How Much is Too Much? the Effect of Digital Processing Intensity of Female Advertising Models

We conducted an experiment in the group of young females to test the effect of the intensity of digital image processing of female model faces in ads on brand attitude, perceived model beauty, perceived model vitality, model-self similarity, appearance-related self-esteem, and brand trustworthiness. Additionally, we investigated the effect of the inclusion of disclosing information about the use or non-use of digital image processing in this context. We found an inverted U-shaped curve between the intensity of model idealization and brand attitude. Moreover, we found that the optimum level of photoshop is slightly lower if marketers provide information that the depicted model is photoshopped.