“Sex sells” has been a mantra in advertising and marketing for many years. As researchers who find out about shopper conduct, we’ve noticed a variety of proof to fortify it: Sexy fashions and spokespeople had been proven to reliably take hold of consideration, spice up clicks and make merchandise appear extra fascinating.
However our new analysis suggests that during a virtual global filled with influencers – relied on tastemakers with huge on-line followings – being too sexy can in truth backfire, specifically within the health area.
We name this the “beauty backfire effect,” and we put it to the check in a sequence of laboratory experiments.
We confirmed masses of analysis contributors mock Instagram posts from fictitious health influencer accounts. The posts had been similar in each and every manner, with the exception of for one key distinction: how sexy the influencer used to be. We judged this through asking impartial raters to guage pictures of actual influencers forward of time.
The consequences had been putting: We discovered that extraordinarily sexy health influencers – or “fitfluencers” – were given fewer likes and follows than their somewhat sexy friends.
Why? As a result of folks seen them as much less relatable.
In reality, in one in all our research, individuals who noticed an especially sexy fitfluencer reported having decrease vainness later on. Against this, seeing a somewhat sexy fitfluencer gave some contributors a small self belief spice up, most likely since the symbol felt extra potential.
Apparently, the wonder backfire impact wasn’t as robust in different domain names. After we ran the similar experiment with finance influencers within the combine, look didn’t subject as a lot. That’s now not completely unexpected, after all. For a monetary trainer, appears aren’t tied to credibility. In the meantime, for a health trainer, they’re central.
Probably the most influencers featured within the find out about.
Supply: The Attractiveness Backfire Impact
However the attractiveness backfire impact isn’t inevitable. In a base line, we explored whether or not self-presentation taste may shut the relatability hole.
When extremely sexy influencers followed a humble tone, sharing their struggles, coaching demanding situations or health plateaus, the engagement hole disappeared, we discovered. But if they followed a prideful tone, boasting about their herbal ability or outstanding determination, the distance grew even higher.
This means that humility is usually a robust conversation instrument for influencers who would possibly differently appear “out of reach.”
Why it issues
Fitfluencers rely on their look as one of those credential. A sculpted body indicators experience in well being and wellness. However engagement isn’t near to how excellent somebody appears on digicam. It’s about whether or not fans really feel they may be able to hook up with them.
That is the place relatability is available in. Audiences hook up with fitfluencers who really feel like actual, reachable variations of themselves. However excessive beauty does the other: It turns an potential function into an inconceivable perfect, and what will have to encourage as an alternative alienates.
This impact aligns with vintage social comparability idea. Folks pass judgement on themselves with regards to others. If the distance between self and fitfluencer turns out too vast, comparisons change into discouraging, now not motivating. In different phrases, the extra “perfect” the fitfluencer appears, the fewer fans imagine they may be able to realistically be like them – and the fewer most likely they’re to have interaction.
Social media platforms had been taking be aware. In this day and age, TikTok, Snapchat and different retailers construct their enchantment on candid, original content material over polished, airbrushed imagery. On this new panorama, perfection is usually a legal responsibility.
Our analysis presentations that excessive beauty would possibly take hold of consideration however can undermine connection, the actual forex of the influencer economic system. For manufacturers and creators, the takeaway is apparent: Good fortune would possibly rely much less on taking a look flawless and extra on sounding actual.
What’s subsequent
Our findings carry new questions on how attractiveness shapes affect on-line.
As an example, gender seems to subject. In a follow-up find out about, extremely sexy feminine health influencers confronted more potent backlash than similarly sexy males, possibly reflecting a broader social tendency to pass judgement on ladies’s appears extra harshly. Long run analysis may discover whether or not equivalent biases practice to different visual characteristics, corresponding to race or incapacity.
The impact might also lengthen past health. Industries constructed round look – model, attractiveness or way of life content material – may display the similar development.
In spite of everything, now not all audiences reply alike. Folks new to health or more youthful customers nonetheless forming their identities could also be particularly at risk of adverse comparisons with extremely sexy fitfluencers. Working out those variations may assist creators and platforms foster more fit engagement on-line.
Justin Palmer contributed analysis for this text as an undergraduate.
