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Consumer Responses to Fashion Advertisements Using Models in Wheelchairs: Is There a Relationship to Consumers' Optimum Stimulation Level?
Author(s) -
Workman Jane E.,
Freeburg Elizabeth W.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
family and consumer sciences research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 1077-727X
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x960243002
Subject(s) - purchasing , advertising , clothing , stimulus (psychology) , psychology , lawn , wheelchair , business , marketing , computer science , cognitive psychology , political science , botany , world wide web , law , biology
This study examines consumer responses tofashion advertisements using 2 advertising stimuli (model in wheelchair/lawn chair). Further, because models in wheelchairs are unusual stimuli, the effect of consumers' Optimum Stimulation Level (OSL) on responses to the advertising stimuli is explored. In an experiment using stimulus sampling, 101 working women viewed a fashion advertisement featuring 1 of 3 models in a wheelchair or a lawn chair and rated the likelihood that they would inquire about, would consider purchasing, and would actually purchase advertised items. There were no significant effects for OSL, social desirability, or individual models on consumer responses. Consumers were more likely to inquire about, more likely to consider purchasing, and more likely to actually purchase the clothing items presented by a model in a wheelchair. Results have implicationsfor OSL theoryfashion marketers targeting working women, models in wheelchairs, and society as a whole.