity is a good proxy for were recruited through Amazon's MTurk to take part in an online
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VAZQUEZ ET AL. 9

TABLE 3 Regression coefficients for Study 1.

Consequent

PAH (M1) PO (M2) PR (Y)

Antecedent Coef. SE z p Coef. SE z p Coef. SE z p

0
BMI (X) a1 0.373 0.058 6.415 <.001 a2 0.128 0.069 1.850 .064 c 0.051 0.069 0.743 .457
ES (C1) f11 0.101 0.046 2.202 .028 f11 0.113 0.052 2.203 .028 f11 0.021 0.069 0.301 .763
AS (C2) f21 0.038 0.05 0.754 .451 f21 0.043 0.056 0.761 .447 f21 0.102 0.058 1.755 .079
PAH (M1) b1 0.250 0.076 3.270 .001
PO (M2) b2 0.338 0.068 4.984 <.001
Constant iY 0 0.064 0 1 iY 0 0.069 0 1 iY 0 0.062 0 1
F(3,199) = 13.032, p < .001 F(3,199) = 1.488, p = .219 F(5.197) = 10.883, p < .001
R2 = .164 R2 = .022 R2 = .216

Note: Coefficients are standardized. Controls: ES = ethnic similarity, AS = age similarity.

Abbreviations: BMI, similarity based on body mass index; C1, first control; C2, second control; M1, first mediator; M2, second mediator; PAH, perceived
appearance homophily; PO, perceived originality; PR, perceived reliability; X, independent variable.

T A B L E 4 Mediation tests based on

Paths Coefficient Boot. SE Confidence intervala Equations
bootstrapping (Study 1).
BMI ! PAH ! PR 0.093 0.031 (0.032; 0.154) (a1b1)
BMI ! PO ! PR 0.043 0.025 (0.006; 0.092) (a2b2)
Direct effect BMI ! PR 0.051 0.069 (0.084, 0.187) (c0 )
Total effects 0.188 0.068 (0.054; 0.321) (c0 + a1b1 + a2b2)

Note: All coefficients are standardized.

Abbreviations: BMI, similarity based on body mass index; PAH, perceived appearance homophily;
PO, perceived originality; PR, perceived reliability.
a
10,000 bootstrap samples for bias-corrected confidence intervals at 95%.

study in exchange for a small cash incentive. The majority of the par-
ticipants had an annual household income of more than $50,000
(59.6% of the sample) and a minimum of an associate degree (67.8%
of the sample). Participants entered a faux online store (see
Appendix B, Figures B1 and B2) where they were exposed to the
human advertising model (21 years of age, height 50 200 , 129.2 pounds,
BMI of 20.5). Next, participants responded to questions regarding per-
ceived product quality and purchase intention for the dress endorsed
by the advertising model.
4.1.2 | Measures
The dependent variable—purchase intention for the dress endorsed
by the advertising model—was measured with a three-item, seven-
point Likert scale based on Wang et al. (2011). Perceived product
quality was measured with five items adapted from Jo's (2007)
Absolute Quality of the Product scale. This scale measures con-
sumers' evaluations of product quality without making comparisons
to any other product. The independent variable—BMI similarity—
was calculated following the same procedure as in Study
1 (Appendix B, Figure B3 shows a distribution of BMI of each
participant).
4.1.3 | Moderating variable
Our conceptualization of website vividness follows a more compre-
hensive approach in which a communication message includes both
central and peripheral elements. For example, Fortin and Dhola-
kia (2005, p. 395) indicate that they provided “enhanced vividness of
the message by means of colors, graphics, and animation” in their
research on social presence and involvement for web-based adver-
tisements. Congruent with this conceptualization, we manipulated
website vividness in Study 2 by including animation of the top banner,
an animated cartoon image with sound of high-heeled steps, a
dynamic calendar, and an action button for the high vividness condi-
tion (compare Appendix B, Figures B1 and B2). The high and low viv-
idness groups resulted equivalent in terms of age, education level,
income level, and time to complete the survey. As a manipulation
check, participants rated perceived vividness on a four-item Likert
scale adapted from Coyle and Thorson (2001).
In addition, we included the same control variables (age and eth-
nic similarity) as in Study 1. Appendix B, Table B1, shows the mea-
surement items and reliability assessment for Study 2. Following the
same criteria as in Study 1, validity and reliability of our measurement
scales were satisfactory. The descriptive statistics and correlation
matrix for Study 2 are shown in Table 5.
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10 VAZQUEZ ET AL.

T A B L E 5 Descriptive statistics and

Variable M SD 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
correlations for Study 2.
1. Purchase intention 3.33 1.71 -
2. Perceived product quality 4.26 1.17 0.73*** -
3. BMI similarity 94.16 4.87 0.24*** 0.17** -
4. Perceived vividness 3.93 1.67 0.34*** 0.28*** 0.24*** -
5. Age similarity 82.18 12.11 0.09 0.02 0.20*** 0.17** -

Note: Ethnicity: White = 254, Asian = 30, Afro-American = 19, Other = 23, Native = 5.
***p < .001; **p < .01.

4.2 | Results 4.3 | Discussion

4.2.1 | Manipulation check
An ANOVA on the manipulation check question revealed that partici-
pants in the high vividness condition rated perceived vividness of the
website higher (M = 4.76, SD = 1.33) than those in the low vividness
condition (M = 2.93, SD = 1.48; F(1,329) = 139.8, p < .001). Hence,
our manipulation of website vividness was successful.
To test H3, H4, and H6, we used a moderated mediation model
which evaluates the effect of BMI similarity on purchase intention for
the endorsed dress through perceived product quality. Perceived viv-
idness moderates the relationship between BMI similarity and per-
ceived product quality. Hence, this model is equivalent to model 8 in
Hayes (2022). As in Study 1, all analyses were conducted using the
processR package of the statistical software R. Figure 2 shows
the standardized path coefficients for this model.
As predicted by H3, BMI similarity was positively related to per-
ceived product quality (0.158, p < .01), which in turn had a positive
association with purchase intention for the dress endorsed by the
advertising model (0.706, p < .001) (H4). Furthermore, vividness (high
vs. low) had a negative moderating effect on the relationship between
BMI similarity and purchase intention (0.080, p < .05). Hence, in
support of H6, perceived vividness acted as a suppressor for the rela-
tionship between BMI similarity and perceived product quality. Below
Table 6 presents the regression coefficients and Table 7 shows the
mediation tests.
4.2.2 | Robustness check for BMI similarity
As a robustness check, we tested H3, H4, and H6 using perceived
appearance homophily rather than BMI similarity as our independent
variable. The results of this model were consistent with the findings
presented here (see Web Appendix A, Figure I, Tables I and II).
4.2.3 | Supplementary study on group similarity
A supplementary study using a measure of group similarity (see Web
Appendix B) provides additional evidence for the importance of simi-
larity measures for perceived product quality in the context of an
existing fashion clothing company (boohoo.com).
Study 2 provides evidence for our expectation that BMI similarity
is associated with perceived quality and purchase intention for
fashion apparel. Hence, Study 2 shows that associations of BMI
similarity are not limited to perceptions of the advertising model.
Rather, our findings suggest that this relationship relates to
marketing-relevant outcome variables that ultimately relate to firm
performance and success. Congruent with prior research on vivid-
ness in communication messages (Frey & Eagly, 1993; Guadagno
et al., 2011), the positive association between BMI similarity and
perceived product quality diminishes when the retailer's website
makes use of distracting elements and features aimed at increasing
the website's vividness. However, one can indeed also argue that
this attenuating effect of vividness is a positive marketing outcome
for those consumers whose BMI similarity with the advertising
model is low. That is, when vividness is high, it does matter less
whether BMI similarity is high or low for perceived product quality
of apparel promoted by the advertising model. In summary, the
results from Study 2 provide process evidence and boundary con-
ditions regarding how BMI similarity relates with purchase inten-
tion for fashion products in a context where consumers are
exposed to advertising fashion models.
5 | ST UDY 3
In Study 1, we showed the association between BMI similarity and
perceived appearance homophily, and in Study 2, we demonstrated
that BMI similarity is positively related to perceived product quality
and purchase intention. However, the mechanism through which BMI
similarity affects perceived product quality may be driven also by
other variables, apart from appearance homophily. For example, the
source credibility model (Ohanian, 1990; Wallace et al., 2021) sug-
gests that trustworthiness and expertise influence attitudes toward
the source, whereas the source attractiveness model (McGuire, 1985;
Nguyen et al., 2013) suggests that familiarity with and likeability of
the source are related to attitudes. To test for these alternative expla-
nations, we ran five simple mediation models (Hayes PROCESS model
4) with BMI similarity as the IV and perceived product quality as the
DV, and in each of the models we tested one of the five mediators:
appearance homophily, trustworthiness, expertise, familiarity, or
likability.
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VAZQUEZ ET AL. 11

F I G U R E 2 Path coefficients for Study

3—Mediating effect of perceived product
quality and moderating effect of website
vividness. Standardized coefficients.
Significance level: ***p < .001;
**p < .01; *p < .05.

TABLE 6 Regression coefficients for Study 2.

Consequent

PQ (M) PI (Y)

Antecedent Coef. SE z p Coef. SE z p

BMI (X) a1 0.158 0.050 3.145 .002 c10 0.093 0.040 2.347 .019
VIV (W) a2 0.018 0.054 0.340 .734 c20 0.020 0.037 0.540 .589
BMI:IN (X:W) a3 0.059 0.051 1.171 .243 c30 0.072 0.038 1.923 .055
ES (C1) f1 0.105 0.061 1.721 .089 g1 0.122 0.035 3.465 .001
AS (C2) f2 0.063 0.118 0.531 .595 g2 0.060 0.040 1.509 .131
PQ (M) b 0.710 0.025 28.846 <.001
F(5,325) = 3.080, p = .010 F(6,324) = 73.666, p < .001
R2 = .045 R2 = .577

Note: Coefficients are standardized. Controls: ES = ethnic similarity, AS = age similarity.

Abbreviations: BMI, similarity based on body mass index; C1, first control; C2, second control; M, mediator; PI, purchase intention; PQ, perceived product
quality; VIV, vividness; W, moderator; X, independent variable.

5.1 | Method similarity—was calculated following the same procedure as in Study

5.1.1 | Participants and procedure
Two-hundred and eight women (Mage = 31.5, SDage = 8.9) were
recruited through Amazon's MTurk to take part in an online study in
exchange for a small cash incentive. Participants entered a faux online
store (see Appendix B, Figure C1) where they were exposed to the
human advertising model (21 years of age, height 50 700 , 161 pounds,
BMI of 25.2). All participants were exposed to the same advertising
model.
5.1.2 | Measures
The dependent variable—perceived product quality—was measured
with the same five items adapted from Jo's (2007) “Absolute Quality
of the Product” scale as in Study 2. The independent variable—BMI
1 and Study 2 (Appendix C, Figure C2 shows a distribution of BMI of
each participant). Perceived appearance homophily was measured as
in Study 1 with an adapted scale from McCroskey et al. (1975), and
perceived quality was measured as in Study 2 with an adapted scale
from Jo (2007). In Study 3, we used Ohanian's (1990) scale to measure
trustworthiness of the source with five items and expertise of the
source with four items. Familiarity with the source was measured with
three items from Zhou et al. (2010). Finally, likeability of the source
was measured with two items from Reinhard and Messner (2009). We
again included the same control variables (age and ethnic similarity) as
in Study 1 and Study 2. Appendix C, Table C1, shows the measure-
ment items and reliability assessment for Study 3. Following the same
criteria as in Study 1 and Study 2, validity and reliability of our mea-
surement scales were satisfactory. In addition, Study 3 was consistent
with Study 1 and Study 2, as all analyses were conducted using the
processR package of the statistical software R. The descriptive statis-
tics and correlation matrix for Study 3 are shown in Table 8.
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12 VAZQUEZ ET AL.

TABLE 7 Moderated mediation tests based on bootstrapping (Study 2) to explore conditional effects.

Mediation path: BMI ! PQ ! PI conditioned by VIV Coefficient Boot. SE Confidence intervala Equations
Indirect effect  VIV = low 0.074 0.050 (0.025; 0.172) (a1 + a3WLow)b
Indirect effect  VIV = high 0.158 0.053 (0.055; 0.261) (a1 + a3WHigh)b
Total indirect effect 0.116 0.037 (0.043; 0.188) (a1 + a3W)b
Direct effect 0.086 0.040 (0.009; 0.164) c1 0 + c3 0 W
Total effects  VIV = low 0.233 0.074 (0.087; 0.378) c10 + c30 WLow + (a1 + a3WLow)b
Total effects  VIV = high 0.172 0.069 (0.036; 0.308) c10 + c30 WHigh + (a1 + a3WHigh)b

Note: All coefficients are standardized.

Abbreviations: BMI, similarity based on body mass index; PI, purchase intention; PQ, perceived product quality; VIV, vividness.
a
10,000 bootstrap samples for bias-corrected confidence intervals at 95%.

TABLE 8 Descriptive statistics and correlations for Study 3.

Variable M SD 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
1. Perceived product quality 5.80 0.69 -
2. Source trustworthiness 5.92 0.73 0.63*** -
3. Source expertise 5.95 0.72 0.58*** 0.83*** -
4. Source likeability 6.02 0.79 0.62*** 0.76*** 0.75*** -
5. Source familiarity 5.72 0.96 0.39*** 0.56*** 0.62*** 0.47*** -
6. Perceived appearance homophily 5.79 0.85 0.36*** 0.57*** 0.52*** 0.51*** 0.39*** -
7. BMI similarity 96.19 2.52 0.04 0.14** 0.08 0.14 0.08 0.19** -

8. Age similarity 92.24 8.61 0.02 0.13 0.18** 0.12 0.24*** 0.17* .10 -

Note: Ethnicity: White = 195, Asian = 1, Other = 6, Native = 3.

***p < .001; **p < .01; *p < .05.

5.2 | Results
As predicted, the indirect effect of perceived appearance homophily
was positive and statistically significant (.069, 95% CI 0.016 to 0.123)
in the simple mediation model. Furthermore, the indirect effects of
trustworthiness (0.091, 95% CI 0.007 to 0.176) and likeability (0.089,
95% CI 0.004 to 0.174) were positive and statistically significant.
However, the indirect effects of expertise (0.048, 95% CI 0.032 to
0.128) and familiarity (0.030, 95% CI 0.028 to 0.087) were not sta-
tistically significant since the confidence interval crosses zero.
Figure 3 shows the simple mediation models for the three significant
mediation paths through appearance homophily, trustworthiness, and
likeability.
Following Stoner et al. (2023), we also ran a parallel mediation
model with all mediators included in the same model (Figure 4). For
this parallel mediation model with five mediators, none of the indirect
effects were significant (appearance homophily: 0.003, 95% CI
0.031 to 0.025; trustworthiness: 0.052, 95% CI 0.018 to 0.123;
likeability: 0.052, 95% CI 0.009 to 0.113; expertise: 0.008, 95% CI
0.018 to 0.034; familiarity: 0.004, 95% CI 0.010 to 0.018). A highly
plausible explanation for this finding is that the total effect in this par-
allel mediation model is decomposed into a direct effect and five indi-
rect effects with equal signs, with the result that each indirect effect
becomes relatively small (compare, e.g., Pieters, 2017, for the decom-
position of total effects in mediation models). This issue is aggravated
by the fact that the mediators in Study 3 are naturally correlated
among each other (see also the correlation matrix for Study 3 in
Table 8). Hence, our interpretation focuses on the results from the
simple mediation models.
5.3 | Discussion
The results from Study 3 suggest that BMI similarity is positively
related to perceived product quality, and that this relationship is medi-
ated by perceived appearance homophily, thereby supporting our
main expectations regarding the role of BMI similarity and appearance
homophily. It is important to note that BMI similarity is an objective
measure based on consumers' weight and height, and the causality of
the relationships in Study 3 (as well as in Study 1 and 2) must there-
fore flow from BMI similarity to any of the latent measures in our
models. In other words, it is not conceivable that consumers' weight
and height could change based on perceptions of, for example,
appearance homophily, perceived product quality, or purchase inten-
tion for the apparel endorsed by the advertising model. We believe
that this characteristic of BMI similarity as a directly observable mea-
sure (similar to other directly observable measures such as age, gen-
der, or income) makes it a powerful variable for marketing theory and
practice. At the same time, Study 3 reveals (not surprisingly) that
other variables than appearance homophily can explain the effect of
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VAZQUEZ ET AL. 13

F I G U R E 3 Path coefficients for Study

3—Simple mediation models for
(a) appearance homophily,
(b) trustworthiness, and (c) likeability.
Standardized coefficients. Significance
level: ***p < .001; *p < .05.

BMI similarity on perceived product quality. Specifically, Study 3 finds
that perceived trustworthiness and likeability are also influenced by
BMI similarity. Hence, even though Study 3 finds support for the role
of appearance homophily as a mechanism explaining the relationship
between BMI similarity and perceived product quality, alternative
explanations exist in terms of trustworthiness and likeability.
6 | G E N E R A L D I S C U S SI O N
Drawing on the results from three empirical studies and a supplemen-
tary study2 on group similarity reported in the Web Appendix, the cur-
rent research contributes to marketing theory and practice by providing
insights on how BMI similarity relates to perceived appearance homo-
phily and marketing-relevant outcome variables for apparel retail prod-
ucts. Specifically, the results demonstrate that both perceived
appearance homophily and BMI similarity can be associated with the
perceived reliability of advertising models (Study 1) and perceived prod-
uct quality perceptions (Study 2). Furthermore, a series of mediation
models shows that in addition to perceived appearance homophily,
trustworthiness and likeability are identified as plausible alternative
explanations for the relationship between BMI similarity and perceived
product quality (Study 3). Vividness of the retailer's website is identified
as an important boundary condition for these effects which attenuates
the relationship between BMI similarity and perceived product quality.

2
6.1 | Theoretical implications
All studies used samples from Amazon's MTurk, which have been shown to be of better
quality than those from professional panels (Kees et al., 2017). Additionally, we followed
steps recommended by Aguinis et al. (2021) in combination with time controls and click The results of the current research yield important contributions to
counts from Qualtrics (e.g., Vazquez et al., 2023) to increase the quality of the samples. Some
of these steps included removing responses with no input activity or IP address, as these
psychology and marketing theory by providing an alternative theoreti-
were suspected web-robots; as well as removing responses of inattentive participants who cal view from that of previous research about female portrayals
did not select their gender as female when the questionnaire instructions invited only female
involving the body size (e.g., Åkestam et al., 2017; Janssen &
participants; or the lack of attention to correctly filling in the random unique number
generated in each questionnaire to validate it. Paas, 2014). First, our findings contribute to the extant literature on

14
homophily (Bilgicer et al., 2015; McPherson et al., 2001) and similarity
(Rodrigues et al., 2017; Thakor et al., 2008) by showing the link
between traditional appearance homophily (Ladhari et al., 2020;
McCroskey et al., 2006) and our refined construct of BMI similarity.
Specifically, the results from Study 1 demonstrate that BMI similarity
is a parsimonious measure that captures major aspects of appearance
homophily without the need to gather additional customer informa-
tion, such as body shape, skin color, or facial features. Furthermore,
our research demonstrates that consumers' BMI similarity to a human
advertising model is positively associated with marketing-relevant
downstream variables, such as the perceived reliability of the advertis-
ing model, perceived product quality, and purchase intention.
Second, our research reconciles conflicting streams of literature on
the BMI of advertising models which either predict higher advertising
effectiveness for relatively thin (Borland & Akram, 2007; Janssen &
Paas, 2014) or average-size models (Lou et al., 2019). Specifically, our
research finds that rather than an ideal BMI value fitting all consumers
simultaneously, it is the match between the consumer's BMI with the
BMI of the advertising model that covaries with marketing-relevant
outcome variables in the context of a thin, female advertising model.
Furthermore, our research extends those streams of BMI literature that
focus predominantly on obesity and health-related public policy impli-
cations (Cornil et al., 2022; Zlatevska et al., 2018).
Third, the current research adds to the extant literature on vivid-
ness in communication by demonstrating that vivid elements
(e.g., peripheral animations on a website) can inhibit the processing of
relevant information. Keller and Block (1997) suggested that when a
vivid communication message is less resource demanding, the vivid-
ness of the message is going to facilitate the processing of the core
content of the message. However, when the vividness of the message
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VAZQUEZ ET AL.
F I G U R E 4 Path coefficients for Study
3—Parallel mediation model for the
association between BMI similarity and
perceived product quality. Standardized
coefficients. Significance level: **p < .01;
*p < .05;  p < .10.
draws cognitive resources, information processing will be hindered.
Even though previous research predominantly reports situations in
which vivid messages have positive outcomes on attitudes toward the
message and message engagement (Coyle & Thorson, 2001; Fortin &
Dholakia, 2005; Yousaf et al., 2020), our research shows that vivid-
ness can attenuate the processing of key information (such as differ-
ences in BMI between the advertising model and the customer).
Hence, in line with Frey and Eagly (1993), we find that website vivid-
ness can distract the viewer and undermine information processing.
This implies that vividness in communication messages can act as a
double-edged sword: For consumers with high BMI similarity to the
advertising model, website vividness decreases the relationship
between BMI similarity and perceived quality of the apparel promoted
by the advertising model, which is indeed an undesired outcome for
marketers. On the other hand, website vividness has the effect that
BMI similarity matters less for perceived product quality, which is a
positive marketing outcome for those consumers who score very low
on BMI similarity. Finally, the present work contributes to theory of
social comparison processes (e.g., Festinger, 1954; Mussweiler, 2003)
by showing that perceptions of BMI depend on the BMI of the
observer through an implicit comparison of an advertising model's
BMI with one's own BMI.
6.2 | Managerial implications
The results from our research also have important managerial implica-
tions. First, building on our finding that BMI similarity (rather than an
absolute BMI value) positively relates to perceived product quality
and purchase intention for female consumers, dynamic displays of

VAZQUEZ ET AL.
advertising models that adjust to the consumer's own BMI can pro-
vide a competitive advantage as compared to traditional marketing
strategies relying on static reproductions of apparel models. Apparel
retailers aiming at enhancing their marketing effectiveness could
implement BMI recognition technology (Wen & Guo, 2013) in their
online and physical stores, which would allow them to dynamically tai-
lor displays of apparel models according to their customers' BMI. Such
an approach would also help marketers with an organic inclusion of
plus-size models in their marketing campaigns (Joo & Wu, 2021). This
is consistent with the benefits from message personalization, which
has proved to be effective in digital environments to target diverse
retail consumers as in the case of social commerce (e.g., Vazquez
et al., 2023). Beyond the online context, marketers could employ
smart shelves with dynamic LED screens displaying marketing mes-
sages based on the proximity and BMI of shoppers (Grewal
et al., 2021). Because personalizing advertising based on BMI similar-
ity promotes body diversity and inclusivity among apparel models and
consumers, the use of BMI similarity could be crucial for brands that
appeal for societal trends such as diversity and inclusion of varied
body types or body builds (e.g., heavy body type or overweight);
which is in line with social movements promoting body positivity, fat
acceptance, plus-size, health at every size, anti-diet, and body neutral-
ity. Furthermore, our research suggests that marketing managers aim-
ing at making use of the effects of BMI similarity should be careful
with deploying overly vivid websites in their customer communication
to avoid distracting consumers from the core message.
7 | L I M I T A TI O NS A ND F U T U R E R E S E A R CH
Even though BMI has been widely accepted among health experts, it is
an imperfect measure of body appearance. For example, BMI typically
fails to detect the substitution of lean with fat body tissue that accom-
panies normal aging (Prentice & Jebb, 2001). Furthermore, an individual
engaging in exercising or body building may have the same weight and
height as an overweight person, but body appearance in such a case
may be quite dissimilar. Hence, BMI as a measure of appearance simi-
larity toward the advertising model may be biased, which in turn would
inflate or deflate relationships with downstream marketing variables
such as product perceptions and purchase intention for fashion apparel.
Future research may try to collect additional data on respondents' body
fat to determine potential bias in the BMI similarity measure.
Second, since the female thin-ideal still prevails in mainstream
advertising (Cohen et al., 2017; Volonté, 2019), our research inten-
tionally focuses on advertising models with a comparably low BMI
(Study 1: 17.8; Study 2: 20.5) but also extends these findings to a
slightly overweight advertising model (Study 3: 25.2). Even though
these BMI values are not necessarily exceptional and fall in the range
of healthy weight (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021),
they are substantially below the average US female population of
about 28.42 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020).
Thus, there is an opportunity for future research to investigate
whether the effect of BMI similarity shown in the current research
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15
holds in the context of plus-size advertising models, given that some
marketers have begun to employ plus-size advertising models in their
marketing campaigns (Cinelli & Yang, 2016; Joo & Wu, 2021;
Pounders, 2018). For example, future research on BMI similarity might
build on the research design from McFerran et al. (2010a, 2010b) who
manipulated body type by exposing participants to either thin or
heavy people around them. Such an extension of our research would
be timely and relevant since scholars have raised concerns about how
to mitigate the negative emotional effects of promoting thinness and
idealized images of “perfect” thin models to young women (Holland &
Tiggemann, 2016; Kim & Chock, 2015; Perloff, 2014).
Third, BMI similarity is a relatively stable individual difference
characteristic, similar to, for example, age or marital status. It can
indeed change over time, but it is not influenced by situational factors.
Hence, we argue that BMI similarity can influence consumer judg-
ments and perceptions, such as perceived homophily, liking of the
advertising model, or perceived product quality, but none of these
consumer perceptions can situationally change BMI similarity, in the
same vein that situationally triggered consumer perceptions cannot
change the age or marital status of a respondent. Nevertheless, we
acknowledge that our work builds on associations rather than causal
relationships triggered by the manipulation of variables. Hence, even
though BMI cannot be directly manipulated since it is based on the
height and weight of respondents, future research could manipulate
perceived appearance homophily to show causality on outcome vari-
ables such as perceived reliability of the advertising model, perceived
product quality, and purchase intention. Furthermore, future research
could follow very recent recommendations for more stringent tests of
causality in models that measure both mediators and outcome vari-
ables (Laghaie & Otter, 2023).
Finally, the current research investigates the relationship between
BMI similarity and website vividness in the context of online fashion
apparel. We argue that this specific context is meaningful because
fashion apparel is closely related to the body and may in fact be seen
as an extension of the self (Ahuvia, 2005). However, bodily appear-
ance of advertising models may also be relevant for product catego-
ries that are not directly related to the body. Thus, future research
may extend our work to product categories such as food, consumer
electronics, automobiles, or services.
ACKNOWLEDG MENTS
The authors are grateful for the helpful comments and guidance by
two anonymous reviewers and the editors during the review process.
The first author would also like to thank the National System of
Researchers (SNI) of CONAHCYT Mexico for providing incentives to
conduct this academic research.
CONFLIC T OF INTER E ST STATEMENT
The authors state there are no conflicts of interest.
DATA AVAILABILITY STAT EMEN T
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the
corresponding author upon reasonable request.

16
ORCID
Erik Ernesto Vazquez https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7592-1571
Reto Felix https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3864-2397
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Erik Ernesto Vazquez is an Associate Professor of Digital Business
and Data Analytics and the Director of the Graduate Studies in
Digital Business Analytics at EMLV Business School in Paris. He
holds a Doctoral degree from the University of Newcastle upon
Tyne, UK and an MBA from the University of North Carolina,
USA. Prof. Vazquez has led research projects that have been pub-
lished in journals such as Journal of Retailing and Consumer Ser-
vices, Electronic Markets, and Journal of Research in Interactive
Marketing. He is also a national research member Level I of the
CONAHCYT (also known as CONACYT), a member of the edito-
rial board of the Anahuac Journal, and an executive advisor to
international companies, scaleups, and startups.
Reto Felix is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Univer-
sity of Texas Rio Grande Valley, USA and holds a PhD from the
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. His research focuses on
green consumption, consumer well-being, and new technologies.
He has been a visiting scholar at the Marketing Group, Haas
School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, and has
published in journals such as Journal of International Marketing,
Journal of Business Research, International Marketing Review,
European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Marketing,
Journal of Consumer Behaviour, International Journal of Con-
sumer Studies, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Com-
puters in Human Behavior, and Psychology & Marketing.
 14791838, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cb.2274 by The University Of Texas Rio Grande Vallley, Wiley Online Library on [31/10/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
VAZQUEZ ET AL. 19

SUPPORTING INF ORMATION

Lorena Siliceo is an HR executive at SumUp, France and an affili-
Additional supporting information can be found online in the Support-
ated lecturer of management at the Anahuac University, Mexico.
ing Information section at the end of this article.
She holds a Master of Science in International Business from the
University of Edinburgh, UK and has conducted research related
to addressing inequality and diversity as consultant to The City of How to cite this article: Vazquez, E. E., Felix, R., & Siliceo, L.
Edinburgh Council, UK. Mrs. Siliceo has extensive experience in (2023). Female advertising models and their body mass index
the fashion, retailing, and fintech industries serving in executive (BMI): How does BMI similarity affect perceived product
positions for startups and scaleups. Mrs. Siliceo also served at quality? Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 1–19. https://doi.org/
Regnum Christi where she managed multiple private schools in 10.1002/cb.2274
Latin America. Her research interests revolve around people ana-
lytics, entrepreneurial finance, as well as diversity and inclusion.