Influences of Body Image and Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance on Apparel Information Search for Generation Y Female Consumers

Abstract

Fashion marketing has its uniqueness in information dissemination. Gorgeous female fashion models are tightly bound to fashion marketing, and have become an important component in apparel marketing. For those consumers who have received advertising information relevant to fashion marketing, the image of slim female fashion models would have been acknowledged. Conceptually, young women in the modern societies seem to prefer having their bodies in shape. The image of female fashion models in the media has provided an impression for young female adults to evaluate whether their bodies are slim and fit like the image they have perceived as it of female fashion models in the media. The generation Y Taiwanese female consumers are in the generation who are sensitive to marketing information disseminated in the media. Advertising with Western cultural aspects has been criticized for over-emphasizing images of slimness and generating negative stereotype of obese people. Research evidence supported the view that more traditional females were at a higher risk of developing eating disorders due to greater cultural conflicts while encountering different cultures. This study is undertaken to examine whether body mass index (BMI) of generation Y females in Taiwan is linked to the attitudes toward appearance from sociocultural aspects and further linked to the body esteem. Consumer survey was administered in January 2009 in the metropolitan area in Taipei using personal interviews. Total valid samples were 301, out of 330 surveyed respondents. All of the respondents were females born between the years of 1980 and 1994 (generation Y female consumers), and had purchased personal apparels in the previous six months. Respondents with BMI<18.5 were considered being under-normal, with 18.5≤BMI≤24 were normal, and with BMI>24 were categorized into the above-normal range in BMIs in this study. The results of this study revealed that the sociocultural attitudes towards appearance were negatively correlated with body image as perceived by the generation Y Taiwanese females. For those who were more concerned with appearances according to the social norms, they were less confident in body image. Furthermore, the linkage of body image and BMI among generation Y Taiwanese female consumers was negatively correlated, indicating that generation Y Taiwanese females with high BMI levels would be less confident in their body shape. Respondents with the above-normal BMI would be more influenced by the socially preferred standards of thinness as indicated in the dimension of internalization than respondents of normal or under-normal BMIs. This indicated that females with higher levels of BMI could be under greater pressure from others because they took societal standards of female thinness more seriously. Female respondents with under-normal BMI worried about self-perception of weight than respondents of normal or overweight BMIs. This may signal the influences of the implication of slimness in fashion marketing. For overweight generation Y Taiwanese female consumers, practical type of apparel information like comfortableness or pragmatic aspects of apparel might be rather important than fashion type of apparel information in decisions. The majority of generation Y Taiwanese female consumers believed self-perception of look was an important dimension in the body image. Based on the results of the study, marketing implications were provided for effective information marketing in the apparel market.