• 한국의류학회지
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• 제42권5호
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• pp.839-854
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• 2018

This study (1) explores female consumers' attitudes toward fat people and perceptions about plus-size models, (2) addresses female consumers' responses to models with different body sizes, and (3) examines the effect of plus-size model presence on female consumers' body image. We collected an online questionnaire from a total of 600 female participants in their 20's and 30's. Stimuli included six full-colored photo images of models with thin and plus body sizes (three in each group). Images were captured from the online shopping site of the fashion brand currently providing both average and plus-size clothes. Respondents were randomly assigned one of the groups by model size. Results support the sociocultural perspective that a thin/ideal body of models has a negative influence on female viewers' sociocultural attitudes toward appearance, mood state and body satisfaction. Findings also suggest that exposure to plus-size models can reduce negative media effects on females body image perceptions, regardless of individual body size.